2025-26 Canadian Olympic/Championship Selection Criteria and Pools

[saine]

This will cover who has minimums for what, the spots and what the criteria are in one thread. Plenty of discussion to be had about who should be chosen for what. Criteria is from the International Selection Criteria on the Skate Canada website. Championship selection criteria is here.

First the pools in one post so that it can be referred to. 4CC and Olympics have the same CTES. Skaters who have 4CC/Olympics are not currently eligible to be named to the Worlds team, while those with Worlds could be named to all three (in theory, but not in practice as it is likely 4CC and Olympics will be split.)

Bavarian Open is currently on the International Assignments page and would be available for a skater who is missing the Junior World CTES or Worlds CTES if Skate Canada wanted to name them to the teams.

Selection Pool for Olympics/4CC/Worlds

Men	Section	CTES Mins	CTES
Roman Sadovsky	ON	Worlds	131.97​
Stephen Gogolev	ON	Worlds	145.35​
Aleksa Rakic	BC/YT	Worlds	116.74​
Grayson Long	ON	4CC/Olympics	108.85​
John Kim	ON	4CC/Olympics	89.2​
Matthew Newnham	AB/NT/NU	4CC/Olympics	107.48​
Keegan Messing	AB/NT/NU	4CC/Olympics	98.46​
Wesley Chiu	BC/YT	4CC/Olympics	108.88​

Women	Section	CTES Mins	CTES
Madeline Schizas	ON	Worlds	103.7​
Sara-Maude Dupuis	QC	Worlds	97.79​
Katherine Medland Spence	ON	Worlds	97.15​
Kaiya Ruiter	AB/NWT/NU	Worlds	94.99​
Uliana Shiryaeva*	BC/YT	Worlds	97.34​
Gabrielle Daleman	ON	Worlds	93.03​
Fee Ann Landry	QC	Worlds	88.54​
Breken Brezden	MB	4CC/Olympics	77.94​

*may not have citizenship to be eligible for the Olympics

Pairs	Section	CTES Mins	CTES
Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps	QC	Worlds	114.58​
Lia Pereira/Trennt Michaud	ON	Worlds	104.37​
Kelly Ann Laurin/Loucas Ethier	QC	Worlds	99.24​
Fiona Bombardier/Benjamin Mimar*	QC	4CC/Olympics	88.17​
Ava Kemp/Yohnatan Elizarov	ON	Worlds	93.79​

* have not competed this season, out for injury

Ice Dance	Section	CTES Mins	CTES
Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier	ON	Worlds	123.37​
Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha	QC	Worlds	116.68​
Alicia Fabbri/Paul Ayer	QC	Worlds	104.83​
Marie-Jade Lauriault/Romain Le Gac	QC	Worlds	113.29​
Lily Hensen/Nathan Lickers	ON	4CC/Olympics	94.04​
Sandrine Gauthier/Quentin Thieren	QC	4CC/Olympics	94.13​
Jamie Fournier/Everest Zhu	QC	4CC/Olympics	96.12​
Chloe Nguyen/Brendan Giang	BC/YT	4CC/Olympics	87.4​

Selection Pool for Junior World Championships

Men	Domestic Category	Section	CTES
Anthony Paradis	Senior	QC	96.48​
Grayson Long	Senior	ON	110.51​
David Bondar	Senior	ON	111.44​
Edward Nicholas Vasii	Senior	QC	90.05​
William Chan	Junior	BC/YT	87.47​
Parker Heiderich	Junior	AB/NT/NU	91.86​

Women	Domestic Category	Section	CTES
Camila Volkova	Junior	QC	77.43​
Victoria Barakhtina	Junior	ON	94.34​
Hannah Quinn	Junior	ON	73.58​
Reese Rose	Senior	ON	74.86​
Sandrine Blais	Senior	QC	75.3​
Megan Woodley	Senior	ON	89.94​
Hetty Shi	Senior	ON	74.55​
Quinn Startek	Junior	ON	88.51​
Lulu Lin	Senior	ON	89.94​
Aleksa Volkova*	Senior	QC	78.1​

