If Jeffrey Buttle was going to go down — and lose his crown — he wanted it to be this way.
Knowing he'd fought the good fight. That it wasn't total surrender.
Buttle's run as the king of men's skating didn't make it to a fourth year at the BMO Canadian figure skating championships, his reign unable to survive the sheer brilliance delivered by one Patrick Chan — the future star whose time has clearly arrived.
At a competition which is proving to be a minefield for defending champions (just ask Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison), Buttle didn't merely settle for a silver medal. He battled hard for the gold, turning in a free skate that would have been a winner on many other nights.
"I’d rather lose my title this way than to lose it having a bad skate and not ever knowing," Buttle, 25, of Smooth Rock Falls, Ont., admitted afterward.
And yes, he said, he really meant that. Or maybe it was just the classy way to respond. But Buttle and Chan are friends, and while the now-former champ didn't watch his new rival skate, the raucous reaction from the Pacific Coliseum audience told him everything he needed to know. Fired him up, too.
"The energy was awesome," said Buttle. "I know they were cheering for Patrick’s marks, but it really got me going. Before the music started, I said ‘you know, I’m going to fight through this.’ That's what I did."
Buttle entered the free skate with an 7.58-point working margin, courtesy of the fabulous short program (worth 80.80) he skated the night before. But after Chan's display, nothing less than perfection would do. And while Buttle was very good, he wasn't that good.
A planned triple lutz became a double. He fell on his second triple Axel.
It left Buttle waiting for more than his marks. A little divine intervention, maybe, judging by his prayerful pose.
"I knew (the result) automatically as soon as the technical marks went up," he said. "I was really disappointed that I didn’t get the fourth title. But you know what, I’ve won the title skating worse than that. I’ll take a good skate with second-place than a bad skate with first place.
"Now I feel a lot better going into Four Continents and worlds than I have in the past. Nothing wrong with that."
Nope, nothing at all.
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3 comments:
Love this article! Jeff is such a class act.
I think Canada's in good shape going into 4CC's and Worlds. Pretty classy representatives all around!
I think that's a pretty strong 1-2 punch we're sending to worlds, too. Nice situation for Patrick to get his feet wet at these level, too, going with an experienced guy.
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