After countless axels, lutzs, flips, loops Salchows, and even a quad or two for old times sake, Kurt Browning will make his final career appearance at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre tonight in Stars on Ice.
“It’s hitting me harder than I thought it would,” said the four-time world champion.
“But I am making peace with my emotions.”
Victoria is the penultimate stop on the Canadian portion of the 2023 tour, which Browning has announced will be his last after 30 years. The final bow takes place Thursday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
“What is padding my emotions in B.C. is that we have eight more shows in the U.S.,” said Browning.
“But the reaction to me in the U.S. is not the same.”
That’s because he was the first in a line of iconic modern Canadian male skaters, which went on to include Olympic-medallists Brian Orser, Elvis Stojko and Patrick Chan.
It’s Browning, 56, who arguably holds the most special place in Canadian sporting hearts among that group that help popularize and re-energize skating in this country.
“I know I will miss it, especially when who you are professionally for so long has been as a performer,” said Browning.
But in typical Browning fashion, he deflected the attention to others: “We have an exciting show again this year with so many different aspects. This is more than about an old guy leaving.”
Two-time Olympic silver-medallist Stojko and Olympic gold-medallist Chan, always popular, are on the roster along with American Olympic-medallist Jason Brown and world champions and 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic silver-medallists Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the U.S. Joining them, among others, are world championship bronze-medallists and Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
“We’ve always relished coming to Victoria near the end of our tour, because of the city itself,” said Browning.
The show routines are set, of course, from stop to stop but it was never a grind over three decades because no two performances are ever exactly the same.
“Every show is the same, yet every show is different,” said Browning. “That is the beauty of performing.”
And it’s something Browning took to a high physical art form.
