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Derochie deals with all the pain
Angela Derochie didn't try even one triple jump in her practice the night before yesterday's short program -- a practice that she aborted after only half its scheduled 40 minutes. She skipped yesterday morning's practice completely, the practice considered the most vital of all before any competitive performance.
Heck, she didn't even skate her full short program from start to finish until she had to yesterday, when the judges' marks were on the line. But that she was still standing at the end -- and that she'll be back for more in tonight's free skate final -- well, that was the victory of the day for the 24-year-old from Carlsbad Springs.
Not that Derochie was pleased with her 19th-place standing. Yes, it was enough to qualify her for the free skate (only 24 of 30 advanced), but she can forget about her goal coming into her first world figure skating championships -- a top-10 finish, although a strong skate tonight could get her into the top 15.
"I still would have liked to have finished a little higher," Derochie admitted as she addressed a small group of Canadian media, dressed in her country's red and white world team track suit. "I wasn't too worried about making the cut (for the free dance) ... that wasn't my biggest worry.
"My biggest worry was whether I would get through the program. (Thursday), I didn't even know if I could compete at all."
The big cause for concern in the Derochie camp was a hip flexor injury that had been aggravated at least twice during the week. It pained her all day Thursday and it was throbbing again as he spoke following the free program. But enough to make her think twice about competing yesterday? Not a chance.
"That's the kind of girl she is," said her coach, Peter Dunfield. "She is very committed to the things she commits herself to ... even if she was crawling, she would have tried to get out there. That's just the way she is."
And when she finally got out on the ice ... well, there was no holding back there, either. Angela Derochie has waited years for this opportunity, to skate against the world's best in her sport's biggest stage of all.
Now wasn't the time to play it safe. Even if being safe, in her mind at least, had kept her fit enough to compete yesterday. And even if her opening combination included the triple lutz -- the jump she was practising Thursday when she aggravated the hip flexor one more time.
"The lutz in the program was perfect, I just didn't go for the landing," she said about the lone fall in her skate (she later landed a clean triple-toe loop and double Axel). "I knew I was going to go for it in the program ... when I was down on the ice, I was asking myself 'am I okay?' but I knew I could continue."
She paid the price for the blown combination -- the judges awarded her scores ranging from 4.0-4.8 for technical merit, and 4.7-5.2 for presentation -- and spent the rest of the afternoon watching some wild ordinal flipping that finally left her settled in 19th.
Derochie said dealing with the injury has been an exercise in frustration, just like a two-month experiment trying to break in new boots that Dunfield said left his pupil's feet bleeding at times. Last week, the decision was made to rebuild her old skates and go with them here.
For sure, all of this it made it tough for Derochie to truly enjoy a short program she absolutely adores. It's entitled Angela's Angels, a compilation of music by American choreographer Mark Militano, composed specifically for her.
"It makes you feel very special -- nobody else has this music but me," she said. "It makes me feel really special, really confident."
Most of the time, that's what it's all about with Derochie. The battle with the demons of doubt in her head has been a long, often bumpy one, but she finally put them to rest by winning her Canadian title in January in Hamilton.
This week has been another test, and yesterday the demons were circling around her one more time. Perhaps it's best to say she's surviving it rather than passing it.
"It makes you stronger when you go through something like this," she said.