2025-2026 Canadian Figure Skating | Page 70 | Golden Skate

2025-2026 Canadian Figure Skating

What I understood is that the release wasn't granted yet from Korea. So she could for now, only compete domestically. So, it would mean that she did ask to represent Canada, and Canada has accepted her in their domestic events. Korea will do their part otherwise I am bringing back Lim/Quan.
The individual skating mens and womens is the most interesting at the Challenge. Sadly Keegan appears done. Beautiful skating; a show man but technically he is horrible even for Canada. His tech is low for a women even and he is out of time. I rather doubt they would send a skater who has struggled to reach 140. Though he still may be the best in the sp. Gogo has been doing fairly well and Roman if he gets his quads is our most complete skater. Nice to see Wesley he will need time. Grayson is the future. I am curious what Slipchuk is thinking about his Canadian program.Slim chances in pairs and dance but after worlds or maybe olympics Canada's best hope for top 5 is LaLa. Watching the ladies it is good to see Minsol but she is not eligible for the olympics. Gabby had issues in the sp ; Kaiya stillskates very juniorish. The ladies are up and down like a roller coaster. If Madi wins nats she will go to the olympics.
 
Question on Minsol Kwon's status
I understand that Minsol Kwon can compete domestically in Skate Canada qualifying competitions after qualifying as a non-Cdn citizen and getting a "release" from Korea (I don't understand this "domestic" release part). WRT competing internationally, I know she must be granted permission from the ISU under Rule 109. Has Korea done its part and given her permit which can't be reasonably denied if she has not competed for Korea in 12 months (which she hasn't)? Or has Korea given her the permit and she is working on qualifying for Canada under Rule 109? Again - I don't get the domestic versus international "permit" from Korea. Isn't there just one type?

Best of luck to her and all Challenge competitors today. Yesterday's singles competitions were amazing!
As she's still age ineligible for seniors this year, I don't think anyone is in a huge rush to push the paperwork thru. Though, I suppose she could potentially have went to Junior Worlds.

I guess we'll find out for sure next season, but I don't think there will be any major issues. The big thing will be getting her citizenship in time for 2030
 
The individual skating mens and womens is the most interesting at the Challenge. Sadly Keegan appears done. Beautiful skating; a show man but technically he is horrible even for Canada. His tech is low for a women even and he is out of time. I rather doubt they would send a skater who has struggled to reach 140. Though he still may be the best in the sp. Gogo has been doing fairly well and Roman if he gets his quads is our most complete skater. Nice to see Wesley he will need time. Grayson is the future. I am curious what Slipchuk is thinking about his Canadian program.Slim chances in pairs and dance but after worlds or maybe olympics Canada's best hope for top 5 is LaLa. Watching the ladies it is good to see Minsol but she is not eligible for the olympics. Gabby had issues in the sp ; Kaiya stillskates very juniorish. The ladies are up and down like a roller coaster. If Madi wins nats she will go to the olympics.
I wouldn’t say he’s done.. I say he chose to come back with next to no time left.. he has only done a small handful of events. If he was planning a comeback it should have been last year. I mean even gabby has done like double the events Keegan has.. his programs aren’t that great. I’m not going to lie. They’re just show piece Keegan style and a sprint through it. He lacks a lot right now imo. He’s had no time to hone the program to actually be competitive imo
 
The individual skating mens and womens is the most interesting at the Challenge. Sadly Keegan appears done. Beautiful skating; a show man but technically he is horrible even for Canada. His tech is low for a women even and he is out of time. I rather doubt they would send a skater who has struggled to reach 140. Though he still may be the best in the sp. Gogo has been doing fairly well and Roman if he gets his quads is our most complete skater. Nice to see Wesley he will need time. Grayson is the future. I am curious what Slipchuk is thinking about his Canadian program.Slim chances in pairs and dance but after worlds or maybe olympics Canada's best hope for top 5 is LaLa. Watching the ladies it is good to see Minsol but she is not eligible for the olympics. Gabby had issues in the sp ; Kaiya stillskates very juniorish. The ladies are up and down like a roller coaster. If Madi wins nats she will go to the olympics.
I looked at some of the SC Challenge events on DailyMotion. It was sad seeing that Keegan Messing does not look in good enough shape to battle at the top of his game competitively. SC judges were very kind to him overall. I thought Wesley Chiu should have been in first after the sp. Keegan was very much overscored. I was glad to see Grayson Long look better in his fp. Still, Grayson does not seem as confident as he looked at the start of the season. I wonder if he's nursing an injury.

It's too bad that Canadian men do not have two or three spots. Sending only one guy to Olympics and Worlds is tough. It's been good to see Roman Sadovsky competing with greater confidence. Still, Roman has been receiving too many UR calls. Stephen is looking fit, healthy, and more confident this season. Wesley looks good after his surgery. It would be nice if Roman could go to Olympics and Wesley to Worlds as the second guys behind Stephen G, with not having a ton of pressure on their shoulders. I think Roman got deep-sixed at the last Olympics by expecting to compete as the second Canadian guy behind Keegan, only in the individual event, but then got called to compete in the team event at the last minute due to Keegan's logistic crisis. It was a lot of unanticipated pressure for Roman, which overall he has come back from, though it has taken a while.

Thus, I think at this stage, even though Cdn Nats will be the final decider, that Stephen should get the Olympics and Worlds berths, with Keegan, Roman, and Wesley getting 4CCs. Hopefully, Stephen can do well enough at Worlds after a good showing at the Olympics, and bring back two spots for 2027 Worlds for Canadian men.
 
