The Canadian figure skating championships wrapped up in London, Ont., on Sunday where among other things, the Olympic team was announced.

Canada has qualified two entries in each of the four disciplines, which presumably had already included Patrick Chan, Joannie Rochette, Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison in pairs, and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in ice dance.

The real question to be answered at these championships was who would fill the second spot for Vancouver?

As it happened, it came down to the free programs.Cynthia Phaneuf skated brilliantly, earning the top spot after the short program with defending champion Rochette trailing in second place.

In the free, as the second last skater, Joannie skated like a woman on a mission - putting down a program of "Olympic" quality that was thrilling and passionate and very technically strong.

Phaneuf followed as the final skater of the event, stepping on to the ice during the thunderous applause that persisted for Rochette.  She was able to keep her composure and although not perfect, seemed to have turned the corner with her nerves, and perform solidly enough to stay in second to claim her spot for the Olympics.

The bronze medal was won by Myriane Samson, who has been close to the podium before with two fifth-place finishes at Nationals, but had never been able to break through until now.

The same kind of scenario unfolded in the pairs event where 2008 Canadian champions, Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay, took control in the short program, ahead of rivals and two-time champions, Dube and Davison.

In the free skate, Dube and Davison's The Way We Were program evoked the kind of emotion in the audience that they had been hoping for from the beginning of the season, in addition to giving the judges lots to credit in their brilliant skate.

Meaghan Duhamel and Craig Buntin missed making the Olympic team by just over 11 points despite earning their second bronze medal in three national appearances.

It was the tiniest of margins (.30) that ultimately separated bronze medallists Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje from Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier, who took the silver medal and the second Olympic spot for ice dance.

Coming into the free dance, the two teams were in a virtual dead heat with only .02 separating them. Both teams had one stumble each and it came down to the math of the dancers' execution of the remaining elements with crushing disappointment for the third-place team.

As predicted, the three-time Canadian champions and two-time world medallists, Virtue and Moir, dominated all three phases of the competition and are more than ready to take on Olympic challengers next month in Vancouver.

For all of the pressure and drama surrounding Chan, he was able to skate through it like the three time champ that he now is.  He started off the competition with a bang and easily took the lead after the short program.

His free program was solid and definitely a couple of notches above his Skate Canada performance in November, but he still has room to improve in the next three weeks before the Olympic Games.

Defending national silver medallist, Vaughn Chipeur, was able to take the silver and the second spot for the men's Olympic event, and seemed to come out of nowhere. He had very impressive short and solid free programs, putting aside his earlier disastrous results from the Grand Prix series.

The bronze medallist, Kevin Reynolds, was one of the stories of the competition.  He was second in the free program, but was not able to overcome his fifth-place finish in the short despite his artistic "re-invention" this season, and an impressive technical arsenal including two different quad jumps in his free skate.

In addition to the Olympics, Canada is sending teams to the upcoming ISU Four Continents championships, world juniors and senior worlds.