* Did not qualify for 2025-26 Nationals

Pairs	Domestic Category	Section	CTES
Ava Kemp/Yohnatan Elizarov	Senior	ON	94.53​
Jazmine Desrochers/Kieran Thrasher	Senior	ON	87.19​
Brianna Dion/Jacob Cote	Junior	ON	64.95​
Julia Quattrocchi/Etienne Lacasse	Junior	QC	73.3​
Beau Callahan/Vladimir Furman	Junior	QC	63.7​
Ava Cheung/Stephen Lee	Junior	BC/YT	63.94​

Ice Dance	Domestic Category	Section	CTES
Layla Veillon/Alexander Brandys	Junior	ON	88.99​
Charlie Anderson/Cayden Dawson	Junior	ON	81.74​
Aurea Cincon-Debout/Earl Jesse Celestino	Junior	QC	77.97​
Summer Homick/Nicholas Buelow	Junior	ON	79.48​
Laurence Briere/Julien Levesque	Junior	QC	79.03​

 

[saine]

Olympics

"Qualification Period
The period of qualification for athletes to meet the requirements of the established criteria as set by this document will be from September 15, 2024, to January 11, 2026.

Selection Criteria for Individual Discipline Events
In determining athletes for nomination, the HPDC will consult with the appropriate Skate Canada staff, which must include the High Performance Director. The athlete assessment procedure involves weighing the relative strengths and weaknesses of the athletes and their competitive results to select the best athletes possible for a top result at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. The HPDC will exercise discretion with regard to the relative weight and priority of the Selection Criteria as well as other relevant factors deemed appropriate in their decision-making process and will take into account, in no specific order, the following criteria:

• Medalists at the 2024 and /or 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships.
• Placement and scores from the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships.
• Placements and scores from the 2025 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.
• Placement and scores from the 2026 Canadian National Figure Skating Championships.
• Qualification to the 2025-2026 ISU Grand Prix Final.
• Season best international scores from the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 ISU Grand Prix Series, ISU Grand Prix Final and/or ISU Senior International events.
• Demonstration of short and free skate international scores from the current season (2025-2026) for a potential placement in the top two flights at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
• Any other relevant criteria deemed appropriate for selection."

Minimums/Entries

The minimums for the Olympics are the same as 4CC/Europeans (as listed here on page 3.)

Spots are:

• Men - 1 spot
• Women - 1 spot
• Pairs - 2 spots
• Ice Dance - 3 spots

Whoever is chosen for the Men and Women will be required to do the Team Event and that may be taken into consideration for selection.

 

[saine]

Four Continents Championships

"With the ISU point and qualifying system in place, athlete selection will be based on the following eligibility requirements:

1. ISU Combined Total Elements Score (Appendix i).
2. Age requirements as per ISU Rule 108.
3. Citizenship requirement as per ISU Rule 109.
4. Valid entry visa for China (emphasis mine)

The HPDC, in consultation with Skate Canada management, will exercise discretion with regard to the relative weight and priority of the Selection Criteria as well as other relevant factors deemed appropriate in their decision-making process and may take into account, in no specific order, the following criteria:

• Medalist at the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships
• Placement and scores at the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships
• Season best international score from the 2025-2026 ISU Grand Prix Series, Senior International events and /or ISU Grand Prix Final
• Demonstration of short and free skate international scores from the current season (2025-2026) for a potential placement in the top three flights at the 2026 ISU World Figure Skating Championships.
• Placement and scores at the 2026 Canadian National Figure Skating Championships
• Other relevant criteria deemed appropriate for selection."

Entries

Entries for 4CC are due December 24, 2025. This will be before Canadian Nationals and will have a short turnaround from it. Skate Canada CEO Debra Armstrong's interviews regarding selection for 4CC strongly suggest that the Olympic team will not be competing at 4CC, so there should be no skate-offs happening this season.

