The 2010 Figure Skating “Worlds” has been one of the most memorable ones for me for a number of reasons, not the least of which has been the skating so far. (There is still the ladies free program on the slate for tomorrow and the Gala on Sunday)
It has been thrilling to see that good skating prevails and that noone is going to give you a Gold medal just for showing up – you have to earn it.
In ice dance today, Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir had me on the edge of my seat waiting for their free dance marks to be called. They had the lead through the compulsory and original dance (where they had broken the world record) and then skated well but I wondered if it was going to be well enough, what with Scott’s one wobbly twizzle and taking a bit longer to set up the “Goose” and all. Rivals from the US, Meryl Davis and Charlie White were brilliant and narrowly beat them in the free but not by enough to overtake them. A squeaker to be sure for Virtue and Moir who are first time world champions.
The women took the ice today and by the end of it, the Olympic and defending World champion from Korea, Yu-Na Kim is in 7th place after the short program. It reminded me of a friend telling me that if you are a newsperson and about to interview someone in a hurry you may already have a direction in mind for your questions. When the answers aren’t what you expect, then you have to re-frame your approach entirely. That’s how the women’s event felt. Japan’s Mao Asada is in second place and American Mirai Nagasu skated the roof off the place in a season’s best performance and took the lead. All bets are off for what is going to happen tomorrow. Can’t wait!
Daisuke Takahashi of Japan, the Olympic bronze medallist took the men’s title and in fact “owned” the event. I didn’t know he had it in him. What a thrill to see him step up and lay down two solid programs and include a solid quad flip attempt in the free; the very first. Then to have silver medallist Patrick Chan of Canada and bronze medallist Brian Joubert of France earn their medals through solid competition was an energizing experience to say the least.
Anxiety creates its’ own kind of energy which gets compounded by limitations imposed by the clock and then pushing those limits just to see if it can be done. Will the guest make it on time to the building for the interview? Will the assigned escort be there to take them to make-up? Will I make it down 2 floors in the amount of time we allowed for some replay programming? Will the equipment work? Did I do enough research? Will the tapes be the right ones? Will I remember to have my “cheat notes” with me? Will I remember to say thank you? Will I make it back up two floors and down the hall and into the booth and have my headset on in time before the end of the commercial? Will there be enough time to answer Dan’s call through my headphones? “Cue”.
“Welcome to Championship Figure Skating on CBC; presented by Artistry”
I did – twice – and today it was only with about 10 seconds to spare.
It was worth it though as I got answers to some new questions.
I’ll admit it: I am breathless.
The kind of feeling where you don’t know whether to laugh or cry as you alternate between terror and euphoria on the craziest roller coaster ride ever.