2023-24 Canadian Figure Skating

[saine]

I think we can see that Canada produces great skaters. There are very good ice dancers, and there are single skaters with wonderful smooth skating. The problem is not the overall skating, but simply the jumps in my opinion. I really don't know about the reasons, but I am astonished possible reasons are rarely discussed here but "sending the skaters out". Maybe they have the jumps in training, but are they really automated in a way that they are stable in big competitions? I would also question whether it's worth it to ruin your body for that - or if I would let my child do it - and maybe that's necessary to be able to do achieve the technical level today... don't know.

I don't think that other reasons other than lack of competitions is being considered here. I do think it is hard to judge what other reasons could be causing issues if the skaters aren't competing internationally. There isn't enough data to judge the other possible issues. They could be trying to adjust their technique, but not getting it under the pressure of only having 1-2 chances of competing internationally in one season.

What I do see is that Skate Canada isn't adjusting their strategy. Maybe they are, but it doesn't look like it. It's working for the top ice dance and pairs teams, but not the other skaters. It isn't helping their case when Ted Barton, the head of one of the larger sections in Canada, talks about the importance of getting competition experience for the ISU GPF streams.

Competing more won't magically fix all the issues. But it will give the skaters a better idea of what works and what doesn't work. Then it's up to them to make the changes.

 

[4everchan]

Still no entries for Nationals posted.. nor for 4CC... Entries for synchro are up.... so let's see what this week gives us.

 

[saine]

Holiday shutdown starts Friday, so it'll be by Thursday if they're posted this week.

On Skate Canada's Youtube channel, they did post Fée Ann Landry's free skate from Challenge. It's good to see them uploading programs to Youtube. Hopefully they'll add more from current skaters, it's good to share their performances

 

[4everchan]

Holiday shutdown starts Friday, so it'll be by Thursday if they're posted this week.

Well... they are back at typos : listed for YOG
ICE DANCE
ADURA GANS

On Skate Canada's Youtube channel, they did post Fée Ann Landry's free skate from Challenge. It's good to see them uploading programs to Youtube. Hopefully they'll add more from current skaters, it's good to share their performances

will rewatch this right away... it was a good one.

 

[Ruthypegs]

Can anyone help me - I'm hoping to get to Skate Canada in Autumn 2024 - does anyone know when the venue is announced?

Thanks!

 

[4everchan]

Can anyone help me - I'm hoping to get to Skate Canada in Autumn 2024 - does anyone know when the venue is announced?

Thanks!

probably in the spring or even summer.

 

[saine]

Preliminary 4CC assignments, pretty much everyone who competed at Cup of China and/or GPF and will likely podium at Nationals. The rest of the spots will be announced January 14.

So the expected choices in women, pairs and ice dance who have visas for now, everyone else TBD.

 

[4everchan]

Preliminary 4CC assignments, pretty much everyone who competed at Cup of China and/or GPF and will likely podium at Nationals. The rest of the spots will be announced January 14.

So the expected choices in women, pairs and ice dance who have visas for now, everyone else TBD.

I am a bit confused with these assignments... Why wait until Nationals are over to make the other announcements when it was said that they had to make the selection earlier. This will be very counterproductive if they indeed have to select early and then that skater bombs at Nationals and still gets the nod to go to 4CC or vice versa. The general public will be even more confused than I am now... or have they received an okay from the Chinese authorities to get half the visas now and the other half later etc???

SO weird.

 

[saine]

I am a bit confused with these assignments... Why wait until Nationals are over to make the other announcements when it was said that they had to make the selection earlier. This will be very counterproductive if they indeed have to select early and then that skater bombs at Nationals and still gets the nod to go to 4CC or vice versa. The general public will be even more confused than I am now... or have they received an okay from the Chinese authorities to get half the visas now and the other half later etc???

SO weird.

If the 4CC entries are up as quick as the European entries were, the entries/substitutes will be announced for them anyways.

They might swap out subs in case someone does bomb, but the subs may need flight information for their visas. I've gotten a visa to China before and I couldn't get one without the flight information. Maybe they want to make sure that everyone gets their visas first, then name them officially like they would usually after Nationals.

