Seven Seasoned Skaters to Compete at Grand Prix de France

/by

OTTAWA, ON (October 30, 2023) – Following a great showing at 2023 Skate Canada International last weekend, seven experienced skaters are heading to Angers, France to compete at the Grand Prix de France from November 3-5, 2023. Two ice dance teams, one pair duo and one man will be competing over the weekend.  

Leading the team will be 2023 Canadian Ice Dance Champions Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen, who most recently claimed a bronze medal at the Finlandia Trophy. They will be joined by 2023 Budapest Trophy silver medalists Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac.  

In the pair competition, Lia Pereria and Trennt Michaud will have their sights set on the podium after placing second at Skate America a few weeks ago. 2023 Autumn Classic International bronze medalist Stephen Gogolev will be completing the team.  

Competition starts on Friday, November 3 with every discipline performing their short program/rhythm dance. All medals will be awarded on Saturday, November 4, as all disciplines will perform their free program/free dance. The event concludes on Sunday with the exhibition gala.  

For the full competition schedule, entries and results, please visit www.isu.org. To watch the event live, click here.  

Team Canada 

Name | Age | Hometown | Coach | Training Location    

Men 
Stephen Gogolev | 18 | Toronto, Ont. | Rafael Arutyunyan & Lee Barkell | Irvine, USA 

Pair 
Lia Pereira | 19 | Milton, Ont. & Trennt Michaud | 27 | Brantford, Ont. | Alison Purkiss | Brantford, Ont. 

 Ice Dance
Laurence Fournier Beaudry | 31 | Montreal, Que. & Nikolaj Soerensen | 34 | Montreal, Que. | Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon | Montreal, Que.    
Marie-Jade Lauriault | 26 | Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, Que. & Romain Le Gac | 28 | Laval, Que. | Marie-France Dubreuil | Montreal, Que.   

Team Leader – Andre Bourgeois
Official – Patty Klein
Medical Team – Marianne Chabot & Kirsten Lemmon 

Gold for Canadian Pair and Ice Dance Team at Skate Canada International

/by

Vancouver, Canada (October 28, 2023) – Deanna Stellato-Dudek of Chicago, USA and Maxime Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., showed that they are well on the path towards their goal of standing on the podium at the World Championships in Montreal next spring with a commanding free skate that earned them the gold medal in the pair competition at 2023 Skate Canada International.

Piper Gilles of Toronto, Ont., and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., also retained their Skate Canada International title for the fourth year in a row with a beautiful performance in the free dance to win gold in ice dance.

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps scored a personal best of 142.34 in their free skate to the theme from “Interview with a Vampire” to win gold by 27 points (214.64 total score) over the Hungarian team of Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko who took silver (187.78). The Italian team of Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise captured bronze (181.42).

“I’m very happy with today’s performance which is a rarity for me,” laughed Stellato-Dudek following their performance. “It’s still early in the season, but we’ve been waiting for a performance like this for years. We were sick of it last year and never skating even close to a clean long program, so we worked really hard to be able to put this out today.”

Kelly Ann Laurin of St-Jérôme, Que., and Loucas Éthier of Deux-Montagnes, Que., improved on their short program performance where they were sitting in seventh, to finish the competition in fifth overall with a total score of 168.12. Brooke McIntosh of Toronto, Ont., and Benjamin Mimar of Terrebonne, Que., finished sixth overall with a total score of 166.00.

Gilles and Poirier performed a moving free dance to music from “Wuthering Heights” to win their first gold of the season with a total score of 219.01. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain and Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius of Lithuania retained their positions from the rhythm dance to capture silver (209.55) and bronze (192.01) respectively.

“This has been such a successful competition for us,” said Poirier. “We’ve been able to debut both of our new programs which has been really exciting just to put them out there in the world. We’re proud of how we skated and contained our nerves, and we’re both really looking forward to improving on both of these skates as we go through the season.”

Alicia Fabbri of Terrebonne, Que. and Paul Ayer of Brossard, Que. finished seventh with a score of 173.34, while Molly Lanaghan of Doncaster, GB and Dmitre Razgulajevs of Ajax, Ont. placed ninth.

Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., bounced back from her disappointing short program on Friday with a flawless free skate in the women’s competition that gave her the second highest score of the day, which saw her move her up from eighth to fourth overall with a total score of 189.91.

“I’m feeling really good. I was very disappointed after my short yesterday, but I was able to pull it together in the free to put up a really big score which is what I was really looking for. I know I can skate a good short, but sometimes the free gets away from me so I was really happy,” said Schizas whose free skate score of 132.47 is a new personal best and season’s best.

Kaori Sakamoto, the reigning world champion, continued her dominance in the free skate to win the gold with a total score of 226.13. Chaeyeon Kim of Korea took the silver with an overall score of 201.15, and Rino Matsuike of Japan took bronze with an overall score of 198.62. Senior Grand Prix rookies Kaiya Ruiter of Calgary, Alta., and Sara-Maude Dupuis of Montreal, Que., finished the competition 10th (155.44) and 11th (151.95) respectively.

The men’s competition saw Wesley Chiu of Vancouver, B.C., take the title of the top Canadian as he finished in seventh position with a total score of 221.54. Toronto’s Conrad Orzel finished 10th with a total score of 213.12, and Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., finished 12th with a total score of 189.38.

It was a close fight for the gold, with Sota Yamamoto of Japan squeaking through to take the gold with an overall score of 258.42 – just ahead of his teammate Kao Miura who took silver with an overall score of 257.89. Matteo Rizzo of Italy captured bronze with a total score of 246.01 after an inspired performance that saw him move up to the podium from eighth after the short program.

Next up for Canadian skaters is the Grand Prix de France taking place in Angers, France from November 3-5, 2023. For full results, please click here.

Canadian Pair and Ice Dance Teams lead after First Day of Skate Canada International

/by

Vancouver, Canada (October 27, 2023) – 2023 World Championship bronze medallists Piper Gilles of Toronto, Ont., and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., showed they are back on form Friday at the Skate Canada International competition taking place at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, B.C., as they set a season’s best score in the ice dance competition.

Gilles and Poirier have won this event three times in the past, and with a score of 87.55 in the rhythm dance, they look poised to repeat again this year.

“We’re really pleased with our skate today, it’s the first competition of the season for us and it’s the first time performing this program in front of people, so I think we’re really pleased with how that went,” said Poirier. “We really took our time, and allowed the program to come to us, and that’s the way we want to approach competitions this early in the season. We want this program to emotionally grow as we go through the season, but (today) we really focussed on the skating and making sure it was clean and I think we accomplished that today.”

Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain sit in second with a score of 83.51, while Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius of Lithuania sit third with a score of 75.60. Canadian skaters Alicia Fabbri of Terrebonne, Que., and Paul Ayer of Brossard, Que., currently sit seventh (68.31), while Molly Lanaghan of Doncaster, GB and Dmitre Razgulajevs of Ajax. Ont., sit 9th (65.97).

Deanna Stellato-Dudek of Chicago, USA and Maxime Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorian, Que., gold medallists at the 2023 Autumn Classic International in Montreal earlier this fall, dominated the pair competition and set a season’s best score of 72.55 in their short program to sit first heading into Saturday’s free skate.

“This is a fast song with lots of fast, dynamic arm movements, so we had to work a lot on that, and a lot on the intricacies of the in-between the element parts so we’re happy with that. The twists and the toes were nice, but I’m not happy with the throw,” said Stellato-Dudek following the skate.

Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise of Italy currently sit second (65.83), and Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore of Australia sit third (62.80). Brooke McIntosh of Toronto, Ont., and Benjamin Mimar of Terrebonne, Que., are sitting fifth with a score of 59.83, while Kelly Ann Laurin of St-Jérôme, Que., and Loucas Éthier of Deux-Montagnes, Que., sit seventh with a score of 57.14.

In the women’s competition, 2023 Canadian Champion Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., is the top Canadian following the short program, despite downgrading her double axel to a single midway through her program. Kaiya Ruiter of Calgary, Alta., and Sara-Maude Dupuis of Montreal, Que., who are both making their senior grand prix debuts, are sitting 9th (55.82) and 10th (52.17) respectively following the short program.

