VANCOUVER, British Columbia-Gabrielle Daleman fought through pneumonia Saturday to win the Canadian national figure skating title, and Patrick Chan set a record with his 10th Canadian championship.
Skating on her 20th birthday and only eight months after emergency surgery for an abdominal cyst, Daleman had the crowd roaring with her skate to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."
Daleman landed seven triple jumps and finished with a Canadian-record 229.78 points. After topping the short program Friday, she scored 151.90 points in the free skate.
"You become way more grateful for what you're able to do and how lucky you are when you can't do it, and that's what's really changed me this past year," Daleman said. "I said (Friday) that was the way to end 19 ... this is the way to start 20. It is the absolute best birthday present I could ever ask
for."
Chan finished with 272.24 points, scoring 181.26 on his free skate to Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah."
Keegan Messing, an Alaskan who recently chose to compete for Canada, was second at 259.25, and Nam Nguyen third at 258.16.