Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Nikolaj Soerensen Archives

Canadian Figure Skaters in Medal Contention at Four Continents

February 2, 2024/by Skate Canada

Shanghai, China (February 2, 2024) – Canadian figure skaters sit in medal contention in both the ice dance and pair competitions following the first two days of competition at the ISU Four Continents Championships taking place in Shanghai, China, while Madeline Schizas and Sara-Maude Dupuis both finished in the top-10 in the women’s competition.

Schizas, from Oakville, Ontario, the 2023 Canadian senior women’s champion, was sitting in ninth following the short program, and then had a fantastic free skate to move up to finish sixth overall with a total score of 185.69 – her best finish at this competition to date.

“I’m happy with my skate, I’m happy with my score, and it’s a big step up from Canadian Nationals. I’m hoping to add a few more points at World Championships if I get that nomination,” said Schizas who wasn’t satisfied with finishing second at Canadian Championships last month. So much so, she debuted a new costume in Shanghai: “I wanted a new one anyway, and I had a bad nationals, so I decided that I needed new vibes.”

Sara-Maude Dupuis of Montreal, Que., posted a massive new personal best score in her free skate (118.99) to finish in 9^th with a new personal best total score as well of 172.45. Justine Miclette of Chambly, Que., finished in 14^th (151.30).

Mone Chiba of Japan won gold (214.98), while Chaeyeon Kim of Korea took silver (204.68), and Rinka Watanabe of Japan took bronze (202.17).

Piper Gilles of Toronto, Ont., and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., look on track to win their first Four Continents Championships title in ice dance on Sunday as they have a healthy lead following the rhythm dance that took place today. Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen of Montreal, Que., sit just behind them in second, while Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac of Ste-Anne-des-plaines, Que., sit in seventh.

“We skate everyday with commitment and passion, even when we don’t feel good, and so I think we just really enjoy flipping the switch and really seeing that energy, and I think that’s what makes us special. You see a lot of the top athletes able to do that, and we did that today,” said Gilles following their performance.

Canada has the top spot currently in the pair competition as well with Deanna Stellato-Dudek of Chicago, USA and Maxime Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., having a comfortable lead heading into the free skate taking place on Saturday.

“It was fun to go out there. I’m disappointed in my mistake, but really happy with the rest of the performance. We accomplished a lot of our upgrades and have been working really hard,” said Deschamps who has been struggling with his jumps at the last couple of competitions.

Lia Pereira of Milton, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., are sitting in sixth after the short program, and Kelly Ann Laurin of St-Jerôme, Que., and Loucas Éthier of Deux-Montagnes, Que., are in eighth.

The men’s competition will wrap up on Saturday. Wesley Chiu of Vancouver, B.C., is the top-ranked Canadian in sixth following the short program which took place on Thursday. Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., is sitting in 11^th, and Conrad Orzel of Toronto, Ont., is sitting in 17^th.

For full results please click here.

Bronze for Pair Skaters Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps at ISU Grand Prix Final

December 8, 2023/by Skate Canada

Beijing, China (December 8, 2023) – Canadian skaters captured their first medal of the ISU Grand Prix Final on Friday with Deanna Stellato-Dudek of Chicago, USA and Maxime Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., winning a bronze medal in the senior pair competition.

The pair was sitting in second following their short program on Thursday, and despite no major mistakes, some small execution errors dropped them into third in the free skate to finish the competition with bronze and an overall score of 204.30.

“We were the top team by, like, 10 points so we know this is way below expectations,” said Stellato-Dudek about their performance and the fact that they were the top-team coming into this competition. “But we are still scoring really competitively with mistakes on almost all the big elements, so if we can just clean it up, we’re know going to get higher than what we got at Skate Canada.”

Deschamps added: “After coming back from the Cup of China, we have been working on a lot of stuff and we were able to perform it today. We are so proud overall of the week and also what we wanted to make better this week.”

Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany also had some small mistakes in their program, and have been battling illness, but hung on to win the gold medal with a total score 106.43, while the Italian team of Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii had the best free skate of the day to move up to take the silver medal with a total score of 205.88

Lia Pereira of Milton, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Brantford, Ont., who were competing in their first Grand Prix Final, finished sixth with a total score of 185.16.