The men’s short program closed out the event on Friday night and 2023 Canadian Championships silver medallist Conrad Orzel, of Toronto, Ont., led the Canadian men’s efforts with a score of 77.68 to head into the free skate on Saturday in 6th position.

“To be honest, I was really nervous for this competition because it’s my only Grand Prix and I really wanted to have a good showing because I felt I’ve improved a lot, and it would mean a lot for me to be able to show it. I was proud that I was able to control my nerves for my quads but I lost focus on the axel and that sort of ruined the happiness I had before the axel,” said Orzel. “I’m really looking forward to showing a good performance (tomorrow).”

Wesley Chiu had his hometown Vancouver fans cheering loudly for him as he scored a 76.94 to end the day sitting in 7th, while Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., who was a late addition to the competition following the withdrawal of Roman Sadovsky, did himself proud in his senior Grand Prix debut scoring a season’s best 72.56 to sit 9th heading into Saturday’s free skate.

The event will wrap up Saturday with the free programs/free dance for all disciplines. For more information about the event or to view the livestream, visit skatecanada.ca. For full results, please click here.

Adult Skaters Embrace their Competitive Edge at ISU Adult Figure Skating Competition

/by

NASHVILLE, USA (October 25, 2023) – Canadian athletes came away with 41 medals over the weekend at the 6th North American Adult Figure Skating Competition taking place at the Bellevue Ford Ice Centre in Nashville, USA from October 18-22, 2023. 59 adult skaters competed for Canada at the five-day international competition.

“It’s so inspiring to see these people from all over the world with one common passion embrace their arena of competition and each other,” shared Jan Calnan, member of the ISU Adult Figure Skating Group.

Canadian skaters brought home medals in the following categories:

Gold
Kara-Lee Blais – Masters Women II
Gaye Cail – Bronze Women IV
Sandy Cardarelli – Bronze Women III Artistic Freeskate
Diane Cote Fregeau – Bronze Women V Artistic Freeskate
Evelyne Desmarais – Gold Women II
Bev Dodge – Silver Women IV Freeskate
Anick Hamel – Bronze Women II
Carol Ann Lehovich – Bronze Women III
Patricia Leong & Jim Leong – Adult Pair Freeskate
Cathy Lynd – Silver Women III
Mireille Parent – Gold Women IV & Gold Women IV Artistic
Barbara Tkach – Silver Women V Freeskate & Silver Women V Artistic Freeskate
Michelle Swan – Gold Women II Artistic
Team Storm (A) – Adult Synchronized Team
Team Storm (M) – Masters Synchronized Team

Silver
Patricia Clarke – Bronze Women III
Patricia Clarke – Bronze Women III Artistic Freeskate
Kelly Clements – Masters Women III
Karen Coprietti – Bronze Women IV & Bronze Women IV Artistic Freeskate
Diane Côté Fregeau – Bronze Women V
Danielle Duclos – Silver Women III Artistic
Dev Dodge – Silver Women IV Artistic Freeskate
Angela Justason – Gold Women III Artistic
Jim Leong – Silver Men III & IV Artistic
Patricia Leong & Jim Leong – Adult Pair Artistic
Ice Unite – Adult Synchronized Team

Bronze
Gaye Cail – Bronze Women IV Artistic Freeskate
Sandy Cardarelli – Bronze Women III
Debbie Chen – Bronze Women I
Liz Christensen – Gold Women II Artistic
Danielle Duclos – Silver Women III
Patricia Leong & Jim Leong – Silver Free Dance
Fletcher Lu – Silver Men III/IV Freeskate
Cathy Lynd – Silver Women III Artistic
Cathy Lynd & Fred Gutz – Silver Patter Dance
Lindsay Mackenzie – Gold Women II
Annie Sarrazin & Imre Varkonyi – Bronze Pattern Dance
Michelle Swan – Silver Women II Freeskate
Sean Elley and Lisa Chatterson-Elley – Adult Pair Artistic

For full competition results, click here.

