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Sargeant and Wirtz win second straight pairs title
OTTAWA (CP) -- A change in attitude helped Kristy Sargeant and Kris Wirtz win a second straight pairs title at the Canadian figure skating championships Saturday.Wirtz recently decided to give up being a perfectionist while competing.
"I would get all worried if the left hand was in the wrong place or if the crosscut was half a step off," he explained. "I worried about all that crap.
"She'd see it. She'd turn around and she'd be upset and she'd miss something. However she feels, that's how we skate. I've realized that for a while now. I had to change my approach. I had to realize that."
Now, he says, he and Sargeant concentrate on pleasing the crowds instead of the judges.
"People love us to put on a show," Wirtz said. "That's what skating is -- it's a show.
"As soon as we put that little mental thought in our minds -- it's show time -- it's amazing how it changes your feeling towards the event. At the beginning of the season, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. I brought the team down. I was not going to do that this week. An attitude change helped put another great mark on our resume that we're really proud of."
Jamie Sale and David Pelletier won the silver medals and the only other pairs berth for the world championships in Helsinki at the end of March.
Valerie Saurette and Jean-Sebastien Fecteau were third, just missing out on Helsinki.
Wirtz, jokingly: "We're just proud we have enough energy left in our bodies to defend against those (young) whippersnappers."
Wirtz, seriously: "We were pleased from A to Z. I can honestly say Kristy and I have never had such a good competition, technically and artistically."
Sargeant, 25, of Alix, Alta., and Wirtz, 29, of Marathon, Ont., were seventh at the 1998 worlds in Minneapolis and will try to improve on that in Helsinki.
Sale, 21, of Red Deer, Alta., and Pelletier, 24, of Sayabec, Que., are in their first season together, but both were on the national pairs podium with previous partners. Sale skated at the 1994 Olympics in Norway and the '94 worlds in Japan with Jason Turner. Pelletier skated in the 1995 worlds in Birmingham, England, with Allison Gaylor.
"I barely remember, it's been so long," Pelletier said. "I was so young and so stupid. I even missed my lift in the short program. What an experience."
As Pelletier nervously awaited the panel's marks, he spun in his hands an inflated plastic globe inscribed Off To The Worlds in big block letters. Seconds later, upon announcement of the marks, he could begin making travel plans.
Eight of the nine judges picked Sale and Pelletier ahead of Saurette, 23, of Granby, Que., and Fecteau, 23, of Montreal.
"We didn't have our best skate, but we're very proud to be on the worlds team," said Sale.
She and Pelletier felt a great weight lift when they learned they were second.
"We were too much concerned about what everybody was going to think if we didn't make the world team," said Pelletier. "We had CTV coming to Montreal last week spending a day with us.
"It plays on your mind."
Said Sale: "We were being too serious because we wanted it so bad. From now on, we're going to just try to have fun with our skating."
Fecteau wrenched his back catching Saurette in practice Friday and the two were not able to practice lifts Saturday. Despite the handicap they skated well. They had to restart after a necklace Fecteau was wearing broke and Saurette grabbed it so it wouldn't fall to the ice. Given all this, third place for a second year in a row didn't seem that bad to the Quebecers.