2025-2026 Canadian Figure Skating

[FlossieH]

I am really proud of how well David Bondar stepped up. He wasn't expecting to be at Junior Worlds and didn't get much notice. He had been working on things for next season, not running programmes, and did not have much time to rebuild the stamina for competition programmes. To get a new ISU PB for his free programme and overall in that context is a really good achievement.

David has earned the same number of JGP spots as you had this season, and I think it is probably enough. A lot of them are aging out of juniors at the end of this season and I'm not sure you have anyone coming up from novice who will become a top junior next season.

Ladies is where I think you have a problem with JGP spots. I assume that Lia will get two spots, which just leaves two for other skaters. Minsol has said that she will be doing JGP next season, rather than moving up to seniors internationally, because she hasn't competed internationally for a while. If she is given one spot, then that leaves just one between Viktoria, Quinn or anyone who does really well at Next Gen. It feels a bit harsh for Viktoria, who was clearly your best junior in international competition this season.

 

[4everchan]

I am really proud of how well David Bondar stepped up. He wasn't expecting to be at Junior Worlds and didn't get much notice. He had been working on things for next season, not running programmes, and did not have much time to rebuild the stamina for competition programmes. To get a new ISU PB for his free programme and overall in that context is a really good achievement.

David has earned the same number of JGP spots as you had this season, and I think it is probably enough. A lot of them are aging out of juniors at the end of this season and I'm not sure you have anyone coming up from novice who will become a top junior next season.

Ladies is where I think you have a problem with JGP spots. I assume that Lia will get two spots, which just leaves two for other skaters. Minsol has said that she will be doing JGP next season, rather than moving up to seniors internationally, because she hasn't competed internationally for a while. If she is given one spot, then that leaves just one between Viktoria, Quinn or anyone who does really well at Next Gen. It feels a bit harsh for Viktoria, who was clearly your best junior in international competition this season.

yup... lia and minsol should get 2 spots each and too bad for the others... and only one of them will get to jwc... the year after, it should be better but Skate Canada, again, played a dangerous game and burned themselves... just like with summer and nick being sent here.... 15th place is the WTF moment of the year for me... Charlie and Cayden nearly qualified for JGPF and should have been sent here.

 

[Ziotic]

yup... lia and minsol should get 2 spots each and too bad for the others... and only one of them will get to jwc... the year after, it should be better but Skate Canada, again, played a dangerous game and burned themselves... just like with summer and nick being sent here.... 15th place is the WTF moment of the year for me... Charlie and Cayden nearly qualified for JGPF and should have been sent here.

Agreed. Minsol and Lia get two assignments.

Minsol was 3rd at Sr nationals. There is no reason for her not to have two.

As for Jr Worlds. Send Lia, Minsol can do a split seasons and go to 4CC and Sr worlds.

Of course, this is based on them both having seasons at the level they are capable of!

 

[saine]

yup... lia and minsol should get 2 spots each and too bad for the others... and only one of them will get to jwc... the year after, it should be better but Skate Canada, again, played a dangerous game and burned themselves...

I know you didn't specifically mention the visa rumour, but the dangerous game mention made me think of it. The source of it seems to be someone posting on another site that they heard it. It feels like a bit of a game of telephone, where the details get lost as it gets repeated.

The poster who posted it here didn't answer when it was pointed out that Estonia doesn't allow visas for Russian citizens for the purpose of sport. There were other late withdrawals from skaters who look to be in the same situation (Calhoun/Zheltyshev from the US and Arina Kalugina from Azerbaijan.)

 

[4everchan]

I know you didn't specifically mention the visa rumour, but the dangerous game mention made me think of it. The source of it seems to be someone posting on another site that they heard it. It feels like a bit of a game of telephone, where the details get lost as it gets repeated.

