Saturday, Jan. 11, was an emotional day for homegrown figure skaters Paige Lawrence (23) of Kennedy and Rudi Swiegers (26) of Kipling as they finished their free skate to wait for their score at the 2014 Canadian Tire Canadian Championships in Ottawa, ON.
Through hard work and determination they had won bronze in the event the past three years, but would they be able to win bronze in the event again, and in doing so take a spot on the Canadian Olympic team?
As they sat in the "kiss and cry" booth awaiting their scores to see how they had done, tensions were high. They had worked since 2005 together with Olympic dreams and now it was possibly within their grasp. Though the teams weren't determined until following the event, Canada did have three spots to fill for pairs skating on the Olympic team with Lawrence/Swiegers being one of the choices for the third position.
Watching as the scores were given the pair realized, as they were put into first, that the worst they could do in the competition was third despite the performances of the remaining competitors' programs.
Lawrence and Swiegers finished the competition with a score of 176.31 points and had placed third, above Regina's Mervin Tran and Edmonton's Natasha Purich (170.40); they had not only earned a bronze medal, but that Sunday, Jan. 12, had discovered they had also achieved a lifetime goal: becoming Olympians.
First place at the Canadian Nationals went to Meagan Duhamel (Lively, ON) and Eric Radford (Balmertown, ON) with a record Canadian score of 213.62 points. Second place would go to Kirsten Moore-Towers (St. Catharines, ON) and Dylan Moscovitch (Toronto, ON) with 209.44 points.
Lawrence and Swiegers will now attend the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics where they will compete at the Iceberg Skating Palace on Feb. 11 and Feb. 12.
They will be on Canada's skating team with 15 others and together there is talk that this is Canada's most promising team since 1988. Lawrence and Swiegers will join women's singles competitors Katelyn Osmond (Marystown, NL) and Gabrielle Daleman (Newmarket, ON); men's singles competitors Patrick Chan (Toronto, ON), Kevin Reynolds (Coquitlam, BC), Liam Firus (North Vancouver, BC); ice dance competitors Tessa Virtue (London, ON)/Scott Moir (Ilderton, ON), Kaitlyn Weaver (Toronto, ON)/Andrew Poje (Waterloo, ON), and Alexandra Paul (Midhurst, ON)/Mitchell Islam (Barrie, ON); and fellow pair skaters Duhamel/Radford and Moore-Towers/Moscovitch.
In all the team is relatively green when it comes to the Olympics with only three competitors having attended before. Thus, a total of 14 skaters are first time Olympians.
Lawrence first began skating at the age of four or five within the CanSkate program. As her love of skating developed her parents encouraged her and Lawrence's determination to succeed shone through.
Swiegers on the other hand came to Kipling via South Africa and began taking skating lessons at 10-years-old in order to improve his skills on the ice as a means to play hockey. However, despite hockey being what he wanted when he first began skating Swiegers fell in love with the skill and strength needed to perform in figure skating.
The pair first began skating together out of the Wawota Skating Club in 2005 when Lawrence was approached by their figure skating coach, Patty Hole. Hole simply asked Lawrence if she would be willing to skate with Swiegers because his partner had switched to singles and Lawrence jumps the same way as Swiegers.
Lawrence, however, was leery about the match up as she too wanted to skate singles; but, after continuing requests Lawrence caved and agreed to help out a fellow skater by practicing with him until Swiegers could find a full-time partner. Though as it turned out, he already had.
With every lift, every throw, and every practice the notion of becoming a competitive pairs team grew on Lawrence who came to love the different, complex skills associated with pairs in a matter of weeks.
Though the pair lives and trains in Virden, MB, with their coach, Hole, who has been with them every step of the way, they still represent the Wawota Skating Club.
The pair is proud to have developed in small towns in southeastern Saskatchewan and by continuing to register for Skate Canada as being with the Wawota Skating Club they honour their roots.
Today Lawrence and Swiegers have built a relationship on trust and regard each other as family, referring to their relationship as brother and sister.
Together they continue to look forward to the future and are excited to be representing Canada at the 2014 Olympics in Russia in less than a month.
