Story and Photos Susan D. Russell

Two of Australia’s brightest skating stars, Sean Carlow and Phoebe Di Tomasso, have temporarily relocated to Toronto to train with Brian Orser and his team at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club (TCSCC).

A change of venue is exactly what these two talented athletes needed after what had to be the toughest year in their young lives. After a tragic maritime accident in Sydney Harbour last March set their world upside down, their coach, Elizabeth Cain, decided to send her young charges abroad and Orser was the coach of choice.

The Sydney natives now share the same ice surface as 2008 Grand Prix champion Yu-Na Kim, which both say is very inspiring.

Things did not get off to a great start however. When Carlow, 22, and Di Tomasso, 17, arrived in Toronto on Dec. 27, Di Tomasso found herself without a significant part of her luggage – her skates. Somehow, between Los Angeles and Toronto her bag fell off the airline luggage wagon and it took almost two full days before her errant skates arrived in Toronto.

But when the duo began working with Orser and choreographer David Wilson everything changed. “This is a great opportunity for us. Working with Brian and David is fantastic,” Carlow said.

Wilson also provided another fun aspect shortly after their arrival. During a telephone call with a former client, Jordan Brauninger, the star of the hugely successful Disney show “High School Musical,” which is currently playing in Toronto, Wilson casually mentioned that Carlow and Di Tomasso were coming to the TCSCC to train.

As fate would have it, Carlow and Brauninger were good friends on the junior circuit and Brauninger arranged for the Aussies to attend one of the shows.

Di Tomasso said she finds Toronto cold compared to her native Sydney. As she was trying on her new winter coat, Wilson decided she needed a new name. He christened her “Iniyikyik from Nunavit.” When he explained that was a town in the Artic Circle, Di Tomasso responded: “But that is where we are, aren’t we?” Amid gales of good-natured laughter, Wilson said, “Not quite, but almost.”

Carlow and Di Tomasso have been assigned to the 2008 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea in February. Both have their sights set on the 2008 World Championships in Sweden next March.

Carlow earned an automatic berth after claiming his third consecutive national title last August, but Di Tomasso will have to place higher than her Australian compatriots in Seoul to win that coveted World assignment. Orser and Wilson are on a mission to make that happen.