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Andreev's on the rise
Yet Fedor Andreev's face gets a special glow about it when he thinks about what lies ahead in a familiar building in his home town.
The Canadian Figure Skating Championships are coming back to Ottawa. And the 16-year-old Andreev can't wait for his chance to shine on the Civic Centre ice.
"It's my home town, I know many people here," said Andreev, the Minto Skating Club competitor who figures to be among the medal contenders in the junior men's event. "I just want to skate well and show that I can do my stuff."
Andreev showed his stuff quite well on the Junior Grand Prix circuit in the fall, finishing fourth at events in Mexico and Ukraine. He later placed eighth in his debut appearance at the world junior championships in Zagreb, Croatia.
"It was a boost of confidence for me ... I skated well all the way through the competitions," he said. "It gives me more experience, and it will help me compete at the national level."
At last year's nationals in Hamilton, Andreev wound up sixth in the junior event.
He still remembers his first Canadian championships fondly -- a fourth-place finish as a novice when the event was last held in Ottawa in 1996.
"I just remember that I was really excited that year," he said. "It was my first time ever (at Canadians) and I wanted to skate well in front of the home crowd."
Andreev isn't going into this week's event thinking about winning gold, or even a medal. Like three years ago, he's hoping to show well in front of a crowd that includes his off-ice support team -- people who don't normally get to see him skate at this level.
Said Andreev: "I already proved myself during the season at junior worlds and in the Grand Prix ... I have nothing to lose here."
His free-skate program is packed with eight triple jumps, including a pair of triple Axels. That's the jump, his mother and coach Marina Zoueva says, that will be "his pass to the senior (level)."
Also hoping to make an impact with his jumping is Derek Schmidt, Andreev's training mate at Minto. Schmidt opened some eyes at the sectional and divisional level by including quadruple toe jumps in both his programs (he was credited with landing one successfully at the Eastern Ontario Sectionals in Kanata), and will be one of the few competitors in the senior men's event here attempting one.
While Schmidt and Andreev have reached the nationals for the third time each, it's all new for clubmate Matthew Bueno.
He's making his first appearance at Canadians in the novice men's event. He's joined in that event by Nepean's Matt MacMurdo, back for the second time.
The nationals represent a return of sorts for Gatineau's Valerie Marcoux.
A novice ladies' silver medallist while representing Minto in 1996, she is back after a two-year absence, this time competing in the junior ladies' event for her home-town club, Sans Frontiere.