2023-24 Canadian Figure Skating

[RatedPG]

Men - No Romsky
He has to get his act together just to even get international events for next year. I hope Canadian Nationals for him, isn’t like what Aymoz did at GP Finals. But, his fault for putting all his eggs in one basket ( Nationals).
4CC team should be Gogolev, Chiu and Orzel (with Rakic and Neuman as alternates)
The Team of two for Worlds, should be winner of Nationals and the more consistent one of the remaining two from Nationals and 4CC. I have no hope of any of them placing in the top 12. But, 50/50
Chance one of them make the free skate and place in the top 18.

Ladies - I’m so mad with this discipline. The men, at least send their top 5 to events.
4CC - Should be Maddie, Stephanie and Justine..
I wish these ladies well. But, the latter two aren’t our next strongest. I saw the results at Golden Spin and Starr Andrew’s won bronze with around 165. I was thinking about how Fee-Ann, Uliana, and Audreanne would have fared… 160+ scores are what it takes to win medals at these lower level events. Our ladies are capable of doing this. We could have an Ava-Marie result here and there. But, they need exposure. Wish to see any of those three ladies at an international event

 

[4everchan]

who is stephanie ??? ^^

 

[saine]

Just caught up on Grand Prix results.

Pairs - our strongest category. 3rd and 6th were the worst results I expected and is what ended up happening. Deanna/Max were a point or two away from gold. I just want them to medal at Worlds and I think they can. They still are the only team over 210. I worry more about the team from Georgia (juniors). I wonder if skating at home, if they like the pressure. Lia and Trentt… not their best event. But, I still pick them as the most solid #2 team out of any country… there isn’t as single country that is looking solid for three spots. The juniors, is what amazed me the most. Ava and Yoni were . The 168 score made them pass Ben and Nicholas Nadeau. Also, the other two teams have surpassed the 154 international score, to be selected for senior international events. We have 7 over this mark. I’m happy with where we are at with Pairs. I would send Kelly and partner to 4CC.

Dance - We had three entries in this event!! That is amazing! I actually think the home crowd can push them to silver. I like Zach and Marjorie more than the Danish team. Those three are solid. I hope one of them doesn’t compete at 4CC so I can see my corpse team one more time

I agree with you on pairs. That Canada qualified 5 pairs teams in Juniors and Seniors and 3 of them won medals is excellent. That the junior pairs teams went 2-4 is awesome since realistically none of them had a chance at winning the event. Ted sounded happy when he noted that at the end.

For dance, Laurence noted that this was a learning experience ahead of 4CC, so I think that's at least one team confirmed. Sorry, no corpse bride it looks like.

 

[RatedPG]

who is stephanie ??? ^^

OMG!! Sara-Maude

 

[4everchan]

I'd be surprised to not see the top 3 teams at 4CC... plus being practical, they already have their visas

 

[saine]

Men - No Romsky
He has to get his act together just to even get international events for next year. I hope Canadian Nationals for him, isn’t like what Aymoz did at GP Finals. But, his fault for putting all his eggs in one basket ( Nationals).
4CC team should be Gogolev, Chiu and Orzel (with Rakic and Neuman as alternates)
The Team of two for Worlds, should be winner of Nationals and the more consistent one of the remaining two from Nationals and 4CC. I have no hope of any of them placing in the top 12. But, 50/50
Chance one of them make the free skate and place in the top 18.

For me, it's not so much Roman having everything in one basket. More that Skate Canada had all their eggs in a Roman basket. So much so that when Roman had more issues, there weren't any Canadian entries in Warsaw and Zagreb since he was their only entry for both events. Those were opportunities they gave him that they didn't give to other skaters in all the disciplines.

If he does well enough at Nationals to justify sending him to Worlds, give him a senior B for some experience and hope he doesn't have more travel issues. But use the 4CC spots for the men who have been competing. They weren't given those chances for Warsaw and Zagreb that Roman was given. It wouldn't be fair to them to give Roman a spot when he hasn't done a full competition and they have done them, including full domestic competitions.

Ladies - I’m so mad with this discipline. The men, at least send their top 5 to events.
4CC - Should be Maddie, Stephanie and Justine..
I wish these ladies well. But, the latter two aren’t our next strongest. I saw the results at Golden Spin and Starr Andrew’s won bronze with around 165. I was thinking about how Fee-Ann, Uliana, and Audreanne would have fared… 160+ scores are what it takes to win medals at these lower level events. Our ladies are capable of doing this. We could have an Ava-Marie result here and there. But, they need exposure. Wish to see any of those three ladies at an international event

I started watching the GPF senior women's free and Ted was talking about the importance of getting the experience at competitions, including the bad ones, which is just He understands that, so why doesn't Skate Canada? Do they not listen to his commentary?

I'm wondering if they're going to leave Justine off 4CC if they made her an alternate for YOG. I could see them sending Fiona instead.

They should be looking up senior Bs for Fee Ann, Uliana and Audreanne and getting ahead of any surprise Nationals results based off the Challenge results. Maybe add Marie-Maude Pomerleau, she was a bit below the domestic benchmark at Challenge. Between them, one of them should be able to get the Worlds TES so that there can at least be an alternate for Maddie. They're as capable as the other women competing there. Even if they have a bad competition, it's still experience as Ted says.

 

[4everchan]

I really doubt they would send Marie-Maude Pomerleau. She has some stuff to learn but they should definitely send Fée Ann, Uliana and Audréanne. They should also think about Rose. Huge talent, very inconsistent. She needs small B events to build confidence.

