News

Dube, Davison Surprise Themselves

By Laurie Nealin
Reporting for Skate Canada

HALIFAX -- Jamie Sale and David Pelletier gave fellow pairs skaters Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison something pretty special for Christmas this year.

It wasn't gift-wrapped in a glittery box or tied with shiny ribbons, but rather it was the confidence the young duo was lacking after an injury created "a train wreck" in their training plan.

On Saturday, Dube and Davison parleyed that confidence into gold at the BMO Canadian Championships. In the process, they relegated their Quebec teammates, three-time national champs Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin, to second spot.

Dube and Davison earned 173.95 points overall, some seven more than the defending titleholders.

Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay, a Quebec-Alberta combination, claimed third with 162.99 and the third ticket to Tokyo for the 2007 ISU World Championships.

After missing most of the fall season due to surgery on Dube's knee, the 2006 Canadian silver medallists came to Halifax with modest goals. The Quebec-Ontario pairing would have been happy just to make the podium and earn a return trip to Worlds.

Before they spent three days with the 2002 Olympic champions in December, Dube and Davison weren't even sure they could secure a top-five finish.

In Edmonton, the Canadian icons boosted the pair's flagging spirits and belief in their potential.

"We're almost speechless. It's a huge surprise for us, I think," Davison told the media minutes after their win was confirmed.

"I think (our coach) Annie (Barabe) already called them (Sale and Pelletier) to tell them the news and I think they're pretty happy for us," Dube beamed.

Davison and Dube enjoyed a successful debut as seniors on the global stage last season with a 10th-place at the Turin Olympics and seventh at the World Championships, but the injury -- her third in three years -- really threw them for a loop. Sale and Pelletier put them back on track.

"We were a little bit blind running around like chickens with their heads cut off, but they screwed our heads back on and helped us get ready for nationals," said Davison.

Both couples made mistakes, but Marcoux and Buntin, fifth-ranked in the world, made too many to hold onto their title. She fell on the opening triple toe loop and throw triple salchow and singled an Axel. Marcoux's voice wavered with emotion as she spoke with the media following their disappointing skate.

"I don't know what to say. I guess I was nervous out there and I didn't do my job. It happens sometimes," she said.

Buntin added, "Disappointments are a factor in sports and I think it's something that's extremely difficult to deal with when it happens and I think that's where we are right now.

"(Performing under pressure), it's extremely difficult and it's exhilarating. Tonight it's difficult," he added.

Marcoux concluded, "I feel really sad right now and I don't know what to say."

Dube and Davison's romantic program, designed by David Wilson and set to Blower's Daughter, was filled with little details and nuances reminiscent of Sale and Pelletier's style.

The winners opened with a triple twist and showed a good throw triple salchow, but Dube doubled her individual triple salchow and put a hand down to steady herself on the throw triple loop. They botched the entry to the final pair combination spin, but recovered quickly and managed to execute the remainder of the spin surprising well.

A highlight of their program is the entry to the death spiral. Dube leans backward, supported only by her head cupped in his hand, before they join hands and settle into death spiral position.

Langlois and Hay had a solid skate with just his miss on the triple toe loop recorded as a major error. They appeared to lack speed at various times throughout the program, however, particularly in the footwork.

Utako Wakamatsu and Jean Sebastien Fecteau, who decided to continue one more season in hopes of competing at the Worlds in Wakamatsu's homeland, gave an inspired performance before the frontrunners took to the ice. Their Last Emperor interpretation earned a standing ovation, but couldn't collect enough points to climb onto the podium. They settled for fourth with 157.97.

"Even, if it doesn't turn out that way (with a trip to Worlds), the way we skated, I'm really happy about that," Fecteau said.

The couple's legacy will be the lift with which they concluded what will now likely be their swan song. In it, Fecteau holds Wakamatsu aloft with one arm in an upside down position, her legs in split position and her head pulled down to her knee.

This season, they made it even more spectacular and difficult by doing one rotation clockwise before reversing direction and completing several more rotations.

Fecteau said it is their most difficult lift. "When you've been turning one way for so many years, to start the lift and then switch, the momentum of switching is very hard and it's close to the boards, there's no margin for error."

Wakamatsu will now return to Japan and university, while Fecteau will coach through the summer while considering his options.

Fifth place and national team status went to Rachel Kirkland and Eric Radford, Canadian junior silver medallists last year.


Copyright 2007 Laurie Nealin - This article may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission of the author.