Let's just say I am a competitor in the men's event at the world championships this week, so what am I thinking?
Well … Evan Lysacek's gone and so at least there is one less fellow to worry about, two actually if you count Nobunari Oda from Japan, and in most world championships that would make a difference, but not at this one.
OK ... I was wrong! I knew that Patrick had every tool to make him capable of being on the world team (and even give Jeffrey a run for his money on the way) but becoming a Canadian champion at the age of 17 was something I did not really expect.
After watching Mr. Buttle lay down one of the best short programs I have seen in a long while and giving himself a good lead in the meantime I started settling into the belief that the competition was now for the second spot on the world team.
Patrick told me that he was nervous before the long and it showed in the five-minute warm-up. His coach Don Laws never worries when it takes a couple of tries to get the triple axel going, but Chan never really even rotated one in the warm up. Because I train with Patrick at the Granite Club in Toronto, I admit I was extra nervous for him as well. Somehow he calmed down and got through the first jump in his program, the triple axel, without too much trouble.
There is a buzz around the rink! The buzz, if you get close enough to listen, sounds like the words Patrick Chan. He has everybody talking and wondering and in his practice today he gave us all even more to think about.
He has filled out and does not look 17 and does not move like a 17-year-old when landing beautiful jumps and fighting for the ones that are not so perfect. Lori Nichol has given him such serious music and choreography, which he handles very well. I just wonder if another year under his belt would give him the emotion and facial expressions available to really put the program over the top. Or … Lori is pushing him along because the Olympics are really quite close and she knows he can handle it.
Hey everybody ... I get on another plane today and head out to Vancouver to see the future of Canadian skating.
I think I know some of the names that will be on that short list. Names like Patrick Chan in the men's and Scott and Tessa in the dance, but I will get a better idea of what is to come once I arrive there.
It is always great to see how the skaters mingle with each other and even how they handle their practice sessions as well as the media. These are great tell-tale signs as to how they will skate at the end of the week ... and then after all that watching and guessing and predictions, they just go out there and surprise you just the same.
The long programs were full of potential.
With world champion Brian Joubert out in front it seemed as though we were sure about who would win this thing already, but that left the rest of the pack to fight it out for the other medals. The next five or six skaters, I can't remember, were within two points of each other leaving it wide open going into the long.
Vaughn started out the whole competition by skating first in the short. This meant he was the lowest-ranked skater in the event but he skated so well that he jumped up into the final flight for the long. This was good news for him, but great news for us at CBC because it meant we could start the live show with Vaughn in the final flight of skaters. He did not dissapoint either.
It is the Monday after the Skate Canada event and I can't help but wonder about all the different emotions that the competitors must be feeling today.
Most of them had a good time last night relaxing together at the closing banquet after the exhibitions but today is travel day and back they go to their families, rinks and the work that waits for them to get ready to do it all again.
The flight home from a big event was always a time of reflection for me. Usually I was sitting beside my coach Michael Jiranek and we would have time alone to talk about what had happened and what needed to happen in the future.
Halloween was fun as I walked from house to house with my little firefighter last night. If it is Halloween then it must be Skate Canada.
I can remember a Skate Canada in Thunder Bay, I believe, when we had a wonderful post-competition skater costume party where Mathew Hall and I were Pizza Delivery Boys. It was the only outfit we could find - thanks Pizza Hut.
As always the skaters are excited about these first events. Most of them will be trying programs out for the first time and want to get a good response to the work they have put in over the summer as well as a good jump on the Grand Prix Circuit.
The men are always exciting and let's start at the top ... Brian Joubert.
Kurt Browning joins the Championship Figure Skating on CBC broadcast team as an analyst, bringing more than 30 years of experience to his new role.
A four-time Canadian champion and four-time world champion, Browning has been honoured for his achievements both domestically and abroad. In 1990, Browning was the recipient of the Lou Marsh Trophy as the top athlete in Canada. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, Canada's Walk of Fame and the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Browning has starred in five television specials and won five Gemini Awards for the 1995 production, You Must Remember This, and continues to perform professionally around the world.
Browning, a former analyst with ABC and ESPN, resides in Toronto with his wife National Ballet Principal Dancer, Sonia Rodriguez and their two sons.
