http://www.canada.com/reginalead ... d-bfa8-6541a81e0100
The opportunity has had its effect on Duhamel.
"It's phenomenal, unbelievable," Duhamel exclaimed shortly after a training session Thursday. "I couldn't imagine it being any better. I didn't imagine it would be like this. I am so overwhelmed.
"Literally, in three hours I dropped the life that I had and moved to Montreal. I didn't even talk to my parents or my coach. I just said, 'Yup! I'll be here.' "
The pairing happened quickly.
Duhamel approached her coach, Lee Barkell, about asking Buntin's coach, Richard Gauthier, for a tryout.
"At first I didn't tell anybody (about the idea) because I thought people might think I was crazy," Duhamel said with a laugh.
At the time, Buntin, 27, was in full-throttle search mode.
"I'd gotten to a point where I thought, 'OK, I'm going to try out with as many girls as possible.' I had just finished driving about 3,000 kilometres all around Canada and the U.S. skating with anybody that I could, just in case, and on the way back, I gave her a call and said, 'I heard you were interested, let's give it a shot,' " said the Kelowna, B.C., native.
So far, so good?
"So far, so amazing. I can't believe how quickly she's picking this up and how good she is. She's really a diamond in the rough."
......
"I love to be able to train with someone else every day, and to share that drive and that ambition with someone is an amazing feeling. I like to be lifted and I'm pretty fearless," she said.
Just three weeks in, the pair is already sniffing around for competitions.
The plan is to compete with their first program at an invitational competition this summer.
Buntin said they'll be ready.
"Once we finished all of our elements, all the lifts, all the throws, all the jumps, it occurred to me that we would have no technical issues that would be hampering us. It just came down to how hard we were willing to work at becoming a top team in the world," he said. "I am blown away with how hard she works and I am blown away with how quickly we are improving. In a lot of ways, we already look like a top team." |
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