VANCOUVER - After four years apart, Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz are back working together again.

No, the 2003 world ice dance champions aren't partnering up on the ice - though neither skater ruled out that intriguing possibility Tuesday.

Bourne and Kraatz are acting as co-chairs for the 2008 BMO Canadian Figure Skating Championships that are scheduled for Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum for Jan. 16 to 20. They're busy doing promotional work that will continue today in Saskatoon, site of the 2009 championships.

"It's kind of a thrill to be back together and be involved with the sport again as a team," said Bourne, only 32 and still involved in the sport as a coach, choreographer and a successful solo skater in professional ice shows.

"It's such an honour. We're very pleased to be a part of the nationals. It's nice to be able to give back."

"It's the first project that we've worked on together, and for me it's special because the Canadian championships are in my home town," said Kraatz, a Vancouver native who, along with his wife Maikki Uotila-Kraatz, coaches at the B.C. Centre of Excellence in Burnaby, B.C.

This off-ice Bourne-Kraatz project is a sign that the pair's friendship is now on solid ground four years after they split up. The pair retired from competitive skating after winning the 2003 world championship and then Kraatz announced that he didn't want to be a show skater.

The move shocked Bourne and the pair drifted apart.

She lived in the U.S. and tried ice dancing with another partner. When that didn't work, she started doing professional shows as a solo skater. In August 2005, she married her former coach, Nikolai Morozov, but they divorced last July and she has bought a home in Toronto.

Kraatz went back to school, got married and two years ago he and his wife settled in at the B.C. Centre of Excellence, where they coach rising Canadian stars Allie Hann-McCurdy and Michael Coreno.

The 10-time Canadian champions had little contact until an emotional meeting last January, when they were inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame.

"Since last year it's been very exciting to be recognized as a couple and to be with Victor again because we hadn't seen each other in a long time," Bourne said. "We had really different lives. It's nice to do things together. People are excited to see us together."

Then, in March, they actually skated together at the B.C. Centre of Excellence.

Which sets up the million-dollar question: Will they skate together again?

"Oh, absolutely there's a chance," Bourne said Tuesday. "I would never say no to that. Definitely, there's a chance that Victor and I could collaborate and do something together again.

"It would have to be something big. We're in a different stage of life," she continued. "We've already been through the whole competitive side. It would have to be something that we're really proud of, something that we're involved with on the creative side."

Kraatz agreed.

"When Shae-Lynn came by last time (in March) I wanted to see where she was in her life," he said. "That question (skating together) had crossed my mind. That's one of the reasons that we skated together (in Burnaby), to see what it was like. After that initial skate it felt quite amazing. The possibilities are there but do we have the logistics that will enable us to pull it off?

"It's a possibility. It's a discussion topic."

Neither one would say what kind of skating they might do.

"You'll have to stay tuned to find out," Bourne laughed.

No doubt, people will.