Kurt Browning still has the edge

Four years after retiring from amateur competition, four-time world figure skating champion Kurt Browning hasn't lost his drive to compete.

"This year I competed against Ilia Kulik, the guy who won the Olympic Games, and beat him, so I don't feel like I'm out of competition at all," he says.

Browning, who turns 32 next month, returns to London on Friday with Skate the Nation, a touring professional figure skating show.

This is the fifth time the show, which is affiliated with the larger Stars on Ice program and directed and co-produced by Browning's long-time choreographer, Sandra Bezic, has come to London.

Also in the show are two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, silver medallist Elizabeth Manley and three-time Canadian champion Josee Chouinard, which means for Browning, it's a chance to work with people who have been with him his whole career.

"Brian (Orser) and I have probably done 75 shows together," he says. "They're my best friends. I work with people that I've known my whole life and shared the good times and the bad times. It's great."

PERFECT TIMING

This is Browning's fifth tour with Skate the Nation since he turned professional after losing at the Canadian nationals in 1994. He says he picked a good time to do it because his move coincided with a dramatic rise in the level of performance in professional skating events.

"Brian Boitano and Brian Orser actually stepped it up another level when they turned professional," he says. "Now it's a place to go and learn how to perform and still compete, whereas before I think it was a place to go and smile on Saturday afternoons."

Browning says it is partly the public's increased interest in figure skating that has driven professional skating to this level.

"Audiences have been educated to the point where they know a bad skate when they see one. If I come to London and don't skate well, they know it."

Best known for his landmark Casablanca-inspired free skate and for being the first to complete a quadruple jump in world championship competition, Browning is still one of the most recognizable names in Canadian figure skating, despite never having won an Olympic medal in three tries.

Since turning professional, Browning's profile hasn't subsided. In the last five years, he has been inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, worked as a commentator for NBC's coverage of the world championships and produced three television specials and a home video. This also has meant that he trains just as hard now as when he was an amateur.

"As a professional you have to train almost every night in front of people. You get 45 minutes to warm up for the show, but that's not really the time that you can train because you've got two hours of hard skating in front of an audience that night."

END IN SIGHT

Browning says it may not be long before the pace and being away from home for eight or nine months a year takes its toll on him, especially after watching some of the younger, amateur skaters in the show.

"When you watch Emanuel Sandhu do his stuff, you start thinking maybe it's time to start stepping back a little bit," he says, laughing appreciatively. "He's got a lot to offer both to look at and on the score card as well."

But Browning says he'll keep going as long as he's competitive, adding that it's rewarding to be 31 and still considered among the best in the world.

"Every year on Skate the Nation I get a chance to get back in touch (with amateur skating) or to leave a bit of an impression on a young skater or even just to see what we've got. For me, it's a chance to get on ice with some of the young legs."