Lights, cameras ... do it!
Currie faces crossroads; can't win when she has to
By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
No guts. No glory.
That's been her story.
Michelle Currie has it all. She can do all the jumps. She has all the tricks. She has the look. She has the lines. But to this point she suffers from the Canadian condition of not being able to get it done on the day.
Today, as the Canadian Figure Skating Championships open here, she's at the crossroads.
And she knows it.
Currie figures if she's ever going to go out there with the bright lights on, fans in the stands and the TV cameras turned on and show the country what she can do and does daily back at the club, it's now.
"I'm looking at this as my biggest competition ever. I'm looking at this as having to be the pinnacle of my career so far," she said as she put the finishing touches on the program she'll skate this afternoon, as competition featuring six-time champion Jennifer Robinson, Joannie Rochette, Annie Bellemare, Nicole Watt, Monica Boucher and Amanda Billing begins today at Rexall Place.
"It's the most important competition ever for me," said the skater who suffered a serious foot and ankle injury and missed the entire 2001 season before she crashed and burned, ending up eighth at Canadians, in her re-entry year in 2002.
TWO SEASONS
In a span of two seasons she went from being viewed as the girl to take the torch in Canadian women's skating to being on the outside looking in. She was off the national team. No funding. No Olympics. No Worlds. No nothing.
She's been climbing back up the mountain since. But if she doesn't finally scale it now, there's every chance she'll end up as a never-was.
That's the way it is. And she's facing it.
"In two years, it's an Olympic year. This is the year to start building for that. You have to get the experience and exposure at the World Figure Skating Championships now," she said.
At age 23 her skating clock is ticking.
Not only is 2006 an Olympic year but the Worlds are in Calgary three weeks later.
"I need to win the Canadian title. To succeed internationally, the judges have to know who you are."
Coach Cynthia Ullmark is giving her all the tough love she can mustre going into this one.
There's not much she can say for publication that she hasn't said before.
"She has to ram it down their throats. Give them the goods. She has everything. Her spins are fast. She has great edges. Her jumps are huge," she's said before.
Michelle has said it all before as well.
"I know my jumps are all world-class. I know I can contend with the world."
It's one thing to know it. It's another thing to show it. On with the show this is it.
"I couldn't ask for a better situation," says the skater from the Royal Glenora who won the silver medal at Canadians in Calgary in 2000 but didn't get to go to Worlds because Canadian women's skating was so shabby we were only qualified to send one.
This year, there are two spots. And Currie, with a chance to skate with the security blanket of being at home, believes this is where she'll finally get it all together, get it done from today's qualifying event through to Friday's final.
FORM CHARTS
There's nothing in the form chart that tells you Currie is finally going to defeat her demons. She was 12th at Skate America and 10th at NHK in Japan during the Grand Prix season.
Last year at Canadians in Saskatoon she was second after the short program. But when it was time to go for the glory, once again she had to say she was sorry. In prime position to punch her ticket to Worlds in Washington, D.C., she didn't even give herself a chance. She gagged on it, popping a Lutz and an Axel in the first 40 seconds of her program.
Currie and the other girls are keeping Robinson in business. She keeps coming back because Currie and the rest of them haven't been able to grab the brass ring.
"Every year anyone can take it," said Currie.
"I feel it's going to be me this year.
"It's a great opportunity for me," says Currie. "I think it'll really help me to be at home with all my family and friends in the stands. It really was in Calgary. That was a wonderful experience for me.
"I'm going to have way more confidence. It's great when you look up there and see that everyone is supporting you. I love that."
Home is where the heart is. Michelle Currie needs to show Canada her heart here.
