WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- World pairs champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday about their startling change of coaches and training locale so close to the Olympics.

	Jamie Sale and David Pelletier are the current world champions, but have decided to change coaches and where they train.

But they declined to reveal all the reasons behind the move that comes just eight months before the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

The Canadian duo's move from Montreal and coach Richard Gauthier to Sale's old stomping grounds in Edmonton is intended to "broaden" their skating, giving them their best possible shot at Olympic gold in February, they said in a media teleconference.

"The added comfort of being in familiar surroundings will help us through the next few months as we prepare for the Olympics and the next world championships," said Sale, 24, a native Albertan who trained in Edmonton until Gauthier paired her with Pelletier in 1998.

Pelletier noted that they felt a change was needed. A combination of things prompted the decision made two weeks ago, he said, but he would not provide specific details.

"Those reasons we would like to remain personal because we don't feel we owe an explanation to anyone except Richard and we did that," he said of their 45-minute meeting with Gauthier, who Pelletier described as his mentor.

Sale is looking forward to training again with Jan Ullmark, who guided her as a singles competitor and pairs skater, with former partner Jason Turner, throughout most of the 1990s.

"Jan is the kind of coach who has been there, done that, even got the T-shirt. He has so much experience I think that will help us a lot," Pelletier said.

Sale and Pelletier's announcement came on the heels of four-time world champion Michelle Kwan's revelation that, for the first time in eight years, renowned choreographer Lori Nichol would not be designing her programs for the Olympic season.

While it is not uncommon for skaters to change coaches on occasion and experiment with new choreographers, it is an unusual move for reigning world champions to make in an Olympic year.

Kwan's agent Shep Goldberg assured Reuters that "there is an upside" to the 1998 Olympic silver medalist's decision not to work with Nichol this season but declined to expand on that assertion for the time being.

Nichol, coincidentally, is Sale and Pelletier's choreographer. Her inspired work is credited with their rapid rise to the top.

Just prior to their move west, Sale and Pelletier spent a week in Toronto working with Nichol on their Olympic season programs.

The short is set to a tango entitled Jealousy, while Rachmaninov's Adagio from Concerto No. 2 was chosen for the long program.

Sale and Pelletier dominated last season, culminating with their world championship victory over two-time Russian winners Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, who are co-favorites for Olympic gold in Salt Lake City.

Meanwhile, Canada's No. 2-ranked team Kristy and Kris Wirtz, whose eighth place in the world championships helped earn Canada three Olympic berths for pairs, also will be leaving Montreal.

The couple is moving to Toronto so they can continue to work with coach Marina Zoueva, who is relocating to Detroit.

The Wirtzes will commute to Detroit a couple of times a week, while training the rest of the time in Toronto.

Sale and Pelletier will launch their skating season in late October at Skate America in Colorado Springs and compete, along with the Wirtzes, at Skate Canada in Saskatoon a week later.