Icy conditions and wearisome winter weather have not left all Canadians the worse for wear. For Canada’s winter sport athletes, the country’s frosty nordic climate is a much welcomed boon. In international athletic arenas far and wide, Canadian skill on the downhill slopes, the cross-country trails, and the skating rink is stuff of awe-inspiring legend. Think Gretzky, Stojko, Bedard, Manley.
Most recently, the nation watched in terrified silence as Canada’s figure-skating hopeful Emmanuel Sandhu leapt for gold at the World Championships in Dortmund, Germany. Sandhu, tied neck-and-neck with two-time champion Russian skater Evgeni Plushenko going into last Tuesday’s short program, apparently cracked under the pressure, crashed to the ground after his triple axel jump and changed his program mid-skate so as to opt out of the more challenging combinations. Since the upset, Sandhu has been much maligned by the Canadian media for a lack of competitiveness and “mental toughness.”
Let’s hope all of this concerted attention on Canadian figure skaters does not affect Sandhu’s compatriot, U of T’s own Alyssa Hall, who will be competing in the World Synchronized Skating Championships April 1-4 in Zagreb, Croatia. Hall, who is in her fourth year of chemical engineering at U of T, will be skating in synchronization with 21 other women, all of whom make up the local synchro team Fusion.
Fusion is one of two Canadian teams making the trip to Croatia this week, and as U of T Varsity skating coach Kim Graves says, “they’re expected to be in the top 10. Canada’s certainly a leader in synchronized skating.” Hall, who is now 22 years old, has been participating in synchronized skating since the age of seven.
Her young start at the sport may surprise some skating enthusiasts. Although synchronized skating was created in 1956, it was not until 1994 that the International Skating Union (ISU) started to sanction international synchro competitions. The first world championships were only held as recently as 2000, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The burgeoning sport has developed quite the following, however. In Canada alone there are close to 40 recognized, competitive synchronized skating clubs. Fusion, the 2003 Canadian championship silver medallists, is one of the best and attracts some of the most talented skaters the country has to offer.
Hall, who was unavailable for comment, initially competed with the synchro group Black Ice, winning a junior championship with the team. After entering university and taking on a heavy engineering courseload, Hall took time away from synchro competition. In her second year of school, Hall joined the Varsity Blues figure-skating team, and although it “took her a little while to get her feet back under her,” says Graves, Hall was eventually named rookie of the year for the 2001-2002 season. In her second season as a Varsity Blue, Hall took home a provincial gold medal for her turn in the junior similar pairs individual event.
Last year, Hall went back to her synchronized skating roots, following former Black Ice coach Jody Jones into her new project, Fusion. While it’s “not really possible for her to go to school full-time and [skate] full time,” says Graves, Hall has been plugging away at what must be a harrying school and practice schedule. “That’s the type of commitment that these students need,” adds Graves. “It’s fairly rigorous.”
Right now, Hall and her 21 teammates are keeping their fingers crossed and their skates sharpened in the hopes that all of their hard work and dedication will pay off in Zagreb. Their stiffest competition will most likely come from last year’s world silver medallists-Finland’s Marigold Ice Unity and last year’s gold medallists-Sweden’s team Surprise.
