SEOUL – Nam Nguyen of Toronto climbed three spots with a strong free skate Sunday to place sixth in the men’s event to conclude the ISU Four Continents figure skating competition.
Canada finishes with two medals. On Friday, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto took the silver in ice dancing and on Saturday Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., won bronze in pairs.
In the men’s event, two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan won the gold medal with Jason Brown of the U.S. second and Yuma Kagiyama of Japan third.
Nguyen, ninth after the short, was sixth, Keegan Messing of Sherwood Park, Alta., eighth and Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., 16th.
Skating to a Beatles medley, Nguyen raised his arms in triumph after producing a clean program.
“I made a mistake on my triple Axel (he singled it) but otherwise I’m really happy with how I came back and pushed to the end,’’ said Nguyen. ‘’Having the crowd with me especially at the end during the step sequence, they really took me there.’’
Messing was unable to repeat his strong fourth place skate in the short program.
‘’I felt off physically,’’ said Messing. ‘’I don’t feel I’ve been able to dedicate myself to my training as efficiently as I needed between nationals and here. It just wasn’t enough time to prepare myself fully for this event. My legs always felt a little bit behind me.’’
For the 20-year-old Sadovsky it was all about gaining experience.
‘’The big thing I’m going to work on is my consistency,’’ said Sadovsky. ‘’The short was disappointing here, the long could have been better, but I’m not beating myself up too much about it.’’
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SEOUL – Canadians Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro won the bronze medal in pairs on Saturday at the ISU Four Continents figure skating competition.
China was 1-2 with two-time world champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han first with 217.51 points and Cheng Peng and Yang Jin second at 213.29.
Moore-Towers and Marinaro, first after Thursday’s short program, made mistakes on both their side-by-side triple jumps and dropped to third with 201.80.
“It was rough for us,” said Moore-Towers, from St. Catharines, Ont. “We don’t perform like this in training so it’s a bit of a head scratcher. We’ve been practicing really well so it’s become apparent we need to translate that into competition. We’ll take some good lessons from this competition.”
Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont. were sixth and first-year partnership Lubov Ilyushechkina of Toronto and Charlie Bilodeau of Trois-Pistoles, Que., were seventh.
“We were happy to work together and get through it all,” said Michaud. “Nothing came easily today but that’s all part of the journey.”
In women’s competition, Rika Kihira of Japan won the gold with Young You of South Korea second and Bradie Tennell of the U.S. third.
Alicia Pineault of Varennes, Que., was 10th, Alison Schumacher of Tecumseh, Ont., climbed from 18th to 14th and Emily Bausback of Vancouver was 15th.
“I was able to stay focused during the entire program,” said Pineault. “I tried to go for the jumps even though I didn’t feel like it’s wasn’t going to be perfect.
“I focused on the feeling of my jumps and didn’t get too caught up in results,” said Schumacher. “I can only do my job.”
Competition ends Sunday with the men’s free skate.
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OBERTSDORF, Germany – Stephen Gogolev and Joseph Phan were 1-2 in the men’s junior competition to highlight a strong Canadian performance at the Bavarian Open figure skating competition.
Gogolev, from Toronto, totalled 227.68 points placing first in both the short and long programs. Phan, from Laval Que., soared from fifth place after the short, to take the silver with 206.68.
Canadians also grabbed the top two positions in junior pairs. Kelly Ann Laurin of St-Jérôme, Que., and Loucas Ethier of St-Eustache, Que., took the gold with 139.71 edging Gabrielle Levesque of Bridgewater, N.S. and Pier-Alexandre Hudon of St-Roch-des-Aulnaies, Que., second at 139.57.
There were two sections for the junior women’s competition and Canadians won both. Kaiya Ruiter of Ottawa took the junior 1 with 165.22 while Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., topped the junior 2 with 164.29.
Canada swept the medals in girls novice 2 with Amy Shao Ning Yang of Vancouver first at 114.95, Sara-Maude Dupuis of Anjou, Que., second at 113.88 and Audréanne Foster of Baie-Comeau, Que., third at 98.16.
Michelle Lee of Hamilton took silver in the girls novice 1 with 117.29.
In novice boys, Brendan Wong of Burnaby, B.C., was third and John Kim of Mississauga, Ont., fifth.
The week-long competition, which features a 32-member Canadian squad, ends Sunday.
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SEOUL – Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier won the silver medal in ice dancing on Friday at the ISU Four Continents figure skating competition.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. successfully defended their title with 213.18 points followed by the Canadian champions at 210.18, a personal best international score. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the U.S., first after the rhythm dance, took the bronze at 208.72.
Dancing to “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell, Gilles/Poirier, from Toronto, produced level-four twizzles, lifts and combination spin on route to their third Four Continents medal of their career. They were third after the rhythm dance.