It was lovely to see Thierry Ferland competing again. He looks to be in very good physical shape with a well-matched new partner physically. It's unfortunate that Thierry's new partner, Eliana Secunda, is another pairs lady with tech issues and lack of confidence on jumps. 🙁 Otherwise, Eliana looks very good on other pairs elements. I couldn't find video for pairs sp at SC Challenge, so I only viewed the pairs free programs.

Apparently, Tristan Taylor and his Japanese partner, Miyu Yunoki, train in Colorado Springs. I wonder why Tristan chose to train with MMPairs? I recall seeing the announcement when they partnered last year. Tristan and Miyu seem promising, but still a lot of developing to do.
 
Who is Nina???
I need to do some research 🧐
Nina Ouellette used to skate with Rique Newby-Estrella in pairs for the U.S. I remember seeing them compete in pairs at U.S. Natls for at least 2 or 3 seasons. Here's a former profile from U.S. figure skating fan zone:


I think Nina is a decent jumper. Her former partner, Newby-Estrella, was not great with jumps, lifts, or throws. Hopefully, Nina has stayed fit. Charly is a better partner, younger than Newby-Estrella, and closer to Nina's age.


 
Nina Ouellette says a teary goodbye to Texas and seems to confirm intention to compete for Canada in the comments - with Charly Laliberte Laurent

According to SkatingScores, she has not competed in over 2 years. The last protocol did not look promising, but that is also a lot of time to work on foundations. And a different partner of course.

 
She definitely does not have French citizenship ,what happened to the rumors of David Shteyngart? He wants a girl with good jumps but Martina posted a banging 3T+2A earlier this summer, at Oakville.
I think David S was speculation when there were reports of Martina practicing with a new partner who was described as tall and with light brown hair. David S still has an active profile on Ice Partner Search. He's based in Ottawa, so there'd be relocation involved if he wanted to partner with her in Oakville.
 
Nina Ouellette says a teary goodbye to Texas and seems to confirm intention to compete for Canada in the comments - with Charly Laliberte Laurent

According to SkatingScores, she has not competed in over 2 years. The last protocol did not look promising, but that is also a lot of time to work on foundations. And a different partner of course.

In this case, I am relieved they chose Canada. Charly is a world junior medalist so I am sure Skate Canada and Patinage Québec didn't want to see him go. We already lost his bro to France.
 
I wouldn’t say he’s done.. I say he chose to come back with next to no time left.. he has only done a small handful of events. If he was planning a comeback it should have been last year. I mean even gabby has done like double the events Keegan has.. his programs aren’t that great. I’m not going to lie. They’re just show piece Keegan style and a sprint through it. He lacks a lot right now imo. He’s had no time to hone the program to actually be competitive imo
I mean he is done for the olympics Not enough time. Artistically yes, but I am shocked at his lack of jumping.
 
I looked at some of the SC Challenge events on DailyMotion. It was sad seeing that Keegan Messing does not look in good enough shape to battle at the top of his game competitively. SC judges were very kind to him overall. I thought Wesley Chiu should have been in first after the sp. Keegan was very much overscored. I was glad to see Grayson Long look better in his fp. Still, Grayson does not seem as confident as he looked at the start of the season. I wonder if he's nursing an injury.

It's too bad that Canadian men do not have two or three spots. Sending only one guy to Olympics and Worlds is tough. It's been good to see Roman Sadovsky competing with greater confidence. Still, Roman has been receiving too many UR calls. Stephen is looking fit, healthy, and more confident this season. Wesley looks good after his surgery. It would be nice if Roman could go to Olympics and Wesley to Worlds as the second guys behind Stephen G, with not having a ton of pressure on their shoulders. I think Roman got deep-sixed at the last Olympics by expecting to compete as the second Canadian guy behind Keegan, only in the individual event, but then got called to compete in the team event at the last minute due to Keegan's logistic crisis. It was a lot of unanticipated pressure for Roman, which overall he has come back from, though it has taken a while.

Thus, I think at this stage, even though Cdn Nats will be the final decider, that Stephen should get the Olympics and Worlds berths, with Keegan, Roman, and Wesley getting 4CCs. Hopefully, Stephen can do well enough at Worlds after a good showing at the Olympics, and bring back two spots for 2027 Worlds for Canadian men.
I agree on what I have seen Stephen is Canada's man I Pay that reluctantly because if Roman or Keegan skated to their potential. They both are top ten contenders and maybe higher. Their scoring potential was say 3 quads and 3 3a in a competition have way higher scoring opportunity than GOGO. I really was and still am cheering for Piper and Paul and Deanna and Max but my hear is for them but I sense it is over. P squared are not ompetiitve with CB or the French.Their FD is blah and not well received. They will be passed by the Brits. I apprecate both Piper and Paul and CB are a bit tired so sad I want them towin gold or atleast bronze but unless something drastically happens or someone makes a major injury they will be off the poidium come Turin. And the ame for Max and Deanna but how can you not cheer for the Maria Butyrskaya of the modern era.
 
So what is happening with the CANs at the GPF. None of them are living up to their potential. Yes Piper and Paul are in 3rd as expected but they should be closer to the top two, but instead are only a wee bit ahead of the Brits. And if Deanna and Max keep skating like they have here they may be hard pressed to stay in the top 10. They even got the lowest PCS.
 
I have no idea what was wrong with Deanna and Max this week, it looked like they totally lost their confidence. That was hard to watch.
 
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