An emotional Joannie Rochette burst into tears as she finished her short program last night after skating her personal best this season, two days after the sudden death of her mother.
Flowers rained down on the ice as the 24-year-old figure skater — who goes into the long program on Thursday in third place — skated toward her coach while the crowd gave her a standing ovation.
Rochette’s 55-year-old mother, Therese, died of a heart attack just after arriving in Vancouver from Montreal on Sunday morning.
Only hours after hearing the news, Rochette was on the ice training at Pacific Coliseum.
Rochette, the 2009 World silver medallist, is favoured to medal alongside Korean and Japanese skating superstars, Yu-Na Kim and Mao Asada.
