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It's back to the future for Langdon
The Smiths Falls native, ranked No. 8 in the world heading into this season, is ditching his new Tosca free-skating program after dismal results on figure skating's Grand Prix circuit last fall. When he arrives in Ottawa for the Canadian championships Jan. 28-31, he'll hitch his hopes on the program which helped him win a silver medal at the 1997 nationals and place ninth in his first appearance at the worlds.
The program, performed to classical music by Von Suppe, is one he feels comfortable with.
"I definitely didn't want to go to the Canadians with a program that I haven't had a good performance with yet," said Langdon. "This program I have a lot of experience with."
Despite top-10 finishes at the last two world championships, Langdon will face intense competition for one of the two berths available for the worlds in March in Finland. As long as he stays healthy, three-time world champ Elvis Stojko should easily win his fifth national title, while Emanuel Sandhu, a 19-year-old prodigy-in-waiting from Richmond Hill who unseated Langdon for the silver medal last year, will present a serious challenge again.
"I try to not really think of (Sandhu) at all," said Langdon, 23. "Just what I'm doing. The most important thing for me is to focus on me."
However, he knows the battle for silver will be intense.
"You acknowledge the fact it's going to be tough ... good competition is supposed to be like that."
Hampered by an ankle injury, Langdon placed eighth at two Grand Prix events, Skate Canada and Cup of Russia, and crashed to 10th at the Sparkassen Cup on Ice in Germany. On two of those occasions, it was a series of errors in the free skate, worth 66% of the total mark, which killed him.
He made the decision to change as he travelled home from the Russian event, in consultation with coaches Doug and Michelle Leigh.
"At first I wasn't too fond of the decision, I didn't want to give up on the program," he said, but after taking a couple of weeks off, then returning to train, he's pleased with the results.
"It's a new start for me ... There were a lot of changes done in the two weeks off. So, it kind of feels like a fresh start."