Prescott's Chartrand sits third after the senior women's short program

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KINGSTON — Alaine Chartrand is in the hunt for the senior women’s figure skating crown at the Canadian championships this weekend but she has her work cut out.

Chartrand, of Prescott, sits third after Friday’s short program.

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Leading the way is Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket, Ont., who shrugged off an illness to finish first. The 17-year-old, who has been battling strep throat, scored 62.91 points to beat a field missing reigning Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond. Daleman fell hard on her triple Lutz but skated an otherwise strong program.

Veronique Mallet of Sept-Iles, Que., was second with 61.19, while Chartrand scored 60.25.

Osmond, a two-time national champion and Olympic team silver medallist, is sidelined for the season after she fractured her right fibula in the fall.

Friday’s short program set up a tight race for the two spots in women’s singles on the Canadian team for the world championships in March. The Canadian championships determine Canada’s squad.

Chartrand, 18, among the favourites this week, had the most difficult combination of all in the short program, a triple Lutz-triple toe loop, but it appeared under-rotated. Still, her 60.25 was the highest score she has recorded in Canada. A 61 won her the short at the Cup of Russia earlier this season.

The women’s long program takes place Saturday.

Elsewhere, Nam Nguyen overcame a bad case of the nerves to lead after the men’s short. Last week, the 16-year-old Toronto skater’s infectious smile had been missing. A favourite to win the Canadian men’s title for the first time, Nguyen was feeling the pressure.

So his coach Brian Orser told him, “Skate like you own the place.”

And he did. Nguyen scored 81.78 points to top a field that was missing Patrick Chan, the three-time world champion who is taking the season off to contemplate his future.

Orser admitted Nguyen had a mini-meltdown last week.

“We’ve done the junior worlds and senior worlds, and it’s always been sort of in the hunt, and this time there’s been a lot of talk about him, a chance he could win, all that stuff, and he’s starting to feel the pressure,” Orser said. “But that’s life, that’s the way it is. So we just had to put it into perspective.”

Nguyen admitted to nerves when he took the ice, but he hid them well, landing a beautiful triple Axel, then a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, and triple flip for virtually the only clean program in an event riddled with spills.

Jeremy Ten of Vancouver scored 77.80 points to stand second, while Roman Sadovsky, a 15-year-old from Vaughan, Ont., goes into Saturday’s long program in third after scoring 73.46.

Nguyen said Friday he is aware of both the mounting pressure and his growing popularity. His Twitter page — he goes by the handle ↕namnamnoodle — has 7,719 followers.

“I’ve never had this kind of attention on me,” Nguyen said. “It’s kind of exciting for me, but also a little bit distracting. So I needed to ignore some of it, and also have some of that motivate me in practice sessions whenever I’m feeling down.”

In ice dance, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Waterloo, Ont., are the leaders after the short program.

Weaver and Poje, silver medallists at last year’s world championships and Grand Prix Final champions, scored 76.26 for their Paso Doble, and are poised to win the national title after finishing runner-up four times to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Piper Gilles of Toronto and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., were second, while Alexandra Paul of Midhurst, Ont., and Mitchell Islam of Barrie, Ont., were third.

In pairs, MeaganDuhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., are the leaders after the short. Duhamel and Radford, two-time world bronze medallists, carry a huge lead into the free program after scoring a Canadian championship-record 79.50 points. Luba Ilyusheshkina and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto scored 65.15 for second, while Julianne Seguin of Longueuil, Que., and Charlie Bilodeau of Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Que., were third.

With files from the Canadian Press