Keegan Murphy had a goal - he just didn't expect to accomplish it with an injured foot.
He had planned to come in the top ten in the Canadian Figure Skating Championships senior men's division, and he did, placing ninth. What he hadn't planned on was putting a skate blade through his foot 14 days before the competition.
"It was totally a freak accident," Keegan said. "These things don't happen, and they've never happened to me."
He came out of jump, and put a skate blade through his other foot, cutting the skin and a tendon.
"From then until a day before I left for nationals I didn't skate at all," he said.
But not going was not an option.
"I didn't work all year long not to try," Keegan said. "To come ninth and skate as well as I did was astonishing to me."
"It showed he was really well trained and ready,' said his coach and mother Eileen Murphy. "I was pretty proud of him. He was in pain the whole week."
The senior championship starts with a qualifying event with two groups of around 22 skaters. Keegan was then in the narrowed down short program competition. He was in 10th or 11th place heading into the final long program competition.
"It went really well," Eileen said. "Both programs were really well received. There's a lot of pressure in the short program because if you make a mistake that's it."
Keegan, 19, was competing again well known skaters including eventual first place winner Jeff Buttle and Emmanuel Sandhu, who is also from British Columbia. Last year, Keegan placed 13th at the Canadian Championships.
"He's extremely excited about next season," Eileen said. His training plan for next year is in the works, and could include a new short program and possibly an international assignment.
Keegan is younger than some of his counterparts, including Buttle and Sandhu, and has a good future on the ice.
"He's right on track actually," Eileen said. "His goal is 2010."
He is already on the development team for the 2010 team.
Keegan grew up in Squamish and now lives in Burnaby, where he trains at Burnaby 8 Rinks and represents Vancouver Skating Club.
And next year's championships should be a breeze.
"If I can do this skating on one foot, I can do anything," Keegan said.
