2021/2022 Canadian Men: News and Updates

Postmedia's Dan Barnes tweeted some quotes from Keegan in this Twitter thread (copied out below): https://twitter.com/sportsdanbarnes/status/1488742553495080960
Keegan Messing said he feels like he lost the lottery. The 30 year old figure skater is in Vancouver, still hoping to produce two negative PCR tests for COVID 19 so he can join teammates at Beijing 2022.
“Honestly I’m not even looking at schedules right now. I’m just focusing on my mental health, to keep my mental health strong because this is pretty rough. I’m really just trying not to talk about it too much, to be happy go lucky.”
He said he has no idea where he got the virus.
“I started symptoms maybe on the 22nd but I got two negative tests with the symptoms and my wife and child were perfectly fine. I feel perfectly fine. So I have no idea where I picked symptoms up. I don’t know where it came from.”
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:(
Barnes article:
tinyurl.com

Time running out for Keegan Messing: Olympic figure skater waiting on negative COVID test

Keegan Messing did everything he could to keep COVID-19 at bay as the Olympics approached
tinyurl.com tinyurl.com
 
Lara said:
Ugh. :( Really feel for Keegan, it's so unfortunate for him that the men are first up.
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It's unfortunate for him, but I hope someone else is keeping an eye on the schedule that he understandably wants to avoid. I would think Skate Canada will just have to make an executive decision in the next 48 hours or so at least to use the earned spot by sending the alternate. The Austrian ski jumper in the same situation complimented her federation for how hard they tried to get her to Beijing, but at a certain point, all involved just have to accept that's the way the cookie crumbles.
 
Cross posting from the Team Event Qualification thread.

Article about Keegan and Canada in the Team Event. Some quotes:
Messing’s viral levels must be dropping, however, as the team leadership is “hopeful” he will be able to join the other 12 athletes here at some point. Trouble is, it won’t be in time for the team event. Enter Sadovsky.
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Roman and Keegan have not been in touch, but from Roman (as of yesterday):
“So I haven’t been, like, officially told,” the 22-year-old from Toronto said after practice on Thursday. “I’ve just been told to you know, be ready, and they told me that a long time ago. And so I’ve been kind of sticking to that strategy in practice and making sure that if I’m told ‘you’re doing the short program,’ I’m ready to go.”
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“It’s definitely a really tough time, and (there are) a lot of different obstacles at this OIympics than other Olympics. But, yeah, at the end of the day I’m really focused on my training and really focused on my skating.”
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From Michal Brezina:
"I hope this week he can finally get on the plane. It would be very unfortunate if he had to miss his second Olympics because of a stupid thing. Let’s be honest, it is a stupid thing."
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Scott Moir is also quoted mentioning his disappointment.
 
coppertop1 said:
This really must have thrown Roman off and put an insane amount of pressure on him. It's his biggest stage at this point.

Skate Canada and COC, send in the sub! Don't waste that spot!
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Roman seemed in good spirits after the SP despite being disappointed (if that isn't an oxymoronic statement, lol).
I think Roman was likely expecting to do the FP, since he was sent out with the rest of the TE skaters, so well done under pressure, but I hope he does what he often does, and follow a bad performance with a great one (if we qualify for the TE FP).

I'm not holding out hope for SC/COC to get Wesley ready. I'm reading (on Twitter) comments that people have heard COC/SC will send Keegan out the night before the men's individual event if he passes the tests in time. So I don't think they're going to follow common sense and set a deadline for his test results.
 
screech said:
Roman seemed in good spirits after the SP despite being disappointed (if that isn't an oxymoronic statement, lol).
I think Roman was likely expecting to do the FP, since he was sent out with the rest of the TE skaters, so well done under pressure, but I hope he does what he often does, and follow a bad performance with a great one (if we qualify for the TE FP).

I'm not holding out hope for SC/COC to get Wesley ready. I'm reading (on Twitter) comments that people have heard COC/SC will send Keegan out the night before the men's individual event if he passes the tests in time. So I don't think they're going to follow common sense and set a deadline for his test... results.
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Sending Keegan at the last minute is a terrible idea. How can he get over jet lag and find his bearings? They're putting their eggs in one basket and that never works!
 
coppertop1 said:
Sending Keegan at the last minute is a terrible idea. How can he get over jet lag and find his bearings? They're putting their eggs in one basket and that never works!
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I could understand it if he was a medal hopeful. But as much as I like Keegan and like that he's getting support from SC, sending him has no huge advantage over sending Wesley (or Joseph, or Corey, or Nam). Yes, Keegan would likely place top 10 if he had 2 good skates, but it's not like it's determining Worlds spots or anything. And he won't be at his best if he gets into China just hours before competing. IMO at this point, as much as it completely sucks, they should get Wesley tested and send him over, and send Keegan home to rest up and be at his best for Worlds where his placement matters.
 
