A pair of aces

Meagan Duhamel found it fitting she achieved her highest figure skating goal to date in the same place she had her lowest moment in the sport.

On Friday, Duhamel and partner Eric Radford earned the bronze medal in the pairs event at the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in London, Ont., at Budweiser Gardens with a final score of 204.56 points after the long program.

Their performance has opened up a third qualifying spot for Canadian pairs figure skating at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. It almost assured

Duhamel and Radford will be one of the teams representing Canada at the next winter Olympic Games. (The official team will not be named until after next year’s national championships.)

Three years ago, at the 2010 Canadian national championships, Duhamel, with former partner Craig Buntin, finished third and didn’t qualify for the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. If you know Duhamel or read about her, you know going to the Olympics has been her dream since she was a kid learning the sport in her hometown of Lively. It crushed her heart and spirit.

Duhamel thought her “life was over.”

She nearly retired from the sport and walked away, but something inside her wouldn’t allow it. Her heart may have been broken and her spirit squashed, but Duhamel still had fight left in her. Fight that wasn’t going to allow Duhamel to give up. She parted ways with Buntin after he retired in 2010 due to injuries.

Through a coach, Duhamel and Radford got together for a try-out to give pairs skating one last shot.

Radford was in a similar spot as Duhamel. He had just finished eighth with his partner at the 2010 national championships and was left questioning his own desire to stay in the sport.

The two clicked almost immediately, founding their new partnership on the basis of knowing exactly what the other person was feeling and going through. They have made nothing but sure and steady progress as a team. In 2011, they placed seventh at the world championships. In 2012, they finished in fifth place. This year, they kept the trend going by taking third.

“It’s funny it was in the rink I missed the Olympics and I hadn’t been back since that day,” Duhamel said. “When I got to London, I had all these memories of tears of disappointment and feelings of complete failure. It was the lowest point of my life and where it almost all ended for me.

“Eric and I started skating together with the dream to go to the Olympics. We are not giving up on our dream. It is only the beginning for us now. We don’t plan on stopping any time soon.”

Duhamel and Radford were second overall after the short program. They missed taking the silver medal by a point. With their performance and final standing, the pair have now moved into the upper echelon of medal contenders for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

They both feel they have more to show.

“We didn’t skate our best long program at the world championships,” Duhamel said. “We were third and it wasn’t our best. Imagine when we skate our best.”

Duhamel and Radford have battled through nearly identical careers with common background. They’re both from small Northern Ontario towns (Lively and Balmertown); they both started in singles skating; they were both junior national champions and they started pairs skating around the same time. They have known each other for a long time, having gone to their first international event together back in 2001. These two people would do anything for one another.

“We grew up skating together,” Duhamel said. “There is no one I would rather share and take this journey with than Eric. We don’t want to be anywhere else or skating with anyone else. We are where we are suppose to be.”

Three years ago, just like Duhamel was doing, Radford was contemplating his career and wondering if it was done. Radford remembers being in a hotel room after placing eighth at nationals and thinking about what he was doing and the fact he wasn’t going where he wanted to be.

And just like Duhamel, his life changed when the two joined forces. The bronze at worlds is a sign of validation the two are on the right track. It hasn’t been an easy road and they don’t expect it to get any easier.

“We made it happen and that is what I am most proud of,” Radford said. “Nothing has been handed to us. We worked our butts off for every single point we got. We’re going to keep working harder now.

“Meagan and I were at the same place when we found each other. Three years later and we are making our dreams come true. The bronze at worlds means we are doing something right.”

Duhamel and Radford compete next at the 2013 ISU World Team Trophy event in Tokyo, Japan in April. They will then perform for the Stars On Ice Tour. In May, Duhamel and Radford, with their coaches and choreographer, will begin to hammer out a plan to ensure they represent Canada at the next Olympics.