One month ago, Olympic-hopefuls showed up at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Arena to perform in the Canadian National Figure Skating Championships with the dream of representing Canada in the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
The results of these championships culminated with the announcement of Canada’s Olympic figure skating team - the largest ever roster heading to Pyeongchang. Team Canada has medal contenders in every discipline and for the team figure skating events — and they all have their sights set on gold.
The national championships served as a crucial final competition for the athletes heading to Pyeongchang. It was clear that even the veteran competitors were feeling the pressure and using it as a stepping stone to improve their physical and mental performance.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who won Canada’s first and only Olympic gold medal in ice dance eight years ago in Vancouver, once again made history in Pyeongchang on Friday. They were the first-ever Canadian couple to carry the flag into the opening ceremonies. This Olympics, the duo have their sights on not one, but two Olympic gold medals. The versatile duo, who have skated together for 21 years, exhibit technical prowess that is exceeded only by their artistry - something reflected in their perfect free dance score at the national championships.
Virtue and Moir welcomed the competition as an opportunity to test out the new ending of their Moulin-Rouge inspired free dance. After the Grand Prix final in December, they reworked their choreography to include a bigger, ‘Olympic worthy’ ending.
“It’s more triumphant in a way ... because our love story gets to live a little bit longer and with more depth to it,” Virtue spilled after the free dance at the national championships.
Moir added that despite [Tessa’s performed death] the end, it was a triumphant moment in part due to the crowd. “We haven’t skated in front of an electric crowd like that more than five times in our careers, so it was pretty exciting,” he said.
The charged atmosphere in Doug MithcellThunderbird Arena was evident throughout the week with many athletes such as Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, Elladj Baldé and UBC student Kevin Reynolds feeling overwhelmed with the crowd’s reaction.
At the media announcement of the 2018 Olympic team, Weaver recalled being overcome with emotion when the “audience started reacting before our names were called [before the free dance]…. I can’t believe that happened and to achieve that support from the audience, to know that they were behind us personally, was an incredible feeling”.
The event also marked the end of an era for Canadian figure skating as many of the current big names have hinted at retirement after the Games. The free programs of national champions Patrick Chan, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, and Virtue and Moir were likely their last competitive skates on Canadian soil — and we got to see them here at Thunderbird.
Moir also noted that, “right from the beginning [the Moulin Rouge free dance is] one that we fought for and even still, after this long of training it we still connect with the music. It still ignites something in us like nothing else.”
Now the world will get to see it, just as UBC did just weeks ago, as the figure skating events start up in Pyeongchang.
CBC will be covering the entire PyeongChang Olympic games with the skating team event airing February 8, 10 and 11 at 5 p.m. pacific time. Individual skating events air from February 13 to 22.