The poster who posted it here didn't answer when it was pointed out that Estonia doesn't allow visas for Russian citizens for the purpose of sport. There were other late withdrawals from skaters who look to be in the same situation (Calhoun/Zheltyshev from the US and Arina Kalugina from Azerbaijan.)

yes... at the same time, the American ice dancer who is Russian and won gold managed to get there and there are other "Russians" who did so who do we believe ?

 

[saine]

Robert Brodie article on the Junior Pairs podium:

“I was so happy. We’ve been competing with Jazzy and Kieran for three years, I think, so I was just so happy to be on a podium with them at the end of the year,” said Elizarov. “Both of our seasons have been so long; we’ve come through so much with our injuries.”

Added Kemp: “Even just the past few seasons, all of us have had our fair share of ups and downs. Us being able to be one and two … Canadian pairs has never had that at Junior Worlds. It’s amazing.”

 

[4everchan]

Robert Brodie article on the Junior Pairs podium:

I already loved Ava and Yoni... their attitude makes me adore them now

 

[saine]

yes... at the same time, the American ice dancer who is Russian and won gold managed to get there and there are other "Russians" who did so who do we believe ?

That's the thing. There are so many missing details with this rumour that I can't put stock into it. We don't know what everyone's visa situation is (short-term vs long-term that would be needed for skaters who are based in the Schengen zone) and whether or not they have a biometric passport that would be recognized.

It's being repeated like it's true without all those details and it's coming from someone who heard something, not from Victoria directly.

 

[4everchan]

That's the thing. There are so many missing details with this rumour that I can't put stock into it. We don't know what everyone's visa situation is (short-term vs long-term that would be needed for skaters who are based in the Schengen zone) and whether or not they have a biometric passport that would be recognized.

It's being repeated like it's true without all those details and it's coming from someone who heard something, not from Victoria directly.

my stock will be in this : If the visa was an issue, Skate Canada had weeks to make it happen as they would have known about it a while back.

 

[4everchan]

Just in the women's division there are 5 Russian born skaters at these worlds with at least one, non Schengen zone

 

[Ziotic]

Visas can be approved/ denied and all things in between on technicalities as well. Just because someone gets one doesn’t mean everyone will.

 

[4everchan]

Visas can be approved/ denied and all things in between on technicalities as well. Just because someone gets one doesn’t mean everyone will.

fair enough. I think, however, that Skate Canada could have been transparent about the situation, like they were with Grayson.

 

[brblja]

The whole visa discussion is pretty impossible to have without, frankly, personal information that we don’t know and athletes should not have to disclose. Also, almost all the threads discussing the visa restrictions are focused on a single type of visa.

The fine print on the Schengen visa is that:
a. the Estonian rules being quoted all over the forums are for people crossing into Schengen in Estonia - there is a loophole that you could enter EU via a country with less stringent rules and the travel onwards to Estonia from there.
b. aside from the single-entry visas there’s a whole plethora of multi-entry/long term visas. Athletes who came to the EU before for comps would have the required history of short visas and justification for applying for a multi entry one.

Frankly, if I was an admin with a national federation, I’d be making a short list of anyone who could go to EU comps or be a top alternate and lining the visas up proactively to avoid the last-minute scrambling that always seems to happen. But maybe I am too optimistic about the fed/admin competency level.

 

[4everchan]

The whole visa discussion is pretty impossible to have without, frankly, personal information that we don’t know and athletes should not have to disclose. Also, almost all the threads discussing the visa restrictions are focused on a single type of visa.

I don't think we need to hear about athletes personal information. What I have said is that Skate Canada could have simply been transparent saying that their athlete didn't receive a visa, if that's indeed the case. That's all. No need for details. No need for justification.

Grayson got injured, there was transparency about this. Victoria was assigned, and then without any update, was switched for Megan. Of course, it doesn't help that Megan didn't make the free program... but I think there would be less discussion if there had been an announcement of the type : Victoria wasn't able to secure the proper paperwork so Megan will be going, instead of letting rumours spread. Maybe she got injured ? Maybe she retired see what I mean, when there is no announcement, anything can be spread as of rumours... so why not just shut them down by making a statement, which can remain protective of the athlete's personal condition.