• Men - 3 spots
• Women - 3 spots
• Pairs - 3 spots
• Ice Dance - 3 spots

 

[saine]

World Junior Championships

"The HPDC, in consultation with Skate Canada management, will exercise discretion with regard to the relative weight and priority of the Selection Criteria as well as other relevant factors deemed appropriate in their decision-making process and may take into account, in no specific order, the following criteria:

• Placements, scores, skills performed, and age of eligible athletes / teams at the 2025-2026 ISU Junior Grand Prix Series, ISU Junior Grand Prix Final, and ISU International competitions in which Skate Canada has selected and nominated the skater(s)
• Placements, scores, skills performed, and age of eligible athletes / teams at the 2026 Canadian Championships. Athletes may be considered from Junior, or Senior categories if they meet the eligibility requirements.
• Skater / team’s performances trends over the previous 2 years based on total and technical scores achieved.
• Other relevant criteria deemed appropriate for selection."

Entries

Entries are due February 3, 2026. There is a question on whether Minsol Kwon will be released to compete internationally for Canada. If she is, Bavarian Open will likely be where she would compete for the minimums if she is named to the team.

• Men - 1 spot
• Women - 1 spot
• Pairs - 3 spots
• Ice Dance - 2 spots

 

[saine]

World Championships

"The HPDC, in consultation with Skate Canada management, will exercise discretion with regard to the relative weight and priority of the Selection Criteria as well as other relevant factors deemed appropriate in their decision-making process and may take into account, in no specific order, the following criteria:

• Medalist at the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships
• Placement and scores at the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships
• Season best international score from the 2025-2026 ISU Grand Prix Series, Senior International events and /or ISU Grand Prix Final
• Placement and scores at the 2026 ISU Four Continents Championships
• Demonstration of short and free skate international scores from the current season (2025-2026) for a potential placement in the top three flights at the 2026 ISU World Figure Skating Championships.
• Placement and scores at the 2026 Canadian National Figure Skating Championships
• Other relevant criteria deemed appropriate for selection."

Entries

Entries for Worlds are due February 24, 2026.

• Men - 1 spot
• Women - 1 spot
• Pairs - 2 spots
• Ice Dance - 3 spots

 

[4everchan]

Hilarious to think that a little while ago, only one woman had Worlds minimum and now it is the category where we do have the most eligible skaters

 

[brblja]

What so they mean by ‘flights’ in this context? Warm-up group, i.e., top 3 flights = top 18? Or something else?

 

[4everchan]

Warm up group = flight

 

[Ziotic]

We likely won't be able to send a full roster to 4CC. I do hope they send K/E otherwise L/E may be our only team if B/M are still injured (which I think they are)

 

[4everchan]

We likely won't be able to send a full roster to 4CC. I do hope they send K/E otherwise L/E may be our only team if B/M are still injured (which I think they are)

Bombardier Mimar are still out. She's getting surgery I think. They are not going to Nationals either (not on the publication from Patinage Québec).

Regarding Kemp/Elizarov I don't know. I'd prefer for them to focus on Junior Worlds but at the same time, why not ? It could be good for them to go to 4CC, to set themselves up nicely for their senior career. I think there is enough time between the events and they have kept a busy schedule this season so they may be up for it. Otherwise, what was the point of getting their scores ? It's really too bad that Jazzy and Kiki didn't do well enough at their event to grab their minimums.

The two new teams got ready too late to get assigned to receive their minimums. I am not sure they'd be ready anyways, still some work to do.

 

[SkatersWaltz]

We likely won't be able to send a full roster to 4CC. I do hope they send K/E otherwise L/E may be our only team if B/M are still injured (which I think they are)

Can't Jazmine and Kieran get their 4CC minimum at the junior grand prix final?

 

[ramurphy2005]

Can't Jazmine and Kieran get their 4CC minimum at the junior grand prix final?

You can only earn senior minimums at a senior competition.

 

[Ziotic]

You can only earn senior minimums at a senior competition.

Which I find so odd, since they have less elements. So if they hit the senior tech mins, let them in!

 

[4everchan]

Which I find so odd, since they have less elements. So if they hit the senior tech mins, let them in!

I think it may be hazardous. What if a team isn't able to do the third lift in seniors ? Do we want to push them directly to a competition of higher caliber without them having done that lift in a challenger event for instance ?