Skate Canada Announces 2023 Skate Canada International Broadcast Team

/by

Ottawa, ON (October 25, 2023) – Skate Canada is pleased to announce the talented team of former high performance athletes that will bring a fresh approach to skating coverage at 2023 Skate Canada International, which will take place in Vancouver, B.C., from October 27-29, 2023.  

Our live stream will welcome back Kevin Reynolds, Kaetlyn Osmond, Kirsten Moore-Towers, and Kaitlyn Weaver, along with host Ted Barton to provide us with in-depth commentary throughout the week for English viewers. French viewers will also receive top-notch coverage throughout the event as Alicia Pineault, Charlie Bilodeau, Élisabeth Paradis, and Laurence Darveau make their live stream debut.  

This enhanced production aims at providing positive analysis of our sport and a supportive approach to help skaters on their individual journeys to achieve excellence. Fans can stream 2023 Skate Canada International on skatecanada.ca, CBC.ca, or CBC Gem. These will be the only places to watch this prestigious event, as there will be no network broadcast.  

For more information about Skate Canada International, click here. 

Adaptive CanSkate is a Win for Everyone

/by

In the Fall of 2022, the phone started ringing and emails started coming into the Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club (KWSC). Parents had questions about possibilities for their children with disabilities to access the club’s CanSkate program. They wanted to know what kind of equipment was available and if there was a volunteer that could be with their child while they were on the ice.

Debra Brown, Executive Director of KWSC, started looking at the landscape in her local community. There were programs like sledge hockey, gymnastics, baseball and even horseback riding but nothing regarding learning to skate. The demand was there but how could they make that work at their club? Inspired by the recent Skate Canada annual Ice Summit, Brown remembered a workshop focused on adaptive skating that a colleague of hers mentioned and had also returned with numerous resources. Slowly the pieces started coming together.

“We will need a process for kids to be accompanied on the ice, funding and some support in working with children with disabilities,” she thought to herself. Where there is a will, there is often a way and around the same time, Brown discovered that the City of Waterloo was giving seed money in the form of community cash grants. For assistance, she reached out to KidsAbility, a non-profit that provides support for children and youth to reach their communication, social, physical and behavioural goals. KWSC received the grant and the journey towards building the program began.

With the support and expertise of KidsAbility, KWSC was able to train all their volunteers on best practices when working with children with disabilities. In the Fall of 2022, KWSC launched their pilot adaptive CanSkate program with eight skaters and nine volunteers registered.

Alison McLaren, who is now the Program Coordinator, was one of the original volunteers. “One of my best friends has a daughter with a disability, and I have seen first-hand the lack of inclusive recreation opportunities available to her. When I saw that the KW Skating Club was starting an Adaptive Canskate program, I knew I wanted to be involved.”

This was the beginning of something that would soon make session days her favourite day of the week. While Alison does receive some pay for her role in the program, she says that this is really a passion project for her.

A regular at the program is Kunsh who is 14 years old, has down syndrome, and is non-verbal. This program makes a difference, not just for him but for his mother. “I am very happy seeing the changes in Kunsh,” she shares. “He is very happy skating and always with a big smile on his face.” His mother Nidhi wishes the club ran summer sessions because “he loves it so much”.

Alison and Nidhi recount his progress and how the program helped him get there. It was slow and took many sessions. He started by just getting in the arena. The next step was getting him to wear skates, to moving around and keeping his balance on his skates and then finally, Kunsh was on the ice with his skates at the last session.

The program’s success stems from the fact that volunteers are able customize it and give children one-on-one attention. Kunsh’s Mom confirms the same. She explained that his on-ice aid Leah has been a huge difference maker and that she engages Kunsh with bubbles, little basketballs and is always encouraging him to be involved.

“It’s a win for everyone,” Alison says. “A win for the club, a win for the volunteers and a win for the kids.” As of this fall, the club is now offering two sessions of Adaptive CanSkate and both currently have a waitlist.

