2024–25 Canadian Women: News and Updates

[danafan]

Due to personal commitments I wasn't able to watch any of this year's Canadian championships live, but I did watch most of the senior women's replays and I'm very happy about the level of skating. It's a shame that some skaters who had delivered earlier in the season couldn't reproduce that at nationals (notably Shiryaeva and Landry). I didn't agree with a couple of the placements but I was happy with the ISU championship assignments.

 

[Colonel Green]

Lia Cho's free skate has over 54,000 views on the CBC's YouTube page, which is by far the most of any of the individual performance videos they posted.

 

[Colonel Green]

Now up to 76,000 views.

 

[Winnipeg]

I attended the Canadian Championships and had the opportunity to watch the junior ladies free skate. Cho was outstanding to say the least. In addition, she looked like she was really enjoying the moment rather than a deer in the head lights.

 

[Colonel Green]

Speaking again of Lia: 100,000 views! ?

 

[shutterbug]

Speaking again of Lia: 100,000 views! ?

Up to 104k now.

CTV News interviewed Lia and Scott Davis during practice at the Glencoe Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuttWNFM3LE&t=2s Her 3A attempt is at 1:16 - not bad!

Comment from Jason Mongrain, director and coach at the Kelowna Skating Club:

“The champion, Lia Cho of Alberta, is a generational talent, by far the best I’ve ever seen at the Canadian Junior level.

Reese Rose is also working on a 3A and plans to compete senior next season: HIGH ACHIEVERS: Gloucester Skating Club’s Reese Rose will step up to senior next season following respectable junior finish

Rose is planning to enter the senior division by upgrading the technical aspects of her short and free skating programs. She wants to add higher-scoring triple Lutz-triple toe loop and/or triple flip-triple toe loop jump combinations. This season, she relied on a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination.

For 2025-26, Rose also hopes to feel comfortable enough to execute the triple Axel jump in her free skating program. The three-and-a-half rotation jump is the most difficult triple jump for skaters.

She has been working on the triple Axel in practice for a couple of years, while wearing a protective safety harness. She hasn’t attempted the triple Axel without wearing the harness.

“Recently, I have been getting really good (landing the jump) in the harness, but I haven’t tried it out of the harness. I hope to in the coming months,” added Rose, who said no senior woman tried a triple Axel at last week’s Canadian championships in Laval, PQ.

 

[danafan]

Medland-Spence shared this little interview she did with the Nepean club's instagram. I think this is the first time I've actually heard her speak.

Nepean Skating Club on Instagram: "We are so #NSCproud of @skatingwithkatherine as she embarks on her journey to compete at Four Continents in Korea. We interviewed her to get a little insight into how she got to where she is today as she continues t

85 likes, 4 comments - nepeanskatingclub on February 11, 2025: "We are so #NSCproud of @skatingwithkatherine as she embarks on her journey to compete at Four Continents in Korea. We interviewed her to get a little insight into how she got to where she is today as she continues to inspire members...

www.instagram.com

 

[danafan]

This Skate Ontario article shares that Lulu Lin missed Challenge and Nationals with a concussion.

Ontario’s Lulu Lin is Ready for Jr. Worlds After Missing Nationals Due to a Concussion - Skate Ontario

By: Dylan Nazareth 15-year-old Lulu Lin is back to the ice after missing challenge and nationals with a concussion, and she’s training hard as she readies herself for a second appearance at Jr. Worlds. Lin suffered the unfortunate head injury while training one of her programs ahead of Skate...

skateontario.org

 

[danafan]

They also shared an article about Kara Yun.

16-year-old Kara Yun is Looking Inward Going into First Jr Worlds Appearance - Skate Ontario

By Dylan Nazareth Fresh off her senior nationals debut, Ontario skater Kara Yun is preparing herself for a first appearance at Jr. Worlds later this month. The 16-year-old earned her first senior medal with a bronze at Skate Canada Challenge in December, adding a sixth place finish at nationals...

skateontario.org

 

[shutterbug]

A number of our Junior/Novice women are entered in the Advanced Novice category at the Maria Olszewska Memorial 2025 competition running from Mar. 5-9, 2025:

Hannah Quinn (N2)

Maelia Ruel (N6)

Lia Cho (J1)

Uxia Gonzalez-Abraldes (N3)

Ksenia Krouzkevitch (J2)

Camila Volkova (N1)

Schedule: https://pzlf.pl/public/uploads/documents/Zawody/2024-2025/MOM2025_TimeSchedule.pdf

Start orders/results: https://pzlf-wyniki.pl/2425/MOM2025/

A machine translation of the host competition website (https://pzlf.pl/news/3-memorial-marii-olszewskiej) appears to indicate there will be a YouTube livestream of the event, however the linked ViStream page is set to private.

