Buttle wins second consecutive Canadian title

Buttle won with a total of 266.90 points, well ahead of Sandhu with 247.08

? Jeffrey Buttle dazzled a crowd of 7,200 and a panel of judges who gave him a resounding victory over nemesis Emanuel Sandhu yesterday at the Canadian figure skating championships. It was Buttle's second Canadian title in a row.

In the opinion of the judges and technical officials, the fight wasn't even close, although both made mistakes. Buttle won with a total of 266.90 points, well ahead of Sandhu with 247.08.

Last year's bronze medalist Shawn Sawyer of Edmundston, N.G., finished third overall with 232.90 points.

Christopher Mabee of Tillsonburg, Ont., overcame disappointment in the short program to roar back into contention with a stellar long program, finishing third, but fourth overall with 225.22 points.

And the crowd bid a tearful goodbye to 26-year-old Ben Ferreira of Edmonton, who knew that his Olympic dream had gone bust when he finished seventh in the short program. He quickly decided to end his career with his long program on Saturday, and not even think about being part of a Four Continents Championship team.

Ferreira didn't have the performance he wanted, and finished 11th in the long program, eighth overall. Ferreira had been the silver medalist in 2004 and decided to chase the third Olympic berth. He received a standing ovation in spite of his miscues.

Instead it looks as if Buttle, Sandhu and Sawyer will be headed to Turin, although Skate Canada does not make its final decision until Sunday afternoon.

Not everybody agreed that the point difference between Buttle and Sandhu should have been so cavernous. Buttle also defeated Sandhu by 12.23 points and had a 7 ½ point lead on the three-time Canadian champion heading into the long program.

Sandhu couldn't believe it. "I'm surprised at the point difference,'' he said. "It's a big point difference, a little too big for my pleasure. I have to see the results sheet. But I've had a good week here....Of course I'm disappointed right now, but hopefully, I'll get over that.''

Buttle fell on a quadruple toe loop jump, turned out of a triple Axel, and doubled a triple loop. When he landed his final jump, a triple Lutz, the crowd roared wildly. Stuffed animals rained onto the ice.

Sandhu tried to do a quad-double toe loop combination, but he turned out of the quad. Later, he singled a triple Axel that was to be part of a triple-triple jump combination. Overall, he landed seven triple jumps, Buttle landed six cleanly.

Buttle blasted Sandhu on technical content 73.08 points to Sandhu's 63.25.

And the judges also preferred Buttle's presentation 79.30 points to ogram compedy'dhWhile judges gave Buttle 73.08 for technical elements, they handed Sandhu 63.25. Buttle blasted Sandhu on program components, or presentation, 79.30 points to Sandhu's 75.90.

"I think I spin faster,'' Sandhu said.

But the vagaries of the new judging system worked against Sandhu on his quad jump combination attempt. When Buttle fell on his quad, he still earned six points for the attempt. Sandhu didn't fall on his, but lost two points for stepping out of the quad. On top of that, because he stepped out of it, the system doesn't recognize it as a jump combination anymore, but a jump sequence. Jump sequences are worth only 80 per cent of jump combinations, so Sandhu's points for the valiant attempt dropped to 6.2.

It would have been better for Sandhu not to even have attempted the double toe loop on the end of the quad. The old system rewarded brave attempts. The new one doesn't.

Sandhu also landed no triple Axel combinations, while Buttle delivered a triple Axel - double toe loop combination. Sandhu's second triple Axel turned into a single, an extremely costly error under the new judging system. The points for that one jump dived from a possible 7.5 (and higher if judges thought it was done well) to only .76 points.

Sandhu skated before Buttle, and quickly hustled backstage to watch his rival. Afterward he said that if he had done that second triple Axel in combination, he would have been confident of winning. "But when I saw the marks go up...I expected things to maybe be a little bit closer,'' he said. "For me to be so far behind is hard for me to wrap my mind around.''

Buttle said he had no idea how Sandhu skated. He found a remote corner of the Civic Centre, turned his Walkman on full steam and tuned out. "I'd prefer not knowing,'' he said. "If I can hear that they skated really well, then that's putting more pressure on myself than I need to. And if I hear that they haven't skated very well, then maybe I start to get a bit cocky and a bit confident and neither of those things is any good.''

After he skated, Buttle said he asked his coach, Lee Barkell, if he had done enough to win. Barkell told him he was confident that he had. "I trust him,'' Buttle said.

Barkell is a particularly astute student of the new judging system. His students come to an event well prepared for its oddities and effects.

He said he knew he had a 7 ½ point lead going into the long program, and he was able to increase his technical points over the routine he did in the qualifying round.

"I think we should both feel pretty good about what we did this week,'' Buttle said. "Last year, we both put down fairly good long programs and that was about it. This week, I think we've put down three pretty solid skates, both of us. I'm just happy with what I did. I can improve from here.''

Buttle said he's landed quads all week in practice. He almost landed one in warmup.

Reminded that the impressive stable of Canadian male skaters over the years has never won an Olympic gold medal, Buttle said he's like to become the one to finally do it. "All I can do right now is train as hard as I can and be confident in that training and go without any doubts.''

Sawyer got a standing ovation for his extraordinary qualities that feature his flexibility and include seemingly impossible spins and spirals. His marks were the best he's ever achieved.