Sadovsky….once a head case, always a head case. That 3lutz-double toe combo? Yikes. I think Chiu would have done better.

Re: Messing, he said he tested positive around the 22nd of Jan. That was 13 days ago. Going to be touch and go, obviously.
 
Rafter said:
Sadovsky….once a head case, always a head case. That 3lutz-double toe combo? Yikes. I think Chiu would have done better.

Re: Messing, he said he tested positive around the 22nd of Jan. That was 13 days ago. Going to be touch and go, obviously.
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Give Roman a break. This has put even more pressure on him. How about using terms like "headcase"
 
Rafter said:
Sadovsky….once a head case, always a head case. That 3lutz-double toe combo? Yikes. I think Chiu would have done better.

Re: Messing, he said he tested positive around the 22nd of Jan. That was 13 days ago. Going to be touch and go, obviously.
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I thought he said that on the 22nd he started displaying symptoms, and he subsequently tested negative twice (which is why he headed to Vancouver). He must have tested positive between the 25th (when he was planning to leave Alaska) and the 28th (when the rest of the team left for Beijing).

As for Roman being a headcase. I wouldn't classify him as such. As he said in his interview, his blades hit each other on his salchow take-off. Since he couldn't properly pull in, kudos to him for making at least 3 rotations. And with a rough triple lutz, also kudos to him for tacking on the second jump. Is he a reliable competitor? No. But definitely not a headcase. He can pull it together for sure.
 
coppertop1 said:
Give Roman a break. This has put even more pressure on him. How about using terms like "headcase"
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Is he a child? You’re acting like he is one who needs to be protected and coddled.

I’m sorry but all these skaters are under pressure. You either rise to it or you don’t. Sadovsky has always been inconsistent and has never been able to put back to back clean programs together.
 
Roman looks like he is easily 1 foot taller than Shoma. He is a very tall skater. I would think that alone would impact his consistency and play with his head. For me, when Roman hits it, he is easily one of my favourite male skaters. I am so glad he didn't hang up his skates and has persevered because he has given us some beautiful skates over the years.
 
Roman is over 6”. If anything goes wrong in the air it is pretty impossible to fix. The shorter skaters can fix them selves in the air, Roman must be perfect in the air
 
mackiecat said:
Roman is over 6”. If anything goes wrong in the air it is pretty impossible to fix. The shorter skaters can fix them selves in the air, Roman must be perfect in the air
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He was such a short kid - never would have imagined he'd grow so tall.
 
I think I read in another thread that if an athlete can prove they just had the negative tests they can get an exemption or something? Not 100% sure.
 
screech said:
I think I read in another thread that if an athlete can prove they just had the negative tests they can get an exemption or something? Not 100% sure.
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Might be different for athletes vs coaches, but Bruno Marcotte had this happen to him. Tested positive in Canada, delayed departure until he produced four negative tests in a row. Then tested positive upon arrival and was quarantined for at least a few days. He produced subsequent negative tests and is allowed in the closed loop now, but it seems like it all took a few days to work out.

Hope Keegan is able to get there and compete without any issue. But this is less than ideal preparation and I feel bad for him all around. Missed the team event, and even if he gets to do the individual it looks like it will be basically directly off a plane.
 
Seerek said:
It appears that Wesley was indeed on stand by just in case Keegan's tests weren't negative.

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This has to be incredibly stressful for Wesley. Not making the team, then being told to be ready, then being told that they're waiting as long as possible for Keegan to get the tests. But also being told to be ready to go at the drop of a hat... His hopes must be going up and down like crazy.
 
Updates on Keegan:
  • He's been isolating in a Vancouver hotel, and SC has been doing everything they can for him, including arranging a security gad to stand by so he could exercise in the hotel stairwell, and booking private ice time for him to train
  • He's produced 2 negative tests and SC has applied for a health certificate so he can enter China. They anticipate he'll produce the 3rd and 4th required negative tests
  • SC is hopeful he'll be able to get on a plane Saturday
  • Getting him on a flight is even more difficult than getting anyone else there, since all the charter flights for Team Canada have departed, but they're working on it
In other news, Keegan has been a popular Twitter search trend in Canada with over 10,000 searches.
 
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