What about ice dance ?
What about not yet age eligible skaters ? Would their scores count for the following year when they become age eligible.

Too many questions for me and certainly too many loopholes for the ISU. They cannot make a fair rule about GP injury w/d as we saw this year so .. imagine them trying to navigate CTES minimums across categories

 

[Ziotic]

I think it may be hazardous. What if a team isn't able to do the third lift in seniors ? Do we want to push them directly to a competition of higher caliber without them having done that lift in a challenger event for instance ?

What about ice dance ?
What about not yet age eligible skaters ? Would their scores count for the following year when they become age eligible.

Too many questions for me and certainly too many loopholes for the ISU. They cannot make a fair rule about GP injury w/d as we saw this year so .. imagine them trying to navigate CTES minimums across categories

I get your concerns, but I still think it should qualify.

Even if they can't do a third lift, they could still get the TES since, skaters can get that high in junior as it is.

For ice dance, again the skills are the same, the patterns may be different but the TES should still remain in essence.

I would apply it to skaters who earn it before they are age eligible and in fact I would argue this to be the most important argument for it.

Let's image Mao Shimada, for example, became eligible this season for the Olympics. She has hit the TES in I would bet every competition she competed in, but what if she gets an injury in July, that takes her out of competing for 4 months, just long enough that she cant compete at a Senior B and missing the Olympic deadline to obtain TES. It could be even worse for a pairs/dance team, where only one member is injured.

Its telling them, you need to compete with your injury just to obtain a score that you've obtained countless times before.

TES is just that, a technical score, it shouldn't matter when you achieve it so long as it was in the 2 year window for any given competition.

 

[4everchan]

You make interesting points. I'm not sure what to think anymore

 

[NanaPat]

Demonstration of short and free skate international scores from the current season (2025-2026) for a potential placement in the top three flights at the 2026 ISU World Figure Skating Championships.

This appears in the 4 Continents criteria as well as the Worlds criteria. It doesn't make sense to me that potentially being in top 18/15/12 at Worlds should be a criteria for 4 Continents.

Any thoughts? Was this just a bad cut and paste from Worlds to 4CC? Was it supposed to be in the 4CC criteria at all, or should variation of it be there for 4CC, or is it correct as written?

 

[NanaPat]

Which I find so odd, since they have less elements. So if they hit the senior tech mins, let them in!

They used to be allowed to use Jr tech marks to qualify for Senior comps (and I believe vice versa). There were some really weak performances at 4 Continents as a result. It wasn't as much of a problem at Europeans because countries have to earn spots for that (only one per country "no questions asked"). The rules were changed about 5-10 years ago.

And think about letting Senior tech marks count for qualification for JR Worlds. Skaters could do two seasons totally in seniors and still go to JR Worlds.

 

[Ziotic]

They used to be allowed to use Jr tech marks to qualify for Senior comps (and I believe vice versa). There were some really weak performances at 4 Continents as a result. It wasn't as much of a problem at Europeans because countries have to earn spots for that (only one per country "no questions asked"). The rules were changed about 5-10 years ago.

And think about letting Senior tech marks count for qualification for JR Worlds. Skaters could do two seasons totally in seniors and still go to JR Worlds.

They can do that anyways, look at M/B. If you have the minimums from the previous JW then you would carry them for duration anyways.

 

[saine]

This appears in the 4 Continents criteria as well as the Worlds criteria. It doesn't make sense to me that potentially being in top 18/15/12 at Worlds should be a criteria for 4 Continents.

Any thoughts? Was this just a bad cut and paste from Worlds to 4CC? Was it supposed to be in the 4CC criteria at all, or should variation of it be there for 4CC, or is it correct as written?

I think that criteria comes into it when they want to have a skate-off. If they're looking at that, then they can assign someone who finished lower at Nationals or wasn't able to compete there.

I think Mike Slipchuk mentioned Wesley having a higher finish at Worlds as the reason why they assigned him to 4CC last season. It didn't work out, but they used that as consideration when they decided to have a skate-off.