It's Always Something

Marie-France Dubreuil has called it her 'bonus' competition.
The chance to skate in the 2006 world championships in Calgary, just weeks after a frightening fall on a rotational lift crushed the Olympic medals dreams of Dubreuil and her partner, Patrice Lauzon.
Following that logic, maybe we should think of Canadian title No. 5 as Dubreuil's 'bonus' championship. She revealed after their free dance that a painful leg injury she suffered Monday — a complication of an inner ear problem — nearly forced the world silver medallists to withdraw from this week's nationals.
The 32-year-old from Montreal contracted a virus about 10 days while she and Lauzon were still at their training base in Lyon, France. She continued to train, but suffered through dizzy spells.
“I thought it was because of the virus, but something in my inner ear shifted,” she said. “Every time I moved my head, I would have vertigo and it was horrible. I didn’t realize it was in my inner ear, I thought it was the virus. I kept trying to train but I was so dizzy at one point I almost fainted because of the vertigo.”
Dubreuil collapsed to the ice at one point, injuring her left knee and ankle.
“Monday night, wasn’t sure going to come (to Canadians),” said Dubreuil. “But I found a doctor who specialized in inner ear (problems), and at the last moment he did a manipulation and he fixed it.”
But for 48 hours, she could only sleep sitting up.
“The first few practices here, I couldn’t do any head movements and I could barely walk on my leg,” said Dubreuil. “I had a really hard time dealing with this and training at the same time.”
Dubreuil has been doing physiotherapy while in Halifax, and plans to see a doctor in Montreal next week.
“My leg was a little bit shaky today,” she said. “But I’ll take care of it. But the main thing is to be at our peak for worlds and not here at Canadians.”
Said Lauzon: “The worst that could happen is the (refining of their programs) that we wanted to do before Four Continents (in February) will have to wait until before we go to worlds.”
Dubreuil and Lauzon were still clear winners here, their jazzy free dance to Etta James' My Life earning a standing ovation from the Metro Centre audience.
“We took a lot of pleasure skating and gave a lot of pleasure to the people watching,” said Dubreuil.