Sudbury figure skater Meagan Duhamel 'skating for fun' this season
Duhamel and her partner Eric Radford will unveil two new programs this season
Sudbury figure skater Meagan Duhamel is gearing up for the upcoming figure skating season. But this season won't just be about winning medals and getting good results. Instead, Duhamel says this season's focus is to have fun.
Last season, Duhamel and her partner Eric Radford won six gold medals, including their second consecutive World Championships title and fifth Canadian title in pairs figure skating.
Right now, the pair is looking to defend their title as World Champions and preparing for the new season. Their first competition will be the Autumn Classic International in Quebec later this month.
This will be Duhamel's seventh year skating with Radford, and she said the desire and the motivation to compete at an elite level remains after all this time. However, medals and accolades aren't as important for the pair anymore.
"We no longer seek success from medals, from results and from that type of glory. Now, it's personal challenges and personal goals that give us the most satisfaction," she said in an interview with Peter Williams on CBC show Up North.
"At the core, the most important thing is we both love figure skating. We're not sacrificing anything by doing what we do. We love it as much now as I did as a child and we're so lucky that our hobby and passion has given us such an amazing career."
Skating to "have fun"
Duhamel said she and Radford now also spend time together setting personal goals for themselves.
"We spent the first half of last season feeling a bit lost because we didn't have concrete goals," she said.
"This year, over the summer, we know where we want to focus, we know where we want to achieve, and we know what is possible for us. At the same time as we're striving for all those things, it's the most important thing that we continue to have fun."
For the upcoming season, the pair will unveil two new programs for competition, which includes a new throw in their choreography and a routine to the song "Killer" by Seal.
Duhamel said it was a challenge for her and Radford to master the new moves, but they improved by taking it a step at a time.
Duhamel also said the key to her and her partner's success is their understanding of each other and their compatibility.
"Eric and I are great friends. We have the exact same vision and the exact same goals," she said.
"We're both very understanding and we trust each other. I know every single day, Eric is going to try his best. And he knows that I'm going to try my best."