Behind Team Canada’s figure skaters stands a lineup of exceptional coaches. As they take to the ice in Milano Cortina, these athletes will be guided by some of the sport’s most accomplished mentors. From Olympic champions to world-renowned technical experts, these seven coaches bring decades of elite experience to the 2026 Winter Olympics. Together, they have attended countless Olympic Games, proving that Canada’s coaching roster is as formidable as its skating talent. 

Lee Barkell — Stephen Gogolev

Lee Barkell returns to the Olympic stage for an impressive sixth time, guiding men’s singles skater Stephen Gogolev in Milano Cortina. The Head Competitive Coach at Toronto’s Granite Club has coached at five previous Olympic Winter Games (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018), establishing himself as one of Canada’s most respected figure skating coaches. 

Barkell’s coaching resume includes 2006 Olympic bronze medallist and 2008 world champion Jeffrey Buttle, 2018 Olympic Team Event gold medallist and 2017 world bronze medallist Gabrielle Daleman, and Olympic pairs competitors Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay. All of his Olympic athletes have represented Canada and have earned more than 140 national and international medals when combined.  

A former competitive pairs skater himself, Barkell won the 1986 Canadian junior pairs title with partner and wife Melanie Gaylor. He has received the Skate Canada Coaching Award of Excellence three times and was inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame in 2019. 

Nancy Lemaire — Madeline Schizas

Nancy Lemaire heads to her second Olympic Games, this time with renewed confidence after coaching Maddie Schizas through her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022. Based at the Milton Skating Club, Lemaire has been instrumental in Schizas’s development from promising junior to four-time national champion (2022, 2023, 2025, 2026). 

At Beijing 2022, Schizas delivered under Lemaire’s guidance, skating a personal-best at the time of 69.60 points in the Team Event short program to help Canada reach the medal round. The longtime coach is known for creating a positive team environment at her Milton training centre. With Schizas now a seasoned international competitor, Lemaire believes her athlete is ready to deliver her best performances on the Olympic stage. 

Josée Picard — Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps

Veteran coach Josée Picard brings 50 years of coaching expertise to Milano Cortina, guiding 2024 world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps. The pairs specialist came out of retirement in 2021-22 to work with the duo, convinced of their potential after their first competitive season together. 

Picard’s illustrious career includes coaching Canadian pairs legends Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler to a 1993 world title and Olympic medals (1992 silver, 1994 bronze). She immediately recognized something special in Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps. What sets Picard’s approach apart is her understanding that experience brings advantages to competition. Picard was inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame in 2017 alongside coaching partner Eric Gillies. 

Alison Purkiss — Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud

Alison Purkiss makes her second trip to the Olympic Games at Milano Cortina 2026, guiding the dynamic pairs team of Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud. She made her Olympic debut attending the 2022 Games in Beijing with pairs team Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro. 

The Brantford-based coach, who works alongside Nancy Lemaire, was instrumental in bringing Pereira and Michaud’s partnership together in summer 2022. When Trennt Michaud’s previous partner retired after Beijing 2022, Purkiss suggested her student Lia Pereira as a potential match. The gamble paid off spectacularly. Purkiss has guided the pair from their tentative first tryout to Grand Prix champions in just over two years. 

Juris Razgulajevs — Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier

Ice dance coach Juris Razgulajevs brings both competitive Olympic experience and extensive coaching expertise to Milano Cortina 2026, guiding five-time Canadian champions Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. Razgulajevs competed at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics in ice dance, finishing 13th, and has since coached at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and 2022 Beijing Olympics. 

As a competitor, the Latvia-born Razgulajevs represented multiple countries throughout his career and was a 1991 world junior champion. He works alongside Carol Lane and Jon Lane at Scarborough Figure Skating Club, where he has been coaching Gilles and Poirier for over a decade. Under his guidance, Gilles and Poirier created the Maple Leaf March, a partial pattern dance adopted by the International Skating Union (ISU) in 2016. They have since earned four World Championship medals (2021 bronze, 2023 bronze, 2024 silver, 2025 silver). 

Marie-France Dubreuil — Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha

Marie-France Dubreuil returns to the Olympic stage, this time behind the boards rather than on the ice. The two-time world silver medallist with Patrice Lauzon competed at two Olympics for Canada (2002, 2006) and now co-directs the Ice Academy of Montreal (I.AM), one of the world’s premier ice dance training centres. Marie-France Dubreuil was inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame alongside partner and husband Patrice Lauzon in 2017 and received the Skate Canada Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Dubreuil and Lauzon, along with Romain Haguenauer, founded I.AM in 2014. Their most successful team has been three-time Olympic gold medallists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, whom they coached to ice dance gold in 2018 and team gold in 2018. By Beijing 2022, they were coaching 10 of the 23 ice dance teams at the Olympic Games. 

For Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha, Dubreuil has been instrumental in their development since reuniting them as a partnership. The duo won the 2019 World Junior Championship title, making them only the second Canadian team after Virtue and Moir to win a world junior title in ice dance. 

Scott Moir — Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac

Scott Moir returns to the Olympic stage, this time as a coach. The three-time Olympic gold medallist who captivated the world alongside Tessa Virtue (2010 and 2018 ice dance gold, 2018 team gold and 2014 ice dance and team silver) brings unparalleled ice dance expertise to his role with Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac. Milano Cortina 2026 marks his first Games as a coach, adding a new chapter to his Olympic legacy. 

Since transitioning to coaching and becoming head coach of the Ice Academy of Montreal’s Ontario campus in 2021, Moir has applied the same artistry and technical precision that defined his skating career. His deep understanding of Olympic pressure and performance helps Lauriault and Le Gac navigate the biggest stage in sport. For Moir, coaching at the Olympics will be a full-circle moment. 

With this powerhouse coaching lineup behind them, Team Canada’s figure skaters are in expert hands. From technical mastery to mental preparation to Olympic-level artistry, these coaches have prepared their athletes for every aspect of competition.