Vanessa James and Eric Radford sat in the virtually empty TD Place Arena stands on Saturday, watching as their rivals competed in the pairs free skate at the Canadian figure skating championships.
A day later, James and Radford found themselves having to defend their berth on Canada鈥檚 team for the Beijing Olympics.
The veteran skaters, who contracted COVID-19 just before Christmas, were awarded one of the two berths in pairs on Sunday, despite withdrawing from the championships in Ottawa after the short program. The decision drew the ire of some skating fans.
鈥淭he criteria was stated at the beginning of the season. And so, from the beginning until now, we all have the same opportunities to perform and score, and Vanessa and I posted the highest short and free program scores internationally, we had the highest placements,鈥� Radford said. 鈥淪port is about what you do on the field of play within the set requirements for the season.鈥�
James and Radford, who teamed up last spring, pulled out of the competition Saturday after their fourth-place finish in Friday鈥檚 short program. They said they weren鈥檛 fully recovered to perform at their best.
鈥淲e think we made the best decision for us, so that we can be the best in a month when it鈥檚 the most important,鈥� Radford said Sunday.
The Canadian championships are part 鈥� but not all 鈥攐f Skate Canada鈥檚 Olympic qualifying criteria.
The selection criteria, written before the season started, also includes scores and results from international events this season, the placement at last year鈥檚 world championships, and the potential for the best finish in Beijing based on the whole season.
鈥淯nfortunately, with all sports, in an Olympic year when you have a national championship, a lot of people assume that is the end-all and be-all in the final determining factor,鈥� said Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada鈥檚 high-performance director. 鈥淎 national championship is always important and it鈥檚 important for athletes to be a national champion, to be a medallist. But when we did the assessment with our committee, we looked at all those factors 鈥� and not one is weighted higher than the other.
鈥淚f you look at the international season, Vanessa and Eric out of all our pairs teams had the strongest scores. Unfortunately, with a situation largely out of one鈥檚 control, with Omicron and COVID, they just weren鈥檛 able to complete the event. But we look at the body of work of all athletes and we want to make the best assessment for the strongest team we feel has the best ability for us at the Games.鈥�
The rest of the Canadian team selection was more cut and dried. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro secured the other berth with their excellent skates in both the short and long programs that earned them gold.
鈥淥bviously with the climate of the world right now these Games will be extremely different 鈥� I just heard Paul (Poirier) say it鈥檚 different to not be able to hug your teammates and show them how excited you are for them. But it鈥檚 been a nice day for us and we鈥檙e super proud and excited.鈥�
Keegan Messing and Roman Sadovsky are Canada鈥檚 men鈥檚 singles entries and Madeline Schizas earned the one berth in women鈥檚 singles.
鈥淕oing to the Olympic Winter Games is just such a dream,鈥� Schizas said. 鈥淚 watched the 2010 Games in Vancouver. I watched Joannie Rochette there and since then it鈥檚 just been such a dream of mine.鈥�
World bronze medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier were a lock for an ice dance berth, while Saturday鈥檚 silver medallists Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen, and bronze medallists Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha filled out the three spots.
When it came to the contentious pairs berths, some skating fans argued that silver medallists Evelyn Walsh and Trennt Michaud were robbed.
Meagan Duhamel, who won two world titles with Radford, tweeted, with a broken heart emoji: 鈥淚 am disappointed in my sport today.鈥�
鈥淭he Canadian pairs all sucked all season,鈥� Duhamel told The Canadian Press. 鈥淭he only teams to do a strong short and strong long in the same competition is Evelyn and Trent and Kirsten and Mike at Canadians. And since no (pairs) team is a medal contender, we don鈥檛 need to pick based on potential.鈥�
Radford, who won Olympic bronze with Duhamel in 2018 and gold in the team event, came out of retirement at age 36 to compete with James. The 34-year-old James is a Toronto native but competed for France, winning world bronze in 2018 with Morgan Cipres.
鈥�(The season) has been up and down, but it鈥檚 always been progressive, we鈥檝e showed improvement, our scores have been consistently quite high for Canadian skating, and we are still looking forward to reaching higher points and levels and positions in our skating, comparing ourselves to the best in the world,鈥� James said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e saddened that we couldn鈥檛 compete at this competition 鈥� we wanted to show up and try our best, show sportsmanship and give it our all, and it just didn鈥檛 happen for us for the short program. It just solidified the fact that we are not prepared to do a great program that we need to show before going into the Olympics.鈥�
The number of berths allotted to each country in each of the four disciplines depends on placings at the world championships the previous year.
COVID-19 has cast a pall over the Games less than a month before they open, with athletes such as Canadian men鈥檚 skaters Nam Nguyen and Stephen Gogolev contracting the virus recently.
Gilles and Poirier, who have their sights set on climbing the podium in Beijing, said they鈥檙e focusing on their skating preparation rather than fixating on the virus threat.
鈥淵ou can just get wrapped up in it, so we just choose to be positive, this is a very exciting time for so many people,鈥� Gilles said. 鈥淚 think this is something that people really need in a time like this. We need to show the world that we can move forward and celebrate things that we love to do. So, we need to be positive about in all the things that we鈥檙e going into, and it鈥檚 going to be something to celebrate, not look at the negative.鈥�
Radford said while being in quarantine for 10 days leading into the national championships was frustrating, he鈥檚 thankful the chance of catching COVID-19 won鈥檛 constantly be on his mind.
鈥淚t simultaneously was a really annoying and bad thing to happen because it didn鈥檛 allow us to prepare for this competition, but now compared to athletes that haven鈥檛 gotten it yet, we can be a little bit more at ease,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be very vigilant still. But I can tell you, from talking to other athletes (who haven鈥檛 had the virus), I know I鈥檓 more relaxed than they are at this point.
鈥淲e鈥檙e both feeling a small sense of relief that we鈥檝e got that over with, and now we have a little bit more of a clearer and less stressful path as we train for Beijing.鈥�
The Olympic figure skating competition begins Feb. 4 with the team event at the Capitol Indoor Stadium.
鈥擫ori Ewing, The Canadian Press
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