The landscape continues to shift in terms of adaptive and inclusive sporting opportunities and while there might still be a lot of work left to do, this reminds us just what is possible and how much impact it can have.

Click here to learn more about Skate Canada’s clubs and programs.

World-Class Talent Heads to Vancouver for 2023 Skate Canada International

/by

OTTAWA, ON (October 23, 2023) – Following a successful weekend at Skate America that saw Canadians win two silver medals, the ISU Grand Prix series stops in Vancouver, B.C. this week for the 49th edition of Skate Canada International. The event, which will be held at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre from October 27-29, 2023, will draw some of the top skaters from around the world, including two-time ISU World Champion Kaori Sakamoto (JPN), 2023 ISU World silver medalist Junhwan Cha (KOR), 2023 ISU Four Continents Champion Kao Miura (JPN), ISU European silver medalists Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson (GBR), as well as eighteen talented Canadian athletes. 

Three-time Skate Canada International winners Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will be the favourites in the ice dance event, with the duo finishing third at the 2023 ISU World Figure Skating Championships and achieving several career-best results last season. They will be joined by 2022-2023 Skate Canada Challenge winners Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer, as well as Molly Lanaghan and Dmitre Razgulajevs.  

In the pair event, all three teams will be vying for a spot on the podium after winning medals at their respective Grand Prix assignments last year. Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps will be among the top contenders, with the team coming off a win at 2023 Autumn Classic International a few weeks ago. They will be joined by 2022 NHK Trophy bronze medalists Brooke McIntosh and Benjamin Mimar and 2022 Skate America bronze medalists Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier.  

2023 Canadian Champion Maddie Schizas will be looking to better her result from last year after finishing 7th in the women’s event. Kaiya Ruiter, who recently finished second at the 2023 Autumn Classic International, and Sara-Maude Dupuis will be competing alongside her as they both make their senior Grand Prix debut in front of a home crowd. 

Completing the team will be 2023 Cranberry Cup International silver medalist Wesley Chiu, 2023 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships silver medalist Conrad Orzel and Aleksa Rakic, who will be replacing Roman Sadovsky. 

Competition starts on Friday, October 27 with every discipline performing their short program/rhythm dance. All medals will be awarded on Saturday, October 28, as all disciplines will perform their free program/free dance. The event concludes on Sunday with the exhibition gala. For more information about the event or to view the livestream, click here. To purchase single-session tickets, visit ticketmaster.ca. 

Team Canada 

Name | Age | Hometown | Coach | Training Location 

Women
Sara-Maude Dupuis | 18 | Montreal, Que. | Stéphane Yvars & Françoise Parisé | Boucherville, Que. 
Kaiya Ruiter | 17 | Calgary, Alta. | Scott Davis | Calgary Alta. 
Madeline Schizas | 20 | Oakville, Ont. | Nancy Lemaire & Derek Schmidt | Milton, Ont.    

Men
Wesley Chiu | 18 | Vancouver, B.C. | Keegan Murphy & Eileen Murphy | Richmond, B.C.
Conrad Orzel | 23 | Toronto, Ont. | Ravi Walia | Edmonton, Alta.
Aleksa Rakic | 19 | Burnaby, B.C.| Joanne McLeod | Burnaby, B.C.  

Pair
Kelly Ann Laurin | 17 | St-Jérôme, Que. & Loucas Éthier | 23 | Deux-Montagnes, Que. | Stéphanie Valois | Rosemère, Que.   
Brooke McIntosh | 18 | Toronto, Ont. & Benjamin Mimar | 22 | Terrebonne, Que. | Andrew Evans & Alexander Sheldrick | Brantford, Ont.
Deanna Stellato-Dudek | 40 | Chicago, USA & Maxime Deschamps | 31 | Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que. | Josée Picard | Sainte-Julie, Que.    

Ice Dance
Alicia Fabbri | 20 | Terrebonne, Que. & Paul Ayer | 25 | Brossard, Que. | Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon | Montreal, Que. 
Piper Gilles | 31 | Toronto, Ont. & Paul Poirier | 31 | Unionville, Ont. | Carol Lane & Juris Razgulajevs | Scarborough, Ont.
Molly Lanaghan | 24 | Doncaster, GB & Dmitre Razgulajevs | 26 | Ajax, Ont. | Carol Lane & Juris Razgulajevs | Scarborough, Ont.    

