Sometime last fall, Caden Armstrong’s mom Leslie sidled up to me to tell me that their family was in possession of one of the flags that decorated Colorado Springs for the 1965 World Championships. What makes this significant is that my friend and fellow Canadian Petra Burka won her world title in Colorado Springs AND she was willing to stand for a picture with the flag!
Petra is part of Caden`s coaching team along with Ernest Pryhitka and Caden characterizes her contribution this way:
“I really appreciate her insight. She has been in the sport so long and knows everybody and everything.”
The story of how this flag arrived at a suburban Toronto are home is an interesting one. The timing is even more interesting because the flag arrived at Caden’s house almost immediately prior to his starting to work with Petra. Talk about a small world! Caden has this to say:
Caden is making the leap this season to Senior men and is looking forward to a season where he skates well in every competition. As part of the plan, Caden will head off to Colorado Springs to work with Christy Krall. He says his triple Axel and quad are coming along nicely.
When asked about inspiration, he cites Kurt Browning as “always a favourite of mine.” Another huge influence is former Canadian Junior Men’s champion, Ken Rose, who can count Caden among his first students. Caden still uses Ken as his choreographer.
For now though, Caden is realistic about his skating. The goal is: “to skate my best, keeping cool and do what I am capable of. In this coming season, it will be more about the experience than making a splash in Seniors.”