Love hurts. During the Stars On Ice tour that wends across Canada to the end of this month, Javier Fernandez will show you just how much. This is Javi Fernandez like you’ve never seen him (but knew him to be): the leading man, the gentle, sensitive soul, the man finally at home in his own […]
Javier Fernandez
Daleman, pressing onwards to the free
Today, Gabby Daleman will find her rhythm. It’s what she does in times of peril. The national championship proved to be one of those times, when she endured strep throat, that was replaced by pneumonia by the time she whizzed through her free skate to the rapturous “Rhapsody in Blue.” Even so, she took her […]
Javi Fernandez: the charming world champion
MONTREAL Even while his world is changing all around him, swallowing him, passing him by perhaps, Javier Fernandez is stepping out this year with an I-am-who-I-am elegance. And it’s refreshing. He’s not the same skater he was when he showed up on Brian Orser’s doorstep six years ago as a laid-back Spaniard with loads of […]
If lightning strikes, it's probably Yuzuru Hanyu
At the end of a busy December Saturday, Shae-Lynn Bourne finally had a chance to watch history unfold at the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona. On her Smartphone, Bourne could see just enough from the tiny little figures to know that Yuzuru Hanyu, for whom she had created the free skate, could make no errors. […]
If lightning strikes, it's probably Yuzuru Hanyu
At the end of a busy December Saturday, Shae-Lynn Bourne finally had a chance to watch history unfold at the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona. On her smartphone, Bourne could see just enough from the tiny little figures to know that Yuzuru Hanyu, for whom she had created the free skate, could make no errors. […]
Patrick Chan strides boldly back to competition wars
Apparently, Patrick Chan lives on the edge. He wants his skating to do the same. We apparently have seen nothing yet. And that, boys and girls, is why he is returning to the competitive skating wars next season, but not before he takes in a few more high-risk, death-defying activities. Today he, Kaitlyn Weaver, Andrew […]
Tracy Wilson: the wind beneath wings
This is a story I wrote that appeared on the Skate Canada website: By Beverley Smith Tracy Wilson figures she learns as much as she teaches. Yes, we all know she’s a crack skating analyst for various television networks, having won Gemini Awards for her work. But the former Olympic ice dancing medalist has […]
What Javier Fernandez has become
There was a time when Javier Fernandez was all about the high-flying, sharply rotated, stunning jump. Quads in particular. Well, maybe he had a bit of charisma, too, in those brown Spanish eyes. But since he took up residence in Toronto, to train with Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson, he’s gradually learned that skating is […]
Javier Fernandez has been there, done that, bought the t-shirt
Javier Fernandez has good memories of Skate Canada. His first one, in Mississauga, Ont., during the 2011-2012 season, was also his first with coach Brian Orser. He left a lasting impression, throwing the technical book at his opponents, turning from afterthought into world beater. What, a skater from Spain, defeating world record holder Patrick Chan […]