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| Balde Wins Canadian Junior Men's Gold |
| Published on August 09, 2008 |  
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Elladj Balde
August 9, 2008
Article by J. Barry Mittan
 Elladj Balde won the junior men's title in Canada in 2008 after placing second in 2007. He was 21st at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. "My goal was to win Nationals, go to the Junior Grand Prix Final, and skate well at Junior Worlds," he said, "but I screwed up my JGPs. Next year, I'll go senior at Nationals for sure. My goal is to be in the top five in seniors. I'll stay one more year in juniors internationally and want to be in the top five at Junior Worlds next season. Eventually I hope to compete in the Olympics in 2010 and 2014."
Eric Therneu trains Balde in Pierrefronds, Quebec. "I've been with Eric since I was 13," Balde said. "I train for two hours a day, five days a week, and off ice for an hour, three days a week. I do Pilates and cardio during the season and add ballet and yoga in the summer when I'm up to five hours a week off ice. I'm on the ice for three to three and a half hours a day in the summer."
Jean-Pierre Bayer choreographed Balde's short program to "Lunatico" by Gotan Project, "Tanguera" by Mariano Mores, and Por Una Cabeza. "I'd never done a tango before and I wanted to see how it would go."
Tyler Myles crafted his long program using "Freedom" by Mei Li and Yin Yue Hui, performed by 12 Girls Band and the drum solo from "Oziem" by Turku. "The African music was a good choice because it represents me," Balde said.
Both programs were new last season. "I usually change one program every year," Balde said. "Next season, I'll change both just because I'll be going senior."
Off ice, he listens to hip-hop, rap and rhythm and blues. "I played the piano when I was young," he stated. "That was before I skated. I loved it but I had to stop because I didn't have enough time."
Balde, who was born in Moscow, Russia, began skating when he was seven. His mother was a competitive skater in Russia until she was 14 when she had to quit because the ice rink closed in her hometown. She met his father, who is from Guinea in Africa, while both were university students. The family immigrated to Canada when he was two and he took up skating in Quebec.
"I did gymnastics for a year before I started skating," Balde said. "So I was really flexible when I started I didn't want to be a skater. I hated it and did everything I could to stop. When I was ten, I started to like it because I was getting good."
Balde landed his first triple toe loop when he was eleven, then took the summer off from skating, and lost the jump, but soon regained it in the next season. He now lands all the triples including the triple axel, which he first completed at a Junior Grand Prix in the Czech Republic two years ago in practice.
The 17-year-old used a triple axel-triple toe combination, a triple loop and a double axel in his short program last season. For the long, he added a triple flip-double toe-double toe and triple lutz-double toe combinations and three more solo triples - axel, lutz, and salchow.
"I'm working on the quad toe now," Balde said. "But I haven't landed any yet. I'll work more on the quad in the summer. I'm also trying to improve my posture and the in-between steps and to work on transitions and footwork."
In addition to his skating, Balde participates in track and field events for his high school. "I used to do the high jump and the long jump," he said. "Now I run the 100 and 200 meters, but I never train for it, maybe once a year. I was fourth in the 100 at Provincials."
Balde is just finishing the tenth grade. "I like math and want to study architecture at university," he said. "I've always wanted to do it."
For fun, he likes to hang out with friends, play basketball and go dancing. "My cousins are all professional break dancers," Balde said. "I've been break dancing I was 12 and I've tried it on ice but it's pretty hard to do. It would be cool at a show though."
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