Only One Way To Go

There is not a hint of doubt anymore about who they are, what they are all about and — perhaps most importantly — where they want to go.
The mad dash is finally over for Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin, who now consider themselves precisely on track in their development as a pairs team. Their performance Friday night in the pairs free program at the 2009 BMO Canadian figure skating championships couldn't have said it more clearly — or loudly.
It was a supremely confident Duhamel and Buntin who set the pace at Saskatoon's Credit Union Centre, hanging a 65.74-point score on the board that couldn't be matched. They'll carry a 3.52-point lead over current world bronze medallists Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison into Saturday's free skate final.
Clearly, this isn't the same team that was merely happy to be a part of the proceedings at the 2008 nationals in Vancouver after putting together their partnership in seven short and frenzied months. They claimed the bronze medals there and went on to place sixth at the world championships two months later in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Things have surely changed in the year since Vancouver.
"We’ve hit a big marker now in that race," said Buntin, 28, of North Vancouver, B.C. "When we first started, our plan was to get here. And this is where we are right now. Some people might say ‘wow, you guys have really taken off’ but no, on paper, this is where we are.
"A little over a year to the (2010) Olympics and those marks are finally starting to look like solid international marks and we were right on track to where we want to be."
They intend to leave Saskatoon as Canadian champions.
"We came here with a plan to do our best short and our best long (programs) and we were hoping we’d be rewarded with first-place marks for both programs," said Duhamel, 23, of Lively, Ont. "One step done and we have to come out tomorrow and stick to our plan."
And where does that plan take them next? Let's the just say this is a pair that isn't exactly thinking small about the year to come.
"Right to the top," said Duhamel, who confidence has blossomed in a noticeable way since she let Buntin do all of the pair's talking a year ago. "You come to a competition to be the best, no matter where you’re going. That’s the only way, whether you win or not, that you’re going to achieve your best result and your best skate."
That kind of thinking goes for the biggest stages of them all, too.
"When we started, the goal was world and Olympic podium," said Buntin. "That is how high we can get. We’ve had stumbling blocks along the way beyond what anyone could have imagined but we’ve managed to stick with our plan and that’s what we’re continuing to do.
"If we come out of this at the end of our careers knowing we did absolutely as best as we could have done and that’s not it, you know what, we’ll have no regrets. But why would we stand here a year before the Olympics and say ‘we’re not going to make the podium?’ Why would we come to this competition and say ‘we’re probably not going to win?’
Good questions. More than ever, they appear to have all the answers.