“We’re proud of what we did today,” said Pereira. “Coming from a not-so-good short – we haven’t had to do that yet, we’ve been fortunate to skate good shorts in most of our competitions so far, so that was a setback mentally and I think we did a really good job recovering from that today, and wanting to continue to push ourselves and have new experiences.”

While the senior pair competition wrapped up, competition began for senior ice dance, and saw strong performances from all six teams. Piper Gilles of Toronto, Ont., and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., the reigning Grand Prix Final Champions are the top Canadian team, sitting in third with a score of 85.17 for their rhythm dance.

“I think we’re pleased. We’ve made quite a few changes in the program since the Cup of China to try to boost the energy, and we’re really proud of that skate. We just enjoyed the moment,” said Gilles.

Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen of Montreal, Que., had a small touch in their side-by-side twizzles that put them in fifth with a score of 74.82, while Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., the youngest team in the competition, are sitting just behind in sixth with a score of 74.74.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA are sitting in first with a score of 89.15, while Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy sit second with a score of 85.82.

The ISU Grand Prix Final concludes Saturday with the free dance for the senior ice dance teams, and the free program for the junior pair skaters.

For full results please click here

Silver Medal Streak Continues for Ice Dancers Fournier Beaudry & Soerensen

November 18, 2023/by Skate Canada

Espoo, Finland (November 18, 2023) – The Canadian ice dance team of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen of Montreal, Que., captured their second consecutive ISU Grand Prix series silver medal on Saturday at the Grand Prix Espoo in Finland – a venue they also won a bronze medal at in early October at a Challenger Series event.

The reigning Canadian champions in ice dance, Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen set a new season’s best total score of 206.32 to secure the podium position with strong skates to both of their programs, setting them up well to qualify for the Grand Prix Final taking place in Beijing, China in early December.

“We’re just super happy. Finishing our second Grand Prix, and another great performance of this program that we love so very much,” said Soerensen following the event. “We love coming to Finland – the crowd is great, and the rink is really familiar to us, so this is an event we really enjoy.”

Nadiia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont of Ajax, Ont., made their senior Grand Prix debut at the event and finished eighth with a total score of 167.87.

“We came here with the goal of having clean and expressive performances. We did a lot of preparation for this event – the past three weeks have been really tough, so we’re really happy with how it went this weekend,” said Beaumont, who together with Bashynska captured a bronze medal at the 2023 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

The reigning World Champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA won gold with a total score of 209.46 while Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis of Finland captured bronze with a total score of 195.80.

In the pair competition, Brooke McIntosh of Toronto, Ont., and Benjamin Mimar of Terrebonne, Que., who claimed their first Grand Prix medal last year at the NHK Trophy, finished seventh overall with a total score of 147.27. They were sitting in fifth after their short program but had a tougher time with their free skate that dropped them further down the final rankings.

Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany won gold with a total score of 197.72. Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy took the silver (188.60), while Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary captured the bronze medal (186.19).

Next up for Canadian skaters is the final event of the 2023 ISU Grand Prix circuit – the NHK Trophy taking place in Osaka, Japan from November 24-26, 2023.

For full results please click here

Canada’s Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen win first Grand Prix gold

November 19, 2022/by Skate Canada

SAPPORO, Japan – Canadian ice dancers Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen earned their first career gold on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit on Saturday at the NHK Trophy.

The Montreal skaters totalled 210.41 points, a career high at the international level.

It was one of two medals on the day for Canada. In pairs, Brooke McIntosh of Toronto and Benjamin Mimar of Terrebonne, Que., collected a bronze medal for their first Grand Prix podium finish.

In ice dancing, the Canadians edged world championship bronze medallists Madison Chock and Eva Bates of the U.S. second at 209.13. Another American couple Caroline Green and Michael Parsons was third at 191.10.

“There are a lot of emotions and a lot of thoughts,’’ said Soerensen. ‘’We were just extremely proud of being able to deliver these two performances that brought us to the top of the podium.’’

