Canada's elite four in skating showdown

Orser, Browning, Stojko, and Sandhu will match their talents this weekend.

For the past two decades, Canadian men's figure skating has been dominated by the creative genius of four individuals who have won 19 of the past 21 national titles.

Three of them own world championship titles, a total of eight if you're counting.

But only two of this elite group have captured Winter Olympic medals -- identical silver-medal efforts, not once, but twice each.

Come this weekend, Brian Orser, Kurt Browning, Elvis Stojko and Emanuel Sandhu will skate against each other for the first time in the Sears Figure Skating Open 2001, which is formerly known as the Canadian professional championships.

The group of four Canadians will face the music along with American Todd Eldredge and Great Britain's Steven Cousins in tomorrow's men's singles technical program and Saturday's interpretive program during the $400,000 competition for pro and Olympic eligible (amateur) skaters. Both competitions start at 7 p.m. at the Ottawa Civic Centre.

Two-time defending Sears Open champion Josie Chouinard of Laval, Que., and five-time Canadian senior amateur champion Jennifer Robinson of Barrie, Ont., are the top Canadians in the women's singles field. Nicole Watt of Melford, Sask., the 2000 national senior silver medallist, is the other Canadian.

They'll face Lu Chen, the 1995 world amateur champion and two-time Olympic bronze medallist, and American Nicole Bobek, the 1995 world bronze medallist, as well as Viktoria Volchkova, a 19-year-old who is a three-time European bronze medallist.

The pairs competition will feature Kristy and Kris Wirtz of Toronto, the 1998 and 1999 national champions who announced their retirement in October because Kristy is pregnant and due in June 2002; Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, the two-time American champions; and Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev of Russia, the 1998 Olympic gold- medal winners.

A four-time world amateur and three-time world pro champion, Browning, 35, is keen about competing in Canada.

"To me, it's our only pro event in Canada and our chance to strut our stuff on this stage," said the 2000 Open runner-up, who has downgraded his technical program by eliminating the triple Axel after two weeks of hard training and shows in Lake Placid, New York.

"It will be special this year, being in the dressing room with guys going to the Olympics. This may be my last time seeing them before they go to the Games. I'll wish them well and shake their hands."

Stojko, who at 29 is winding down a career of six world championship medals, including three gold, and two Olympic silvers, and Sandhu, who won his first national title last January after an injury to Stojko, are favoured to represent Canada at the Salt Lake City Olympics in February.

Eldredge is the top American men's medal hope, having won six world championship medals and the 1996 gold.

Orser, the 1987 world champion and a two-time silver Olympic medallist, is the elder statesman of the competition. He turns 40 on Dec. 18.