KAMLOOPS DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, May 20, 1998

Browning likes what he sees in Canada's future skating stars

By TRACY ELSAESSER
Daily News Staff Reporter

Kurt Browning readily admits he knows very little about the competitive figure skating scene in Canada.

Travelling around North America, making nearly 100 stops between the Chrysler Stars On Ice tour and professional competitions, will do that to a person -- even a four-time Canadian and world champion, an icon in this country and member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

But that's about to change. For the next two weeks Browning will get a close-up look at two of those on the verge of taking over the mantle of Canadian men's skating stardom -- Jayson Denommee and Emanuel Sandhu -- on the 12-city Skate The Nation tour.

Browning relishes the opportunity of skating with an all-Canadian cast.

"This tour kind of gets me back to who I am, or who I was. Back to Red Deer (today's stop), back to Kamloops, and it gets me back to some of the amateur skaters," said 31-year-old native of Caroline, Alta., who was in town Tuesday when Skate The Nation stopped at Riverside Coliseum.

"And even just skating with Emanuel and Jayson, I'm so out of touch with being Canadian and skating in Canada that this tour kind of gets me back to that. It's really exciting to see Canada being that healthy again. Our girls are just missing, but these two kids are exciting, really exciting skaters."

The youngsters have much to live up to. Eight of the past 12 world men's champions have been Canadians, including two-time Olympic silver-medallists Brian Orser (also in Kamloops Tuesday) and Elvis Stojko.

And then there's Browning, perhaps the man with the most natural talent in the lot. He never won an Olympic medal, but does have his name in the Guinness Book of World Records for landing the first quadruple toe-loop in world competition.

His innate musicality and gift for combining technical difficulty with humor and an instant rapport with the audience have made him one of the most popular entertainers in the world.

Following in Browning's footsteps are Sandhu, the 1998 Canadian silver-medallist who created such a stir at nationals, and Denommee, who was fifth. Both have a good shot of coming back to Kamloops in November for Skate Canada.

Browning can see their potential.

"I've heard a lot about Emanuel and now I get to see him and I can understand what the big fuss is about. He's a very exciting skater," he said. "And Jayson is just a riot.

"Jayson, you just don't know what's going to come when he leaves the ice. The kid'll turn four times accidentally. He reminds me of myself a little bit when I was younger because I went up in the air and anything could happen. I could come down sideways, and he does that every once in a while. But his first show in Lethbridge (Sunday), he went down the ice and did a gorgeous triple axel."

It's this pair, among others, that push Browning to become even better -- to "run the ragged edge of my level, the highest level I can do, but still give a consistent show every night."

During Stars On Ice, he was performing eight to 10 triple jumps every night, including the triple axel. Recently, he reclaimed the quad toe to his repertoire, landing it on tour 10 years to the day he made history at the world championships in Budapest, Hungary.

"I would hate to say goodbye to my talent, to good jumps and to use those jumps to enhance the program, just because I was lazy," said Browning. "It's part of my job; it's why I'm paid really well.

"And I think the number of years I have left at the top are a lot less than I have behind me. Now I can sort of see the beginning of the ending coming up. But I'm enjoying this time in my career and I think I'm going to be OK with the levelling off, the tapering off of the pressure of having to be the star."

Thoughts of a simpler life have been pervading Browning's mind more and more. It's a lot of work to tour -- enough that Browning knows he's ready to step away from it, at least for a bit.

"I didn't think this level of intense work was going to be lasting this long. I'm a bit tired," said Browning. "So I think next year I'm going to take some time off. I haven't seen my family -- I don't even know my family anymore. I've sacrificed so much. I think I have to give some of that stuff back."