Skate Canada doesn't owe their fans anything but then, if the fans get pissed off, they don't owe Skate Canada anything either

The fine print on the Schengen visa is that:
a. the Estonian rules being quoted all over the forums are for people crossing into Schengen in Estonia - there is a loophole that you could enter EU via a country with less stringent rules and the travel onwards to Estonia from there.
b. aside from the single-entry visas there’s a whole plethora of multi-entry/long term visas. Athletes who came to the EU before for comps would have the required history of short visas and justification for applying for a multi entry one.

Frankly, if I was an admin with a national federation, I’d be making a short list of anyone who could go to EU comps or be a top alternate and lining the visas up proactively to avoid the last-minute scrambling that always seems to happen. But maybe I am too optimistic about the fed/admin competency level.

 

[4everchan]

On top of that, if I am not mistaken, sporting federations, like the ISU, ask their hosting partners to allow athletes in. So Russian or not, if they are representing another country, it has to be facilitated for these athletes to get in. I am just baffled that many did manage, but a few didn't. If should be fair to all athletes and all participating national federations. Canada is not a banned nation by the ISU. Victoria is representing Canada, not Russia.

 

[NanaPat]

Grayson got injured, there was transparency about this.

As I recall, it was Grayson who announced that he was injured, not Skate Canada. He posted it on social media shortly after it became known that he had been replaced.

Agree that it is best to announce a general reason for changes in entries. Skate Canada may think a general announcement will lead to unduely intrusive speculation, but no announcement is even worse in the speculation department!

 

[4everchan]

As I recall, it was Grayson who announced that he was injured, not Skate Canada. He posted it on social media shortly after it became known that he had been replaced.

Agree that it is best to announce a general reason for changes in entries. Skate Canada may think a general announcement will lead to unduely intrusive speculation, but no announcement is even worse in the speculation department!

fair enough... if it were indeed Grayson and not Skate Canada... my point is still valid. When there is a substitution, Skate Canada should make an announcement that respects both the athletes privacy and the fans. They did when Deanna and Max were replaced for the team event. They said there was an injury. Of course, the type of injury led to speculation but as you rightly did say, no announcement would have been worse.

 

[Cutting the ice]

I feel badly for Megan. She got dropped in PCS pretty badly so even with a higher TES than other skaters that made the cut, she didn’t make it. Was the pcs deserved? Don’t know but this seems to be a common theme with Cdn skaters. Same thing happened last year to Kara Yun. So another thing for the Skate Canada development team to work on with coaches. Either we suck at developing skating skills in our young skaters or …?

 

[4everchan]

I feel badly for Megan. She got dropped in PCS pretty badly so even with a higher TES than other skaters that made the cut, she didn’t make it. Was the pcs deserved? Don’t know but this seems to be a common theme with Cdn skaters. Same thing happened last year to Kara Yun. So another thing for the Skate Canada development team to work on with coaches. Either we suck at developing skating skills in our young skaters or …?

we really do not suck at developing skating skills and many Canadian skaters have expert choreographers working with them. As a matter of fact, we are very privileged in Canada when it comes to that. There are a few skaters who do lack smooth skating but I would say that our skaters are not weak.

However, since they do not go out, they have early starting orders and judges do not know them. You know the rest of my thoughts. I don't need to repeat it.

Gogo improved his PCS just by doing well at the team event. His PCS scores improved for the individual event. And I wouldn't be surprised if they improved again at worlds, if he skates well.

 

[Cutting the ice]

I totally agree with you, but watching the top men and women this week from Japan, there is still something missing from the Cdn sauce. Our kids have tons of talent, perhaps lacking in confidence? Yes, need more competition experience but perhaps something more is needed as well.

And what the heck happened to Summer and Nic. I haven’t watched their programmes yet but such a drop in international scores since the autumn? Just bad skates?