Team Leaders – Carolyn Allwright & Cynthia Ullmark
Medical Team – Tatiana Jevremovic & Agnes Makowski
Officials – Beth Crane, Glenn Fortin, Reaghan Fortin & Erica Topolski 

Grand Prix Season Kicks off at Skate America with Two Silvers for Canada

/by

Allen, Texas/USA (October 22, 2023) – The 2023-2024 ISU Grand Prix season kicked off this weekend with Canadian skaters capturing silver medals in the ice dance and pair competitions at the Skate America competition taking place in Allen, Texas, USA.

The pair team of Lia Pereira of Milton, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Brantford Ont., who were competing in their first Grand Prix together, got things started for Canada, finishing second in both their short program and free skate to take the silver medal with a total score of 182.59. The team lost out on the gold to the German team of Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel who had bested them at the Nebelhorn Trophy earlier this season where the Germans took the bronze and the Canadians finished fourth. Chelsea Liu and Balazs Nagy of the USA took the bronze with a total score of 177.66.

“Overall, this has been a wonderful experience,” said Pereira who together with Michaud won gold at the 2023 Skate Canada Challenge and finished third at the 2023 Canadian Championships last season. “Today is extra special as it’s our first grand prix medal which is super exciting. It wasn’t a perfect skate, but we moved on and we did the best we could with what we had, and we’re really pleased with how our whole program went.”

Canada’s second silver medal of the competition went to the ice dance team of Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., who had two solid skates to finish the competition with a total score of 196.99. They finished just behind the American team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates who won gold with a total score of 212.96, and just in front of the French team of Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud who took bronze with a total score of 193.47.

“This means a lot, we’re both really happy. We are both really starting to like skating in the USA – the crowd is good, the rink is nice, and it’s an honour to be with such fun competitors, and this just means a lot,” said Lagha.

The team is performing their free skate to the song “Roses” which has a special significance to the team which Lajoie explained following the competition: “Since Worlds are in Montreal, we really wanted to find something that was from Montreal. We listened to a lot of music, and we both really like this song, and when we found out that it’s by Jean-Michel Blais who is from Montreal, we knew that’s what we wanted to pick – so that’s how we found the music!”

Stephen Gogolev of Toronto, Ont., who took home a bronze medal from the Autumn Classic competition earlier this fall in Montreal, was the lone Canadian skater in the men’s competition and finished 11th overall with a total score of 210.48. Ilia Malinin of the USA won gold (310.47), while Kevin Aymoz of France took silver (279.09), and Shun Sato of Japan the bronze (247.50).

The ISU Grand Prix series moves to Vancouver, B.C., next week for Skate Canada International which will take place at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre from October 27-29, 2023.

For full results please click here: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2324/gpusa2023/

Five Canadian Skaters to Kick Off Grand Prix Season at Skate America

/by

OTTAWA, ON (October 16, 2023) – Five talented Canadian athletes will be making their way to Allen, Texas for the first ISU Grand Prix of the season, which will take place from October 20-22, 2023. The team competing at Skate America will be comprised of one man, two pair skaters and two ice dancers. 

Highlighting the Canadian delegation will be 2023 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships bronze medalists Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha. The ice dance team will have their sights set on the podium after winning medals at both of their Grand Prix assignments last season. 

They will be joined by 2023 Autumn Classic International bronze medalist Stephen Gogolev in the men’s event, as well as Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, who will be competing in pairs. The new team had a breakthrough first season together, claiming gold at the 2022-2023 Skate Canada Challenge, and bronze at the 2023 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships.  

Competition begins on Friday, October 20 with the men’s and pair short programs. The following day, athletes will compete in the rhythm dance, as well as the pair and men’s free programs. The event will conclude on Sunday, October 22 with the free dance. For the full competition schedule, entries and results, please visit www.isu.org.  

