Two-time Canadian figure skating champion Cynthia Phaneuf announces retirement
September 26, 2012 - 6:06 PM
MONTREAL - Two-time Canadian figure skating champion Cynthia Phaneuf is stepping away from the ice.
The 24-year-old from Sorel-Tracy, Que., announced her retirement on Wednesday, coming after a roller-coaster 2011-12 season nagged by lingering back pain and a coaching change.
Phaneuf, the Canadian champion in 2004 and 2011, was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her back over the summer.
The diagnosis was more bad news for the skater who left her longtime coaches Annie Barabe and Sophie Richard last November and moved to Toronto to train with Brian Orser. The change was an effort to rediscover the form that propelled her to a fifth-place finish at the 2010 world championships.
But Phaneuf failed to make the 2012 world team after finishing second at the Canadian championships.
Phaneuf was 12th at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012