00:00okay here we are skate Canada challenge senior men's event champion winner of the gold medal
00:13from British Columbia Yukon Territory section Wesley Chu Wesley congratulations thank you so
00:20much so I have lots to ask you because I'm not sure if people realize you have been off for quite
00:27a while and this is your first competition I understand from your coach in 14 months yeah
00:34you did have an international last week how did that go for you was it a warm-up um it was more
00:41of a warm-up than I thought it would be but yeah last last week I was in Poland for the Warsaw Cup
00:46and it was such a great experience um that competition was actually the one-year anniversary
00:55of my injuries uh at Cup of China last year so it was it was good to just get back out um it was
01:04refreshing and I was definitely very grateful for that experience well not only have you not competed
01:09for 14 months you've been off the ice you just had surgery in June yes got back to training in
01:14September how have you kept motivated through this lull of not skating and preparing um yeah it was
01:21definitely hard just watching everyone else compete and skate so well um but I really had to take a step
01:32back and reevaluate within myself like sort of why I'm doing it and what motivates me and I think the
01:40biggest thing is just the fans and the audience that I get to skate in front of at these big competitions
01:47and that was something that was taken away from me for basically a year so coming back I think
01:53I definitely have a fresh mindset um just sort of a blank blank slate and I'm definitely
01:59more grateful now for every single opportunity that I get well I'm glad to hear that now I'm sure
02:06you're there's quite a plan to your return and your progress and your loads and things like that
02:11so what will you be doing between now and January for nationals yeah definitely a lot of just training
02:19and run throughs I think um the past like five months I've been fortunate to be able to get out
02:27back in competition but it's sort of been a bit of not a rush but it was definitely tight for sure
02:34but uh yeah I definitely I knew I needed to get back out there feel the nerves again but I'm glad
02:41that now I have time to take all of this new experience in and put in the work before nationals
02:48well I know because besides the physical challenge of getting back into competition there's a whole
02:53mental aspect to it as well so you were in in in Canada and in kind of a home hometown crowd with
03:01lots of friends and um training mates here how did that feel um definitely feel feels good it feels
03:08comfortable um being in my home country everything's sort of familiar um although I haven't really been
03:17around for a while it feels good to see everyone again and yeah it's a good place to start just being
03:24at home being comfortable and feeling my legs again but um we're definitely working towards getting
03:30back out on the international scene well we are so glad to see you back thrilled to see you at the
03:36top of the podium and getting back I'm glad you spent time to re-evaluate and looking forward to not
03:41only this year but many more seasons to come of you competing and skating thank you so much
03:46Wesley Chu everybody
03:48I'm glad to see you at the top of the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the podium and getting back to the
