Buttle reminds Browning of himself

Kurt Browning says Jeff Buttle reminds him a lot of himself in his younger days, and the comparison has to be music to Buttle's ears.

''I loved to compete,'' says Browning, who recognizes a similar joy to perform in Buttle. ''You can see that he's out there enjoying himself and that makes watching him a breeze.

''How you do it is as important as what you do. He makes it easy on the judges and on the audience. I see a lot of my young self in him.''

Browning was 22 when he won the first of his four world figure skating championships in 1989 in Paris, and Buttle is 22 now.

The two shared a conference call to promote the 12-city HSBC Stars On Ice tour of Canada beginning April 14 in Halifax. Buttle, Joannie Rochette and Emanuel Sandhu will join Browning and other veteran cast members in some of the shows.

It was 17 years ago that Browning became the first to land a quadruple jump at a world championship.

''When I was first doing it, there was the allure of trying to be the first to do it at worlds,'' he recalls. ''I wasn't a contender for the No. 1 spot - Brian Orser was.

''All the pressure was on Brian to not make a mistake. I didn't have that pressure on me that year. That lack of worry allowed me to go for it.''

Orser would finish second and Browning sixth in Budapest. Orser then retired, and Browning won gold each of the next three years. He's long ago stopped trying quads.

''I did one about three years ago and I couldn't walk for two days,'' he explains.

Browning was asked if he had any quad tips he could give Buttle, who still wasn't confident enough with the four-revolution jump to include it in his programs at the national championships last month in London.

''If I could give any advice to Jeff, it's to get into a groove working on it and stay healthy,'' says Browning. ''The quad comes slowly but surely.

''You start to get a feel for it. You keep working on it and you start nailing it.''

Buttle, whose best showing at the world championship so far was eighth in 2002, lands quads in practice but rarely tries one in competitions. He has no technical problem. But he needs to become totally confident in the jump. Otherwise, he prefers to avoid falls because the new scoring system rewards skaters who skate cleanly. That was abundantly clear when Buttle won silver at the Grand Prix finals last December.

''I don't neglect to work on it,'' he says of the quad. ''We're definitely pushing it for worlds (in Moscow in March).

''It's a matter of finding the confidence.''

Browning agrees with his approach.

''There's only a handful of skaters in the world who would be considered good enough not to try the quad and still be good enough to win and Jeff is one of them,'' he says.

A rival can try quads all night and, if he doesn't have the overall package, ''Jeff would kick his butt,'' says Browning.

That is what happened when Buttle took the national title from Sandhu in London.

On the tour, Buttle will take part in the Toronto and Hamilton shows, Rochette will perform in Montreal and London, and Sandhu will skate in Vancouver and Victoria.

Browning and the rest of the troupe, which includes Olympic pairs champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier and Olympic men's champ Alexei Yagudin, also skate in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Calgary.

''I know that Canadian fans are going to love the chance to see some of the country's next generation of skating stars involved in this year's show,'' said Browning. ''I've really enjoyed watching Jeffrey, Joannie and Emanuel grow in the sport and it's going to be a lot of fun working with them as a cast member of Stars On Ice.''

It'll be the 15th year for Browning.

''My goal as an entertainer and as an athlete is to come back on the ice recreated each year,'' he said from Toronto. ''So it's very exciting to know the cast is being rejuvenated with young, Canadian talent.''

Buttle will be watching Browning closely.