Dube and Davison Win Gold!

Nationals were awesome. The level of figure skating was great and I think it was the best skating we have had for several years. It was exhausting though. Mom and I were at the rink for 12 hours a day.

There will be lots of other posts about the skating but the highlight for me was Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison winning gold in the senior Pairs. They have only been out of juniors for a short time. They won the Junior title in 2004 and had to withdraw from the 2005 Nationals. Last year, they came out of nowhere to win the silver medal - with it a trip to the Olympics and the Worlds. The Olympics were their first big international event and they finished 10th. Then they were off to the World Championships in Calgary and they finished 7th. They had such a great year.

But Jessica got injured and had to have athroscopic surgery on her knee this September, which sidelined them from the enitre fall Grand Prix season - in other words, Nationals was their first competition of the year. Plus, both Jessica and Bryce compete in Senior single skating as well.

They rocked their short program and were in 1st place. This was with Jessica skating in her short program in Ladies on the same night. Jessica eventually pulls out of the Ladies, focusing her energy on the Pairs competition. During their warm up, she looked nervous. Was I just projecting? I don't know. But I was worried. I shouldn't have. They nailed it. Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin, the reigning gold medalist, and in 2nd place after the short, were skating last. Valerie ended up on her butt a couple of times and Jess and Bryce won gold!!!! It was very exciting. I can't wait to see them break into the top 6 at the Worlds in Tokyo in March!