Indepth with Canadian Meagan Duhamel
Part II
by Helga Dobor
&
Mireille Geurts
Photos © Meagan
Duhamel & Lisa Prenty
What is it like
to work with Ryan? How would you describe him as
a skater? |
And as a person?
Ryan is a really friendly, outgoing person. He is
positive and can usually turn any situation into something
good. Our personalities are fairly simular in a lot of ways
and I think that helps us get along well. He is very caring
and understanding of people as well.
Are you friends?
Yes we are good friends.
What is your connection like with the
members of your National Team?
Oh, I love going to competitions or the team training
camp and seeing all my friends!! I get along great with them
and consider many of them my very good friends!! I train with
some of them at Mariposa, and others I talk to frequently
on msn.
Don't you see each other as rivals?
Oh not really. Of course we are competitive with each other
once we hit the ice but off the ice we like to hang out and
be friends. You share so much of your life with these people
and have so much in common it's great to be friends first
before rivals.
And what is your connection like with
the skaters in your club, Mariposa? Do you
have common schedules?
Oh all the skaters at Mariposa get along very well!! We are
like one big family!! Some of my best friends are my competitors!!
The elite session skaters all use the program, daily program
(except me because of the pairs) but mostly we are all together.
And with Absolute Skatings affiliated
Ken Rose in particular?
Ken and I have travelled to alot of competitions together
and often share the same result!! haha!! We both finished
4th in juniors at Nationals the year before we both won and
when we attended the junior worlds together we both had the
same placement again! Ken is a great guy and has a great family!!
I love going to competitions with him and sometimes Ken comes
to Mariposa with his coach to train for the day. I am so lucky
to have grown friendships with him and so many other skaters.
Those are what will last long after I am done my skating career.
At the Canadian Nationals you
skated a great short (we just loved it!) and a quite
disastrous long program, both in pairs as in singles.
Any idea what happened? |
How do you deal with such moments? Alone
and in the new pairs team?
Well, I have never experienced a performance such as that
before. For my singles, I had to try to put it behind me ASAP
because I still had to perform with Ryan the following day.
It was nice that my family was there for me and Ryan as well
after my singles. Chris Mabee also helped to console me and
get me prepared for my pairs competition. With the pairs-
we again couldn't dwell on it for long because we needed to
begin training for the junior worlds. The first week of training
after Nationals was extremely hard. I was crying all the time
because I couldn't not stop thinking about my programs from
the past competition. I was so disappointed with myself and
it was difficult for me to train. But after having long talks
with friends, family and my coach I feel SOOOOOOO much better
and Ryan and I are ready to redeem ourselves at the Junior
Worlds!!
Will this experience have any influence
on your skating plans?
The experience of Canadian's has given me so much determination!!!
I am going to be at Canadian's next year and I guarantee that
will not happen again. I know I will be in the same position
again one day and I am going to be prepared to handle myself
next time!! I also plan on working harder then ever before
for this season because I don't ever want to feel like i did
after those programs at the nationals again! I will do whatever
it takes to never have to experience something like that again.
How is it to be the first pair to have landed sbs
3 lutzes and end up in the world record book?
It's great!! Ryan and I were not planning on being the first
to do it, we didn't know no one had done it before. We just
have good timing and consistency on that jump so we used it
in the short program. Everyone was telling us after that we
were the first to do it and that was exciting.
You were the Junior
National Champion in 2003. Did this put more pressure
on you before your first Senior Nationals? Is it harder to skate in the senior
field? |
In Canada there are more skaters who
skate at the same level, how do you feel about that situation?
It is great because it challenges us to work even
harder!! The top 10 senior ladies in Canada (minus Joannie
and Cynthia) are all so close to each other. On any given
day one can be 3rd or 8th, you know? It will be a great race
for the 3rd spot at the Olympics next year if Joannie and
Cynthia qualfiy 3 ladies.
How do you see their skating skills
and your chances for that spot?
I think Joannie and Cynthia have a great chance to
get Canada a 3rd lady for Torino. I believe that if 3 ladies
spots are attained then it is possible that I might be that
3rd lady going to the Olympics because this year at nationals
I was 3rd in the short program but I will not focus on that.
I will focus to skate my best- after this nationals I know
what focusing on a bronze medal will do! *winks*
Do all of you know each other?
Yes we all know each other because most of us have been competing
with each other for years!!
You talked about Junior Worlds next
week. What are your expectations?
I can't wait to go to Junior Worlds!!!! The best
part- Ryan and I have no expectations. Unlike wanting a spot
on the national team and wanting to be picked to compete at
Junior Worlds at the Nationals, we don't have those pressures
now. We have been training better then ever these past few
weeks and just want to bring those performances out in the
competition. For us, the true victory would be to skate a
clean short and long program and have to have fun while we
are skating!! *smiles* We have not competed with many of these
teams so we don't know what to expect placement wise
Ok then we will just hope you have a
lot of fun!
Thank you!! I think that is the main thing.
You skate on very classical pieces
of music this season, is this the music you also listen to
in your free time?
No way!!!! Haha... I do not pick the classical music,
my coaches do that for me!!
I enjoy to listen to a variety of music!! From the top 40
to country!! Haha... Chris Mabee
and I sometimes call the country station on the radio and
request songs!!
Never plan to skate on a country song
then?
Oh maybe one day *winks* haha
Can you express yourself by the choosen
music?
Yes I feel most skaters choose their music because
that is what they feel they can express the best. Sometimes
it's difficult though when you have to skate to multiple music
selections in order to figure out what you express the best