The Canadian Olympians also won silver at their other Grand Prix assignment two weeks ago in France and will advance to the ISU Grand Prix Final next month for the first time in their careers.

In pairs, McIntosh and Mimar overcame a fall in their program to post an international best 175.65.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan won the gold with 216.16 and Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe of the U.S. were second at 187.49.

“We are very happy about our first Grand Prix medal, and I am proud of my partner,” Mimar said. “Even with fall she fought to the end.”

Japanese skaters were 1-2 in men’s competition with world champion Shoma Uno taking the gold and Sota Yamamoto the silver. Junhwan Cha of South Korea was third.

Stephen Gogolev of Toronto was eighth and Conrad Orzel of Woodbridge, Ont., 10th.

The sixth stop on the circuit is this upcoming Friday and Saturday in Espoo, Finland.

Full results: ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating NHK Trophy

Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen win gold at ISU Challenger Series Finlandia Trophy

October 9, 2022/by Skate Canada

ESPOO, Finland (October 9, 2022) – Canada’s string of international success in ice dance this season continued Sunday as Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen of Montreal, Que. won the gold medal at the ISU Challenger Series Finlandia Trophy.

The Canadian Olympians totalled 203.76 points, their best ever score in international competition. Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker of the U.S. took the silver with 197.45 and Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis of Finland were third at 186.30.

‘’We are so happy to deliver those two performances,’’ said Soerensen. ‘’We’ve been working so hard on redeeming ourselves after how we finished last season, so we are just happy being out here and skating really well.’’

Last season, the couple posted four medal performances in international competition before placing ninth at both the Olympic Winter Games and world championships.

Over the past two weeks Canada has won four international gold in ice dance. At last week’s Challenger Series in Czechia, Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha were the winners and at the last two ISU Junior Grand Prix events, Nadiia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont have struck gold.

Canada added a bronze in pair in Finland with Brooke McIntosh of Toronto, Ont. and Benjamin Mimar of Terrebonne, Que., placing third with 166.61 in their senior international debut.

Germany was 1-2 with Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel first with 180.62 and Elisa Efimova and Ruben Blommaert second at 177.11.

‘’This was a new experience for us competing at this level,’’ said Mimar, who won the bronze with his partner at the world junior championships last season. ‘’Our free wasn’t the best we could do, after a good short, but we are still happy with third place.’’

Olympic silver medallist Yelim Kim of South Korea won the women’s gold while Lia Pereira of Milton, Ont., was 15^th.

Conrad Orzel of Toronto was 11^th in men’s competition.

The Challenger Series provides opportunities for senior skaters to compete at an international level and earn world ranking points.

Full results: https://www.figureskatingresults.fi/results/2223/CSFIN2022/index.htm

Six Canadian Skaters to Represent Canada at the Finlandia Trophy

September 29, 2022/by Skate Canada

OTTAWA, ON (September 29, 2022) – After successful stops in the United States and Germany, Team Canada is sending a team of six skaters to the 2022 Finlandia Trophy as part of the 2022-23 Figure Skating Challenger Series. The event is set to take place from October 5-9, 2022 in Espoo, Finland.

Highlighting the women’s category will be 18-year-old Lia Pereira, who returns to international competition after opening the season with a gold medal at the 2022 Cranberry Cup International and finishing 6th at the Courcheval Junior Grand Prix.

National Team member Conrad Orzel will be the sole man representing Canada at the event. Orzel showcased his talent last season, finishing among the top-10 at the 2022 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships and claiming gold at the 2021 Autumn Classic International.

Making their senior international debut are promising youngsters Brooke McIntosh and Benjamin Mimar who will be competing in the pair discipline. The duo had a breakout season last year, stepping on the podium at every event they competed in, including winning the top honors at the 2022 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships and finishing third at the 2022 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships®.

Olympic ice dancers Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen will bring experience to the Canadian contingent, with the duo finishing 10th at the Beijing Olympic Games earlier this year. The pair also claimed a silver medal at the 2022 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships and a bronze medal at 2021 Skate America.

