American singer on hand to watch Duhamel and Radford skate to her song

Duhamel and Radford in 2011 (Photo By Luu – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

VANCOUVER— Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford’s skate to April Meservy’s cover of U2’s “With or Without You” drew the singer herself to Vancouver on Friday.

The singer/songwriter from Reno, Nev., was at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre to see Duhamel and Radford easily win the pairs short program at the Canadian figure skating championships.

Meservy said in an Instagram post that the trip to Vancouver for herself and two friends was an anonymous gift.

“I was shocked to tears to read a letter informing me that flights, hotel, and a ticket had been booked for me to see ?meaganduhamel & ?ericradford85 skate to my U2 cover at the Canadian National Skating Championships!! I can’t believe it!” she wrote.

Duhamel and Radford scored 81.78 points for their elegant performance, to take a huge 12-point lead into Saturday’s free skate.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better emotional interpretation of her music than we did tonight I think,” Duhamel said, before she and Radford went to meet Meservy. “I think she’s kind of joined the skating fandom now, I think it’s kind of nice to have her support.”

The International Skating Union voted to allow music with lyrics following the 2014 Sochi Olympics, a move designed to make the sport more appealing to young fans.

Duhamel and Radford’s free skate is to “Hometown Glory” by Adele, prompting the obvious question.

“Can you imagine?” Duhamel laughed, when asked if Adele will be at the rink Saturday.

“I went to see her in 2007, she played in this small library in Montreal, maybe 100 or 200 people were there, and ‘Hometown Glory’ was kind of her No. 1 hit at that time, so it’s been a special song that I’ve been very connected to for a very long time.

“But I don’t think she’s going to be here.”