Adam Rippon's Blog or how his crash with Patrick saved his Skate Canada competition!

My first event was Skate Canada. A few days before I had to leave the unthinkable happened, well, the unthinkable for a skater happened. I got sick. I did everything I could to deny the fact that I couldn't breath but I just had to face facts. Why is getting sick so difficult for an athlete?...

It's hard because we are so limited in what medicines we are allowed to take. We have to rely on pretty mild cough and cold remedies no matter the severity of the cold....

When I arrived to Kingston with tissues in hand, I really wasn't feeling my best. I didn't know what I was going to do. I even, as embarrassing and dramatic as this is, looked at myself in the mirror at least three or four times and asked myself "How am I going to do this?" There was one pivotal moment when I started to feel fight in me again; getting in a bad crash with fellow skater, Patrick Chan. It was the 20 minute warm up before our short program, I was skating backwards doing some warm up jumps (walleys) and Patrick was doing foot-work. I jumped up for my last walley and I heard the audience gasp (!!!) and I thought for the one second in the air, "I wonder what that's about." BAM! We collided while I was midair, I flipped over his shoulder and onto my face and my shoulder.... In that moment, I was smacked into reality. I rushed over to make sure Patrick was okay and then went over to Brian to just stand and catch my breath and give my head a minute to stop spinning. I was back in fighting mode...

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