But in that case, the ones they announced today could've waited until then too since now people are reading into the entries that weren't announced.

 

[saine]

Emma Goodstadt announced her retirement from competitive skating and will be going to university.

 

[WittGrittnGrace(y)]

Cackling at the typos. But scratching my head at the partial list for 4CC. Why not just wait?

 

[Dreamer57]

I'm excited for whoever takes the final spot in pairs!
Nervous energy for men.

Happy for all 3 ice dance teams, who did all compete at GPF, but I do wonder if it is a little de-motivating for the other teams competing at nationals to know there's little chance for assignments in the new year.

 

[SnowWhite]

I'm excited for whoever takes the final spot in pairs!
Nervous energy for men.

Happy for all 3 ice dance teams, who did all compete at GPF, but I do wonder if it is a little de-motivating for the other teams competing at nationals to know there's little chance for assignments in the new year.

I mean, I would think they already knew that, since it's not an Olympic year. There's a very clear top 3, and it's not like dance teams typically skip 4CCs (outside of health reasons) in normal seasons.

 

[NanaPat]

Cackling at the typos. But scratching my head at the partial list for 4CC. Why not just wait?

It does seem odd. Though I think any of us could have come up with the same list they did as "sure things" for 4CC, barring something really extraordinary happening (like illness or injury). I'll bet they are "sure things" for Worlds as well.

 

[WittGrittnGrace(y)]

It does seem odd. Though I think any of us could have come up with the same list they did as "sure things" for 4CC, barring something really extraordinary happening (like illness or injury). I'll bet they are "sure things" for Worlds as well.

Yes I agree. The names are all perfectly logical but I just don’t recall ever seeing partial lists released. Maybe it’s more common than I think and I just haven’t seen it.

 

[4everchan]

Yes I agree. The names are all perfectly logical but I just don’t recall ever seeing partial lists released. Maybe it’s more common than I think and I just haven’t seen it.

it's common to have one spot TBA in a category... like the pairs one makes complete sense..... BUT to have 6 spots TBA is ridiculous and I don't recall it ever being done before

 

[bgg]

it's common to have one spot TBA in a category... like the pairs one makes complete sense..... BUT to have 6 spots TBA is ridiculous and I don't recall it ever being done before

it is skate Canada..... why are you surprised?

 

[4everchan]

it is skate Canada..... why are you surprised?

of course but it's usually not that bad

 

[Sackie]

Wonder if Skate Canada is just sending a message of how unimpressed they are with our single skaters and some pairs results this season. I am sure they had some high hopes at SCI for both Sara Maude (after her 4CC Free Skate) and Kaiya (after her 2nd place at Autumn Classic). They would never stop to realize that they are partially to blame for their poor results. Sara Maude had no pressure on her at 4CC last year so she skated better then expected. But after that she was under pressure with very little international experience. And Kaiya needs to be in front of international judges more so she can clean up her spin levels and her under-rotations cause once you get labeled as an Under-rotator you seem to remain that way.

 

[saine]

I'm not sure if they were trying to send a message with the partial assignment list. But intent doesn't equal impact, and the fact that it could be read that way is not good on Skate Canada's part. All it did was spotlight the spots they didn't name. Yeah, men are inconsistent and no one knows what's going to happen at Nationals, Maddie looks like she'll get another title, what else is new (not directed at you, but I've seen it around other places)

They still have to name entries by January 9th and need to make sure they get their visas in order for the skaters and their coaches. They should have waited until the 14th to announce all the skaters instead of doing it this way, it would have been kinder to the skaters.

With Sara-Maude, I'm wondering if she's one of the skaters who scores better in the second half of the season. Looking at her scores, her Ice Challenge 2022 score (50.49/103.28/153.77) isn't far off what she scored at SCI 2023 (52.17/99.78/151.95). Her Skate Canada Challenge scores were similar between 2022 and 2023 as well. It may take time to get the hang of a program. Maybe she'll be chosen for 4CC and prove my hypothesis.