Madeline Schizas Brings Home Bronze from Nepela Memorial
Bratislava, Slovakia (October 1, 2023) – Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., the reigning Canadian Champion in women’s figure skating, captured a bronze medal at the Nepela Memorial ISU Challenger Cup Series event that wrapped up Saturday in Bratislava, Slovakia.
“I’m really happy with my skates here this week. Not perfect, but a big step-up from where we started last season, so I’m overall pretty happy with that, and I’m happy to have won my first early-season Challenger Cup medal,” said Schizas who finished this competition with a total score of 188.88.
Chaeyon Kim of Korea dominated the women’s competition, winning gold with a total score of 202.26, while her teammate Haein Lee took silver with a score of 191.10.
Conrad Orzel of Oakville, Ont., finished 9th overall in the men’s competition with a total score of 213.52. Gabriele Frangipani of Italy won gold (243.91), while Nika Egadze of Georgia took silver (243.31), and Mark Gorodnitsky of Israel took bronze (236.30).
In ice dance, Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., finished fifth with a total score of 179.18, while Nadiia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont of Ajax, Ont., competing in their first senior Challenger event, finished seventh with a total score of 164.81.
“The overall experience was I think more than I expected from my first Challenger event. It was way more satisfying than I thought it was going to be which makes me really happy that we did so well,” said Bashynska who together with Beaumont were bronze medallists at the 2023 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships. “We’re learning, and this was the first year of many years ahead of us, and I think we can both agree that this is the first step towards a long process.”
The ISU Challenger Series moves to Finland next week for the Finlandia Trophy which takes place from October 4-8, 2023 in Espoo and which will feature eight Canadian skaters.
For full results, please click here.