Player's Own Voice podcast: Keegan Messing skates for his brother
Figure skater nails his short program despite chaotic run up to Beijing competition
Even by Beijing 2022 standards, Keegan Messing faced a tense obstacle course to get to the games. A positive COVID test result just before "go time" threatened to undo four years of practice and planning.
He rocketed into Beijing, having flown the long way round the world to get there, too late for his beloved team figure skate event, and just barely in time for his solo skates. But as he hit the ice, exhausted, jet lagged, and disoriented, somehow he also pulled some Olympic magic out of the bag.
Judges, fans, even Messing agreed — his short program was the best he has done in competition, all season long.
Podcast host Anastasia Bucsis asked Keegan how he pulled that off … and his answer is an honest one:
"I'm still trying to figure out how I did it too, because I've had shorter trips and not been able to recover from jetlag. I think there is a bit of adrenaline. I think there's a bit of mental preparation … I kept my mind super positive and understanding that you, you will not feel like yourself here. So I just followed the plan took one thing at a time and I really wasn't given a chance to think. So I just acted, and it worked."
Messing did his best in his brother's name at the Beijing Olympics. Paxon Messing was a nationally ranked snowboarder, who died in an Anchorage Alaska motorcycle crash in 2019.
It has been an emotional roller coaster in the Messing house. A few short months ago, Keegan and his wife Lane Hodson welcomed their new baby boy Wyatt into the world.
Like the CBC Sports' Player's Own Voice essay series, POV podcast lets athletes speak to Canadians about issues from a personal perspective.
Here is a transcript for our hard of hearing audience. To listen to Messing or any of the guests from earlier episodes, and more Canadian athletes throughout the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, head to CBC Listen — or wherever else you get your podcasts.
