Canadian women rocked at the Canadian Tire Skating Championships

Tracy Wilson

TSN Figure Skating Analyst

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Never before in Canadian Skating have we seen a women's event of the magnitude and depth that we witnessed at the nationals in Halifax. 

Two-time Canadian Champion Kaetlyn Osmond was making a comeback at nationals having missed last season with a spiral fracture in her leg. After her opening day of practice, she noted how much the field had improved and commented on the fact that when she last competed at nationals she was the only woman doing triple triple combinations. This year, when she looked around on the practice ice in Halifax, most of the women in her group were nailing them.

Heading into the final day of competition, Osmond was in first with a narrow lead over Alaine Chartrand.  Defending Champion Gabby Daleman was four points out of second, in third place.  That there were three such strong skaters fighting for the title and for one of two spots on the World team was a first in Canadian skating. That there was a forth skater pressing and vying for the podium and a group challenging for the top five and the national team made this competition stand out above all previous Canadian Women’s Championships.  

There were a number of memorable moments before the top three took the ice for the free skate in Halifax, including the performance of 23-year-old Michelle Long. Michelle came literally out of nowhere (actually ninth in the short) to finish fifth in only her second Canadian Championship ever. She is the quintessential late bloomer who had only a double axel at eighteen and started acquiring triples in her twenties. When most of her peers were retiring from skating, her love of the sport was reigniting and so self-funded. And while balancing three part time jobs with part time studies and full time training, she went after her dream. 

Long skated her free program earlier in the day and delivered one of those skates that one doesn't forget. It was an emotionally charged performance that smashed her season's best score. Then Long sat and watched her dream take flight as her score held up and took her into the Top 5 in the country and a place on the national team. A spot on the national team guarantees a ticket to represent Canada internationally and the opportunity to receive much-needed government funding for training, which for Long will help considerably to ease the off ice workload. 

Another late bloomer, 21-year-old Veronik Mallet, came to Halifax much improved and sporting a new triple triple combination.  For women, to have a solid triple triple is to be taken serious internationally and Veronik's combination is big and gorgeous in practice. The next step for her is to deliver it with confidence in competition. 

She was in fourth going into the free skate and skated in her typically engaging and charming fashion with a warmth that drew the audience in. I also saw another side of her emerge, in her free skate, during her opening jumping passes where a look of fierce determination took over. It’s a side of Mallet that will serve her well in the future, if she can learn to keep that focus throughout the body of her program. Watching Mallet perform, it was clear to me that she has an untapped potential that is just waiting to be exploited by her steely determination.  She beat her season's best by over ten points and so knew after her skate that the lowest she could finish was fourth and that she had a spot on the national team locked up. 

Gabby Daleman was up next and the first to skate of the top three. Six points out of first, she did pretty much the only thing she could do to challenge for gold and a spot on the world team and that was to skate clean. Technically she was aggressive and on fire, with her feisty temperament rising to the challenge. Apart from a minor glitch on her combination, she completed her difficult triples with ease.  She finished with a flourish and a look that figuratively said, "There - Top that!" and with the audience on its feet. She left the ice knowing that she had done her job. Her scores were huge and set the bench mark high.  It was a season's best that was going to force her competitors to step up.  For Gabby, the wait for the answer to the question, "But was it enough?" nervously began. 

When Daleman's scores were going up, Alaine Chartrand was on the ice circling and waiting for her turn. That wait is a tense moment at the best of times. To hear those scores was to magnify the tension knowing that to stay ahead Alaine now had to better her season's best by about 25 points. I asked Alaine later what she was thinking when she heard Gabby' s marks and she said, " I wanted to cry, just wanted to cry."  Her coach Michelle Leigh calmly told her to breath.  

With her back to the wall, Alaine took centre ice and proceeded to do the only thing that she could do if she was to hold her lead and a spot to the Worlds, and that was to answer with another virtually clean skate.  

With only a minor flaw on her ambitious triple triple combination, it was an emotional, heartfelt performance that brought the house down. Her free skate finished just behind Daleman's but with her lead going in, Alaine was in first and she had one of two coveted tickets to Worlds locked up. She was ecstatic. 

It now came down to Kaetlyn - the final skater.  Kaetlyn' s wait on the ice, while the judges entered Alaine's marks felt excruciatingly long, with the pressure palpable and building. There was little relief for Osmond when the scores did come up, because she knew instantly that there was no room for error and that she hadn't delivered scores like that since before her injury.  

With her usual larger than life presence, Osmond fought heroically but two jumping errors robbed her of much needed technical content and her superior artistry couldn't make up the difference. Osmond dropped to third overall by the narrowest of margins. 

Alaine Chartrand became Canada's newest champion and Chartrand and Daleman earned the World Team placements. Three different Canadian champions in as many years.  It was as close and as well skated as we had hoped it could be. All remarkable competitors with a lot of composure and potential and two years before the next Olympics to push each other to new heights. 

For Canadian women's skating, it doesn't get much better than that.