“We’re both really proud of ourselves,” said Poirier. “This was a really quick turnaround after nationals (last month) so to have higher scores at this event compared to the Grand Prix (in the fall) is really satisfying. We are really pleased with our consistency this season.”
“It’s a great set up for the world championships (March 16-22 in Montreal).”
World junior champions Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of St-Hubert, Que., were fifth and Carolane Soucisse of Chateauguay, Que., and Shane Firus of North Vancouver seventh.
“Every competition we keep improving,” said Lagha. “We are learning to deal with all the aspects of competing at the senior level.”
In men’s competition, Keegan Messing of Sherwood Park, Alta., is also in the medal hunt standing fourth after the short program with 94.03 points. Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan leads with 111.82, Boyang Jin of China is second at 95.83 and Jason Brown of the U.S. third at 94.71.
“To go out and skate a clean program just fills me up with the same butterflies as watching my wife walking down the aisle,” said Messing, who skated to Ed Sheeran’s Perfect. “It’s one of the few times I don’t feel like I’m skating alone on the ice. It fills me with such warmth to skate it.”
Nam Nguyen of Toronto is ninth and Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., 17th.
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As we head into the home stretch to the ISU World Figure Skating Championships® 2020 in Montreal, Quebec, we continue to look back at previous world championships staged in Canada. Part 8 of the ten-part series reflects on the 2001 world championships in Vancouver.
As the skating world converged on Vancouver for the 2001 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, there were several intriguing storylines to follow at General Motors Place.
Three-time defending world champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia seemed headed for an inevitable showdown with compatriot Evgeny Plushenko, the heir apparent in men’s figure skating. Michelle Kwan saw a pair of imposing obstacles – namely Russia’s Irina Slutskaya and fellow American Sarah Hughes – standing in her way of a fourth world title. And Jamie Salé and David Pelletier, the darlings of Canadian pair skating, were looking to win gold on Canadian soil.
The men’s battle didn’t materialize as expected.
Yagudin, the three-time defending world champion, suffered a foot injury while training a few days before the competition. He had a forgettable qualifying round, falling twice and landing just three of his seven planned triple jumps to plummet to fifth spot, a fourth consecutive world title clearly in jeopardy.
If there was even a glimmer of hope for Yagudin and the rest of the field, Plushenko made sure it was short-lived with a dominating performance in Vancouver.
With a rousing long program that saw him land eight triple jumps and his signature quad-triple-double combination, Plushenko electrified the crowd with a powerful, adrenaline-filled program on the way to his first of three world titles.
“I’m so happy,” Plushenko told reporters after his long program. “I did everything clean. I am not yet conscious of winning. Maybe in a week or five days, I will realize I won this title. That I did it. I am world champion.”
Yagudin rallied to take the silver medal, while American Todd Eldredge won bronze, a full ten years after winning his first world championship.
At 29 years of age, Eldredge became the oldest men’s skater to win a medal at the world championships since Roger Turner, who was also 29, won silver in 1931.
In the ladies’ event, Kwan trailed Russia’s Slutskaya after the short program but bounced back with a near-flawless long program, including landing her triple toe-triple toe combination – a jump that had given Kwan problems throughout her career.
Canada’s greatest medal hope rested on the shoulders of the pairs tandem of Salé and Pelletier, and the two-time national championships did not disappoint on home soil. In just their third season together, Salé and Pelletier put the finishing touches on an incredible season in which they finished atop the podium in all but one event.
Skating their long program to “Tristan and Isolde,” the duo mesmerized the Vancouver crowd, bringing them to their feet before the music had stopped. At the end of their program, Salé, overcome with emotion and with her arms wrapped around Pelletier, exclaimed, “Oh my God, Oh my God.” Minutes later, as their marks were read, Canada had its first gold medal at the world championships since Elvis Stojko won the men’s title in 1997.
“It was absolutely awesome,” Salé said afterwards. “I was calm, and I enjoyed each moment because it can be overwhelming.”
“This is the best day of my life,” added Pelletier.
Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio claimed gold in ice dance. France’s Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat won silver and Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh took bronze.
The ISU World Figure Skating Championships would return to Canada in 2006 when Calgary hosted figure skating’s flagship event.
Day tickets for the ISU World Figure Skating Championships ® 2020 are on sale now and can be purchased online at montreal2020.com, by phone at 1-855-310-2525 or in person at the Centre Bell Box Office.