 

[Colonel Green]

For me, it's not so much Roman having everything in one basket. More that Skate Canada had all their eggs in a Roman basket. So much so that when Roman had more issues, there weren't any Canadian entries in Warsaw and Zagreb since he was their only entry for both events. Those were opportunities they gave him that they didn't give to other skaters in all the disciplines.

They were only trying to send him to those competitions because he missed his earlier ones.

 

[Cutting the ice]

I strongly suspect that Skate Canada isn’t being obtuse wrt the need to send our skaters to international events. I suspect they just don’t have the budget. Any insider who can confirm or deny this?

 

[4everchan]

I strongly suspect that Skate Canada isn’t being obtuse wrt the need to send our skaters to international events. I suspect they just don’t have the budget. Any insider who can confirm or deny this?

Definitely not an insider. I think that's a fair statement. However, if you are running a business and realize you need to invest in it to get returns, and you don't quite have the money, you need to find that money somehow. I know. It's not easy. However, it needs to be done. They could partner up with Air Canada or something like that to get travel expenses covered. Something needs to be done because clearly, right now, it's not working out.

 

[saine]

They were only trying to send him to those competitions because he missed his earlier ones.

I understand that and it was the right decision to enter him. The issue is that he was the only one entered for those competitions. They could have entered other skaters in addition to Roman.

 

[Sackie]

Posting this here cause it is Canadian related in a way. Caroline and Shane skated at Golden Spin and did not do too well. They really seem to be regressing. Even skating for IRL now it may be that they never make it to worlds or the Olympics anyway the way they are scoring.

 

[chuckm]

Posting this here cause it is Canadian related in a way. Caroline and Shane skated at Golden Spin and did not do too well. They really seem to be regressing. Even skating for IRL now it may be that they never make it to worlds or the Olympics anyway the way they are scoring.

Although they achieved the required TES for Worlds in the FD, they didn't even get the Euros TES for the RD.

 

[NanaPat]

Posting this here cause it is Canadian related in a way. Caroline and Shane skated at Golden Spin and did not do too well. They really seem to be regressing. Even skating for IRL now it may be that they never make it to worlds or the Olympics anyway the way they are scoring.

Although they achieved the required TES for Worlds in the FD, they didn't even get the Euros TES for the RD.

Give them time. Having to take Skate Canada to arbitration to get their release probably took its toll on them. From chukm's post, it looks like they just had a bad RD, not a total regression.

 

[saine]

Although they achieved the required TES for Worlds in the FD, they didn't even get the Euros TES for the RD.

They did get the Euros TES for the RD at Bosphorus Cup the week prior. They'll have more chances to get the Worlds TES for the RD, they weren't going to work out whatever the issue with the RD was in one week. But they'll be at Euros at least.

 

[FlossieH]

Although they achieved the required TES for Worlds in the FD, they didn't even get the Euros TES for the RD.

They already have the TES for Euros. They got it at the Bosphorus Cup a couple of weeks ago, which was their first competition (other than Irish nationals) since leaving the Canadian system. It may take them a bit of time to regain the competitive sharpness needed. If you exclude nationals, where they were the only senior ID entry, they had not competed for over a year. Nothing done in training can fully recreate a competition and even the very top skaters often struggle initially after a break.

 

[4everchan]

Definitely not an insider. I think that's a fair statement. However, if you are running a business and realize you need to invest in it to get returns, and you don't quite have the money, you need to find that money somehow. I know. It's not easy. However, it needs to be done. They could partner up with Air Canada or something like that to get travel expenses covered. Something needs to be done because clearly, right now, it's not working out.

On their site : Skate Canada has two travel partners.....

 

[NanaPat]

On their site : Skate Canada has two travel partners.....

But neither one is Air Canada.

 

[4everchan]

But neither one is Air Canada.

Yeah... I am not sure how VIA Rails can bring skaters to European challengers the other partner is a corporate traveling service... don't know them... They need more money, so they need more partners. Simple as that. The issue however, is that they didn't manage to bring in enough funding when Canadians were winning more medals. Partners expect visibility. Visibility comes with results. Results come with getting opportunities to compete... which come from... funding... That's why the chicken farmers are partners... because it's a chicken and egg question

 

[Cutting the ice]

Yeah... I am not sure how VIA Rails can bring skaters to European challengers the other partner is a corporate traveling service... don't know them... They need more money, so they need more partners. Simple as that. The issue however, is that they didn't manage to bring in enough funding when Canadians were winning more medals. Partners expect visibility. Visibility comes with results. Results come with getting opportunities to compete... which come from... funding... That's why the chicken farmers are partners... because it's a chicken and egg question

Perhaps Skate Canada could partner with Air Canada and fans can donate their frequent flyer points to assist at least with that part.

But I would love to know how CanSkate has survived COVID. In my small community of 7,000 population, we used to have well over one hundred Canskaters enrolled and close to 30 in the recreational figure skating programme. There was another CanSkate club just 7 km away, not quite as big but still had close to 20 recreational figure skaters. But even 15 years ago, there was a big decline with girls going to hockey. We offered a learn-to powerskate programme but so did the hockey organizations. So just curious what numbers look like today compared to 15 years ago - heck even just pre-COVID. This forum focuses on our elite figure skaters - but they rely on community-based learn-to-skate programmes. So I think worth discussing as it effects the future of this sport.