Eric Radford says the answer will come to him during the peaceful days of rest following the end of the season.
Posted at 7:01 p.m.
According to Piper Gilles, the use of the song The Long and Winding Road was not necessarily a way of announcing that the last chapter had arrived.
The World Figure Skating Championships, to be held this week in Montpellier, France, could be the last opportunity to see some Canadian athletes in action.
Gilles and Paul Poirier, his dance partner and reigning Worlds bronze medalists, have not made a decision about their future in the sport.
Radford and partner Vanessa James came out of retirement to team up just a year ago. Leaving now after finding their stride might be bittersweet.
Gilles and Poirier were aiming for a podium at the Beijing Olympics. However, during their free program to the tune of the mythical work of the Beatles, a song that corresponded to their stormy personal journey, they said, a failed lift left Gilles in a pool of tears. They took seventh place.
” The Long and Winding Road is a program that took us to the Olympics. We never really wanted to feel like it was some sort of conclusion, but we wanted it to feel like the best performance of our lives at the Olympics,” explained Gilles.
“Paul and I have always said we love skating, and if we feel like we can create or contribute more, or if we feel more inspired, maybe we’ll keep going. But Paul and I just need a break to decompress after a stressful year, before we see what drives us. We’ll see. »
Radford won two world titles with his former partner Meagan Duhamel. Then he came out of retirement last spring to team up with James, who is originally from Toronto and has skated for France in the past. In Beijing, they finished in 12and position.
“It would be so exciting to be able to explore what we are capable of […] to be able to work and experiment with new programs and, perhaps, new styles, and then move on from where we are now. It would be so exciting and really rewarding. But as you can imagine, I’m 37, you must be feeling very, very motivated,” noted Radford, who feels a vacation will be needed first, time to let the dust settle, before taking a final decision.
Mark Absent
The edition of the World Championships following the Olympics is generally lower in terms of participation fees, while skaters will choose to end their season after the Games.
The 2022 edition, which begins Wednesday with the women’s and pairs short programs, promises to be unpredictable due to the absences of the Russian team, banned due to the invasion of Ukraine , and the delegation of China.
The phenomenon is particularly evident among the ladies when we know that the Russians Anna Shcherbakova, Anna Trusova and the teenager Kamila Valieva, who collapsed during the free program in Beijing in the wake of a doping scandal, occupied the three steps from the podium at the Games.
The three Olympic medalists in pairs – the Chinese Sui Wenjing and Han Cong (gold), as well as the Russian tandems formed by Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov (silver) and Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov (bronze) – will also be absent.
“We are well aware of it, we have thought about it and we know that it is an opportunity to get on the podium if we skate as we can. It’s very exciting for us,” said Radford.
In the dance competition, two excellent Russian duos will be absent, including defending champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katasalapov.
Poirier is aware that these Worlds will be a little strange with the absence of certain countries. However, on the sporting level, the action plan of Poirier and Gilles does not change.
“We just want to do two solid routines and pick ourselves up after the Olympics, which was a little disappointing for us,” Poirier admits.
On the men’s side, the American Nathan Chen, gold medalist in Beijing, and the Japanese Yuzuru Hanyu, double Olympic gold medalist, will miss out.
Canadian Keegan Messing, 11and in Beijing after arriving in the Chinese capital the day before his short program, plans to continue his career for at least another year. Also, he hopes to attempt a quadruple lutz at the Worlds.
“I really hope to perform a program with this quadruple lutz […] and honestly, I wish I could fight for a medal. I know it won’t be easy. But maybe if I manage to dig a little deeper, maybe that extra leap will bring results. »