2001 WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS MEDALLISTS
DISCIPLINE
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
Men
Evgeni Plushenko (RUS)
Alexei Yagudin (RUS)
Todd Eldredge (USA)
Ladies
Michelle Kwan (USA)
Irina Slutskaya (RUS)
Sarah Hughes (USA)
Pairs
Jamie Salé / David Pelletier (CAN)
Elena Berezhnaya / Anton Sikharulidze (RUS)
Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo (CHN)
Ice Dance
Barbara Fusar-Poli / Maurizio Margaglio (ITA)
Marina Anissina / Gwendal Peizerat (FRA)
Irina Lobacheva / Ilia Averbukh (RUS)
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SEOUL – Canadians Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michae Marinaro placed first in Thursday’s pairs short program ahead of two Chinese couples, including the reigning world champions, to open the ISU Four Continents figure skating competition.
The Canadians confidently skated to Rihanna’s “Love on the Brain”, hitting a triple twist, throw triple loop and side by side triple toe. The ISU Grand Prix Finalists collected a level four for the lift and the side by side spin and posted a personal best of 76.36 points.
“There are definitely a few elements we can execute better,” said Moore-Towers, from St. Catharines, Ont. “But we achieved our goal to deliver a better performance than at nationals (last month).”
China’s Cheng Peng and Yang Jin are second at 75.96 while two-time and reigning world champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han, stand third at 73.17.
“We’re never aiming for second,” said Moore-Towers. “It’s always the goal for us to skate our best and if that lands us on top, so be it.”
Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., are sixth and Lubov Ilyushechkina of Toronto and Charlie Bilodeau of Trois-Pistoles, Que., are eighth.
“We had to fight for some things but we are happy with how it went,” said Michaud. “We worked well together and used each other’s energy.”
In ice dancing, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto are also in a tight battle standing third after the rhythm dance with a season’s best 83.92 behind two American couples. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue lead at 85.95 and Madison Chock and Evan Bates are second at 85.76.
Gilles/Poirier completed level-four twizzles and a level-four rotational lift in their upbeat program to “Mack and Mabel”
“We’re just very pleased that this program has been constantly improving over the course of the season,” said Poirier. “We need to go out in the free dance and skate to the best of our abilities. Our free dance has been really successful for us this year.”
World junior champions Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of St-Hubert, Que., are fifth and Carolane Soucisse of Chateauguay, Que., and Shane Firus of North Vancouver sixth.
“Right now we’re just focusing on the performance and the rest will come,” said Lagha. “We were really in the moment today. It was good.”
Rika Kihira of Japan leads the women’s competition after the short program. Alicia Pineault of Varennes, Que., is 10th, Emily Bausback of Vancouver 14th and Alison Schumacher of Tecumseh, Ont., 18th.
“It was close to my season’s best in terms of points,” said Pineault. “I was disappointed I wasn’t able to do the triple-triple because it has been consistent all season.”
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OTTAWA, ON: Team Canada is sending four senior skaters, 16 junior skaters and 12 advanced novice skaters for a total 32 skaters to Oberstdorf, Germany for the 2020 Bavarian Open. The event will take place from February 3-9.
CANADIAN ENTRIES AT 2020 BAVARIAN OPEN – OBERSTDORF, GERMANY
Kelowna SC / Champs International Skating Centre B.C.
Megan Wing / Aaron Lowe
Andre Bourgeois, Skate Canada NextGen Director, Marie Bowness of Halifax, N.S., and Laurene Collin Knoblauch of Mississauga, Ont., will be the team leaders at the event. Physiotherapist Pat Stanziano of Toronto, Ont., will be the Canadian medical staff onsite. Sabrina Wong of Toronto, Ont., and Lorna Schroder of Georgetown, Ont., and Stephanie Lafleur Morin of Ignace, Ont., will be the Canadian officials attending the event.
OTTAWA, ON: Team Canada will be sending 18 skaters to the 2020 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul, Korea, from February 3-9, 2020. The championships will welcome the best skaters from the Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa.
Canada will have three skaters in each discipline: men, women, pair and ice dance, for a total of 12 entries and 18 athletes.
Canadian champion, Roman Sadovsky, 19, Vaughn, Ont., will be the first Canadian entry in the men’s discipline. Sadovsky won his first Canadian title in January and is coached by Tracey Wainman and Grzegorz Filipowski at York Region Skating Academy.
Nam Nguyen, 20, Ajax, Ont., will also compete in the men’s discipline for Canada. Nguyen picked up the silver medal at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in January. He is coached by Robert Burk and trains at the Richmond Hill Training Centre.
The third entry in the men’s discipline is Canadian bronze medallist Keegan Messing, 28, Sherwood Park, Alta. He is coached by Ralph Burghart and trains in Anchorage, Ak.
Emily Bausback, 17, Vancouver, B.C., will be representing Canada in the women’s discipline. She took home the gold medal at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. She is coached by Joanne McLeod at Champs International Skating Club of British Columbia.
