Figure skating nationals results set stage for worlds

Before hitting the ice at competition, anything is still possible. Once the competition finishes though, it's time for the skaters, their coaches and families to acknowledge the results, for good or bad, and get on with what comes next.

It can't be easy.

There are berths for upcoming competitions like the World, Junior World and Four Continents' Championships that are decided in large part by performances and placements at Nationals.

After a year off due to injury, two-time national champion Kaetlyn Osmond was hoping to regain her title.

It looked promising as she took the lead after the short program. Then, during the women's free skate, what happened was wonderful: an honest-to-goodness competition. Both Gabrielle Daleman and Alaine Chartrand skated superbly. Chartrand eventually took her first title; Daleman the silver and Osmond the bronze.

There were tears all around; from shock, from joy, from disappointment and from disbelief depending on your perspective.

After the hustle and bustle subsided, Chartrand was a little dazed. I could still see where the tears had landed on her cheeks. "I can't believe I am Canadian champion," she said, with her arms folded on her head. "It still hasn't sunk in. I have to go and find my family to talk to them where I will likely start crying again."

All three women will be heading the Four Continents Championships in mid-February, while only Chartrand and Daleman will be making the trip to Boston for the world championships at the end of March.

Chan delivers

The men's event came with its own set of conundrums. Everyone was out to beat Patrick Chan, while the only man Chan needed to beat was himself.

Chan's return to competitive skating this fall after a gap season was by no means smooth sailing. In my mind, a decisive win at nationals — his eighth — with all of Chan's technical elements and sublime skating skills in place would go a long way to helping him with confidence as he heads into the most difficult part of the season. Chan delivered on all counts.

Continuing to build on success is key for any athlete. Chan will be joined at Four Continents by silver medallist Liam Firus and bronze medallist Kevin Reynolds. Kevin Reynolds? The 2013 Four Continents champion is finally healthy after hip surgery in 2015. Plagued by equipment problems, Reynolds has made friends with new skates that are working for him. What a great comeback.

The mystery in the pair's event was not whether Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford would take their fifth national title. The question in my mind was who would join them on the podium and in what order?

Iliushechkina, Moscovitch forge bond

By their own admission, medal hopefuls Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro took themselves out of contention with a freak fall headed into their triple twist in the short program. The missed element left at least six points on the table and caused them ultimately to finish in fourth place overall. The fall was scary and could have been much worse. Fortunately, the skaters were not seriously hurt and were able to skate their free program — for themselves, as Moore-Towers said.

The young and dynamic Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau continued to impress at their second senior nationals, taking the silver medal with a 7.8-point margin ahead of the bronze medallists.  

Lubov Iliushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch are to be admired not only for their talent and the patience required to forge the bond essential in the high-risk world of pair skating. Iliushechkina and Moscovitch's bronze medal means they will be travelling to both the Four Continents and World champions to compete along with Duhamel and Radford and Seguin and Bilodeau.

My prediction in ice dance was that Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje would take their second national title while Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier would take their second silver medal. What I had to wait and see was who would skate up and snag the bronze medal and presumably the third spot for the Four Continents and Worlds teams.

It was a very close competition with only .22 points separating third — Elisabeth Paradis and Francois-Xavier Ouellette, in their first podium finish — from fourth. The two have only been to a half-dozen international events, so Four Continents and Worlds will present huge learning opportunities.

I wonder what other surprises are lurking just around the skating corner?