When Evan Lysacek was training for the world championships last winter, he took a spill that forever changed his figure skating. Lysacek, competing in this weekend's Skate Canada in Ottawa, is considered one of the medal favorites at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He said after what happened, he is "very happy to be skating again."
Lysacek had repeated as national champion in January, edging Johnny Weir on a tiebreaker. Lysacek's blade broke on a practice jump six days before worlds in March. He smashed into the ice, dislocating his shoulder and elbow and damaging ligaments in both joints, and had to sit out worlds.
He had limited ice time for two months. His brain was in overdrive wondering how he could have prevented the accident.
"I was way overbooked," he said. "I had no time to breathe, no time to rest, barely enough time to train. Mentally, I just felt like I'd lost the love of skating."
He got back the love by limiting his commitments and accepting an offer from Russian skating coach Tatiana Tarasova. "I realized I was in a hole and needed to dig myself out," Lysacek said. "I was sort of lost here in California."
So off he went to Moscow in May for three weeks. He learned a new style of movement from Tarasova, who coached Olympic gold medalists Ilia Kulik and Alexei Yagudin.
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