Alison Schumacher, 17, Tecumseh, Ont., will be the second Canadian entry in the women’s discipline. In January, Schumacher won silver at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. She is coached by Tracy Wilson at Riverside Skating Club.
Alicia Pineault, 20, Varennes, Que., will be the final entry in the women’s discipline. She finished fourth at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championship and is coached by Stephane Yvars in Boucherville, Que.
Canadian pair champions Kirsten Moore-Towers, 27, St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro, 27, Sarnia, Ont., will be the first Canadian entry. They are coached by Bruno Marcotte in Oakville, Ont.
Evelyn Walsh, 18, London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud, 23, Trenton, Ont., will be the second pair team representing Canada. The duo finished second at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. They are coached by Alison Purkiss in Brantford, Ont.
Lubov Ilyushechkina, 28, Toronto, Ont., and Charlie Bilodeau, 26, Trois-Pistoles, Que., will be the final pair entry heading to Seoul. This season, the team won the bronze medal in January at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. They are coached by Richard Gauthier in Saint-Leonard, Que.
In ice dance, Canadian champions Piper Gilles, 28, Toronto, Ont., and Paul Poirier, 28, Unionville, Ont., will be one of three teams to represent Canada. They are coached by Carol Lane, Juris Razgulajevs and Jon Lane and train out of Scarborough, Ont.
Marjorie Lajoie, 19, Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha, 20, Saint-Hubert, Que., will be the second Canadian entry in ice dance. The team secured the silver medal at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. The two are coached by Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haguenauer in Montreal, Que.
Shane Firus, 25, North Vancouver, B.C., will be the third Canadian entry. They finished third at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships and are coached by Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon in Montreal, Que.
Cynthia Ullmark of Canmore, Alta., and Carolyn Allwright of Waterloo, Ont., will be the team leaders at the event. Dr. Laura Cruz of Toronto, Ont., and physiotherapist Scott Fraser of Kingston, Ont., will be the Canadian medical staff onsite.
Nicole Leblanc-Richard of Dieppe, N.B., and Veronique Gosselin of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., will be the Canadian officials attending the event.
Amanda Gashi, Skate Canada Communications Manager, will be the media attaché at the event. She can be reached onsite at [email protected] or 613-790-1303.
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ROUEN, France – Les Suprêmes from St-Léonard, Que., won the bronze medal on Saturday at the French Cup synchronized skating competition.
The Helsinki Rockettes grabbed the gold with 227.48 points followed by their Finnish compatriots Marigold Ice Unity in second at 224.08. Les Suprêmes maintained third place totalling 219.39.
Skating for the Suprêmes were: Jessica Allaire, Rebecca Allaire, Karianne Bégin, Julia Bernardo, Loriana Cocca, Marie-Ève Comtois, Ariane Conn, Laurie Désilets, Olivia Di Giandomenico, Lisanne Foley, Peter Gerome, Alessia Hart-Lewis, Giulia Hart-Lewis, Grace Carol LeTouzel, Dana Malowany, Agathe Merlier, Andréanne Paradis, Martha Pietrasik, Alessia Polletta and Florence Poulin.
“We felt super proud about our performance,” said Désilets, the team captain. “We really went and gave the performance we had hoped for. We really felt it and the crowd did as well and that gave us more energy. The result is a great outcome for us. We worked really hard the last few weeks.”
In junior competition, Junost from Russia won the gold medal followed by two teams from Finland: Dream Edges in second place and Musketeers in third.
The two Canadian entries dropped in the standings. Nexxice from Burlington, Ont. went from fifth after Friday’s short to sixth while Les Suprêmes juniors slid from fourth to sixth overall. There were 14 teams.
The Nexxice skaters were: Christina Au, Ninna Blom, Savana Bosco, Kayleigh Cheung, Avery Clark, Alice Douplik, Vasiliki Victoria Kiriakou, Cassandra Leung, Natalie Leung, Kathryn Malott, Abbey McMurray, Victoria Morgado, Noora Naatsaari, Mya Napier, Matilda Nilsson, Miriam Pedrozo, Lauren Pollack, Beatrice Sassi and Angela Yang.
Skating for les Suprêmes were Jade Deschênes, Solène Aymard, Émilie Beaucage, Julia Caponi, Alona Chabalin-Zea, Alice Cormier, Thea Dimbu, Natasha Gligorijevic, Victoria Gligorijevic, Charlotte Grutter, Josephine Kawa, Astrid Kumpulainen, Audrey-Ann Lajeunesse, Audrey Landrey, Mia Lasalle, Olivia Ronca, Simona Ronca, Lauren Santori, Frédérique Savard and Sara Squalli.
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ROUEN, France – Les Suprêmes from St-Léonard, Que., won the bronze medal on Saturday at the French Cup synchronized skating competition.