Team Canada 

Name | Age | Hometown | Coach | Training Location    

Men 
Stephen Gogolev | 18 | Toronto, Ont. | Vera Arutyunyan | Irvine, USA 

Pair 
Lia Pereira | 19 | Milton, Ont. & Trennt Michaud | 27 | Brantford, Ont. | Alison Purkiss | Brantford, Ont. 

Ice Dance
Marjorie Lajoie | 22 | Boucherville, Que. & Zachary Lagha | 23 | Saint-Hubert, Que. | Romain Haguenauer | Montreal, Que. 

Team Leader – Mike Slipchuk
Official – Nicole Leblanc-Richard
Medical Team – Pat Stanziano 

Lauriault and Le Gac Take Home Ice Dance Silver from Budapest Trophy

/by

Budapest, Hungary (October 15, 2023) – The Canadian ice dance team of Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac of Laval, Que., captured a silver medal at the Budapest Trophy ISU Challenger Series competition which wrapped up Sunday in Budapest, Hungary.  

Lauriault and Le Gac, bronze medallists at the 2023 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships, laid down two solid performances to finish the competition with a total score of 188.32 to add a silver medal to their competitive resumé which includes winning gold at the 2022-2023 Skate Canada Challenge. 

“We started in April to put together the choreography, to think about the costumes, and to be able to do it today is like an accomplishment of all this work that we put in,” said Le Gac. “We are really proud of our first two performances this season and now it’s back to work!” 

The other Canadian team of Emmy Bronsard of Montreal, Que., and Jacob Richmond of Toronto, Ont., finished 11th with a total score of 150.51. Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin of Georgia won the gold medal with a total score of 191.84 while Loicia Demougeot and Theo le Mercier took the bronze with a total score of 179.68. 

Next up for Canadian skaters is the kick off of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series which begins next week with Skate America taking place in Allen, Texas, USA from October 20-22.  

For full results, please click here. 

Tickets on Sale Next Week for 2024 Canadian National Skating Championships

/by

OTTAWA, ON (October 12, 2023) – Tickets for the 2024 Canadian National Skating Championships will be available for pre-sale on Monday, October 16, 2023, at 10:00 AM ET, and on sale to the public on Thursday, October 19, 2023, at 10:00 AM ET. The 2024 Canadian National Skating Championships will take place at WinSport Arena at Canada Olympic Park, in Calgary, Alberta, from January 8-14, 2024.  

Day tickets will be available from Tuesday, January 9 to Thursday, January 11. Day tickets begin at $35, plus applicable taxes and fees, and prices range by day. Please note that day tickets will be general admission.  

Single session tickets will be available for events taking place from Friday, January 12 to Sunday, January 14. Single session tickets begin at $50, plus applicable taxes and fees, and prices range by session. Please note that single session tickets will be assigned seating. Tickets can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.ca.  

Due to limited seating capacity, all-event tickets are not being sold for this event. Buy your tickets early so you don’t miss out! 

ABOUT THE CANADIAN NATIONAL SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS 

Athletes competing at the event vie for spots on the Skate Canada National Team and the Canadian teams that will compete at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships® 2024, the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships® 2024, the ISU World Figure Skating Championships® 2024, the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships® 2024, and the ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships® 2024. 

Skate Canada Remembers Hall of Famer Ron Vincent

/by

Skate Canada was saddened to hear about the passing of esteemed Hall of Fame member Ron Vincent on October 8, 2023 at 96 years of age. 

Vincent’s dedication to the sport of figure skating spanned decades, first starting as an athlete and moving on to become a performer, a coach and an administrator. 

While his contributions to the sport were immeasurable, one of his key achievements was spearheading the development of courses for the National Coach Certification Program (NCCP). Vincent was a well-respected coach who stressed the importance of coaching standards and his tireless efforts helped Skate Canada become a leader in national coaching certification programs.  

As a Hall of Fame member, he leaves behind a legacy that will continue to inspire and shape the future of figure skating in Canada and beyond.  

Skate Canada would like to offer its sincere condolences to Ron’s family and friends.