The 2015 Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships in Kingston, Ontario proved one thing about men's figure skating in Canada; we're in a sad state. With the exception of Nam Nguyen the senior men were not up to par with the men in the rest of the world.
The expectation at the beginning of the 2014/2015 season was that Kevin Reynolds would be the Canadian man to watch, but his showing at nationals was less than stellar. He only competed the short program, and the program he did compete left him in 12th place. After falling on all three jumping passes, and under-rotating all three, he forgot his choreography, skating aimlessly before finishing with his last spin. Despite the lack of choreography in the end of his program, he still had component scores that were quite high, even when balanced with nationals score inflation. He has claimed boot problems all season, but it is clear that the problem is much larger than that. Boot problems does not explain his forgetting choreography and performing sub-par spins. Despite having multiple pairs of custom boots made, he was still unable to compete to his full potential.
The other men competing in the senior men's event were not extraordinary. Both Jeremy Ten and Liam Firus had fairly respectable skates overall, but in many other countries they would not be anywhere near medal contention, and in some years past in Canada they would not have placed anywhere near the top three. This is why we face the concerns about the future of men's figure skating in Canada. Following so many years of excellence in men's skating, with at least one man in true contention for a world title, the current men, with the exception of Nam are falling a little flat.
Nam Nguyen is the bright spot in men's skating. At 16 years old, he is an excellent skater with amazing potential. He performs well under pressure, but with the lack of other exceptional men in Canada attending the world championships this year, is the pressure to perform going to be too much for Nam? Many of even the most spectacular, experienced skaters crack under that kind of pressure. Nam's performance at worlds will determine the number of men who will get to attend next year, and after so many years of sending at least 2 men every year, the idea that we may only have a single spot to send a man to worlds seems odd. If Nam continues to skate as well as he has in the past, he will likely place high enough to earn us those two spots, but the notion would be much more secure if we had a second man who stood a solid chance to finish in the top ten.
The solution? Bring Patrick Chan back for worlds. He has already expressed his intention to return next season, and participated in an international competition, earning the required technical score for a trip to worlds. As much faith as we all have in Nam, Canadian men's skating would look a whole lot brighter with Patrick Chan back in the mix.
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