Team Canada

Name | Age | Hometown | Coach | Training Location

Women
Lia Pereira | 18 | Milton, Ont. | Nancy Lemaire & Derek Schmidt | Milton, Ont.

Men
Conrad Orzel | 22 | Toronto, Ont. | Ravi Walia | Edmonton Alta.

Team Leaders – Mike Slipchuk & Shae Zukiwsky
Medical Team – Josiane Roberge
Officials – Andrew Bosco & Patty Klein

For more information and results click here

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen win bronze at ISU Grand Prix

November 27, 2021/by Skate Canada

SOCHI, Russia – Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen of Montreal won the bronze medal Saturday in ice dancing to conclude the Rostelecom Cup, the sixth stop on the ISU figure skating circuit.

It was a fourth medal in four competitions this season for the veteran couple. They were also third at their previous Grand Prix assignment at Skate America last month and also won silver medals at two ISU Challenger Series events.

Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia won the gold medal with 211.72 points. Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy were second at 203.71 and Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen followed at 191.40.

‘’We feel we’ve been improving from competition to competition,’’ said Fournier Beaudry. ‘’We’ve still got little things to work on, but we are happy with the progression. We had five weeks between Grand Prix so that’s been a good measuring stick for us.’’

In men’s competition, Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., delivered by far his best performance of the season and was fourth with 253.80. Morisi Kvitelashvili of Georgia won the gold with 266.33, Mikhail Kolyada of Russia was second at 264.64 and Kazuki Tomono of Japan third at 264.19.

Sadovsky was third after Friday’s short program and produced a clean skate in his long. He had slight turns on his opening quad Salchow and triple Axel landings but would later comeback to land a clean quad Salchow in combination with a triple Salchow.

‘’To beat my season’s best by 30 points is a huge step for me,’’ said Sadovsky, 22, the 2020 Canadian champion. ‘’That was more or less what I wanted to do. I wanted to reflect the changes made since my last competition. I’m just going to keep going from here and keep training. ‘’

It was also a solid event for Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., who placed sixth with a season’s best 192.14. The Russians swept the medals led by Kamila Valieva in first.

‘’My free skate wasn’t exactly what I was hoping,’’ said Schizas, fourth after the short program. ‘’I was happy with the fight I showed through the program. I’ve been really motivated this season by the quality of skating I’ve seen at the senior level.’’

It was another Russian medal sweep in pairs while Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., improved from seventh after the short program to fifth with the fifth best free skate.

‘’We definitely have much more than that but it was nice to get some confidence today,’’ said Marinaro. ‘’We still have quite a ways to go to be where we want to be.’’

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2122/gprus2021/CAT004RS.htm

Canadians in Medal Position at ISU Grand Prix

November 26, 2021/by Skate Canada

SOCHI, Russia – Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., and Montreal ice dancers Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen are both in third place after Friday’s short programs at the Rostelecom Cup,the sixth stop on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit.

In men’s competition, Kazuki Tomono of Japan is first after the short with 95.81 points. Morisi Kvitelashvili of Georgia follows closely at 95.37 and Sadovsky, 12th at Skate Canada International last month, earned a season’s best 84.59.

‘’Overall, I am very pleased with what I was able to put out there today,’’ said Sadovksy, 22. ‘’I had a little bit of struggle internationally this year so far. I hope that my efforts and adjustments we did in practice will reflect in my free skate.’’

In ice dancing, world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia lead after the rhythm dance with 86.81. Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy are second at 79.56 and Fournier Beaudry and Sorensen are third at 76.39.

‘’We felt pretty good today, it wasn’t perfect,’’ said Soerensen, third with his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry at Skate America, last month. ‘’We improved a lot on the performance and also on the technical side since Skate America.’’

Also in the medal hunt is Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., who is fourth after the short in women’s competition with a season’s best 67.49. Schizas, 18, was eighth at Skate Canada International and ninth at the Finlandia Trophy.

Russia is 1-2 with Kamila Valieva first with 87.42 and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva second at 80.10. Mariah Bell of the U.S. is third at 69.37.
In pairs, Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., are seventh after the short.

All four free skates are on Saturday.
Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2122/gprus2021/CAT004RS.htm