 

[victorskid]

Live stream: https://www.youtube.com/@polfsskatingbroadcast/streams

 

[shutterbug]

A number of our Junior/Novice women are entered in the Advanced Novice category at the Maria Olszewska Memorial 2025 competition running from Mar. 5-9, 2025:

Sharing this here as the livestream videos from the competition aren't being archived:

How is this skater only 12??? ? Just remarkable.

 

[Colonel Green]

Sharing this here as the livestream videos from the competition aren't being archived:

How is this skater only 12??? ? Just remarkable.

Ted is surely so annoyed he has to wait until fall 2026 to talk about her JGP debut.

 

[4rkidz]

Live stream: https://www.youtube.com/@polfsskatingbroadcast/streams

The final fight with the rest of the Canadians and American girl are live now on the live stream and the Canadian I have not heard of is leading so far.

eta... ugh i have a lunch meeting will miss the rest of the Canadians live, maybe someone will record them?

 

[Colonel Green]

Lia wins by a very wide margin.

 

[victorskid]

Advanced Novice Women B - free skate results

​

1​	Lia CHO	CAN	102.93​	62.12​		40.81​	6.33​	6.50​	6.33​	0.00​	#25​
2​	Ksenia KROUZKEVITCH	CAN	83.70​	48.20​		35.50​	5.50​	5.58​	5.58​	0.00​	#24​
3​	Hannah KIM	USA	76.50​	44.33​		32.67​	5.17​	4.92​	5.25​	0.50​	#23​
4​	Camila VOLKOVA	CAN	73.26​	42.73​		30.53​	4.83​	4.67​	4.83​	0.00​	#22​
5​	Uxia GONZALEZ-ABRALDES	CAN	65.41​	38.42​		26.99​	4.17​	3.92​	4.58​	0.00​	#12​
6​	Emily BOSCARO	ITA	60.52​	31.94​		28.58​	4.33​	4.42​	4.67​	0.00​	#18​
7​	Miah FRAGNITO	ITA	59.09​	30.66​		28.93​	4.67​	4.58​	4.33​	0.50​	#15​
8​	Adriana SHEVTSOVA	UKR	57.30​	32.10​		25.20​	3.58​	3.92​	4.33​	0.00​	#14​
9​	Ada KORIC	BIH	56.12​	28.43​		27.69​	4.58​	4.17​	4.25​	0.00​	#17​
10​	Julia JARCO	POL	52.02​	25.93​		26.09​	4.00​	4.08​	4.17​	0.00​	#16​
11​	Mariia SHCHERBINA	UKR	51.75​	28.49​		23.26​	3.58​	3.42​	3.92​	0.00​	#19​
12​	Rebecca LO CASCIO	ITA	49.83​	23.02​		26.81​	4.25​	4.17​	4.17​	0.00​	#20​
13​	Ornella MESSANA	ITA	48.87​	25.62​		23.25​	3.33​	3.42​	4.17​	0.00​	#21​
14​	Aniceta VILCINSKAITE	LTU	47.28​	28.47​		18.81​	2.58​	2.83​	3.42​	0.00​	#9​
15​	Julia SUBOCZ	POL	46.77​	22.63​		24.14​	3.58​	3.75​	4.00​	0.00​	#13​
16​	Maryia LUKSHA	POL	46.54​	24.71​		21.83​	3.33​	3.17​	3.75​	0.00​	#3​
17​	Kalina POPOW	POL	45.03​	21.76​		23.27​	3.67​	3.58​	3.67​	0.00​	#11​
18​	Anastazja BUCHCZYK	POL	44.40​	22.93​		21.47​	3.25​	3.50​	3.33​	0.00​	#6​
19​	Vladyslava HRYHORIEVA	UKR	43.11​	20.38​		22.73​	3.67​	3.33​	3.67​	0.00​	#8​
20​	Nadia IGNACZAK	POL	42.76​	22.36​		20.40​	3.33​	3.00​	3.25​	0.00​	#4​
21​	Wanda KEDZIERSKA	POL	42.33​	18.87​		23.46​	3.67​	3.67​	3.67​	0.00​	#10​
22​	Anna RUIS	AUT	39.49​	18.72​		20.77​	3.08​	3.17​	3.50​	0.00​	#5​
23​	Helene MATZKEIT	POL	35.93​	17.99​		17.94​	2.75​	2.75​	2.92​	0.00​	#2​
24​	Wiktoria BEDNAREK	POL	35.91​	18.69​		17.22​	2.58​	2.50​	3.00​	0.00​	#7​
25​	Wanda MROZEK	POL	34.46​	17.94​		16.52​	2.42​	2.42​	2.92​	0.00​	#1​

Protocols: https://pzlf-wyniki.pl/2425/MOM2025/FSKWSINGLES-ADVNOV--01FNL-000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf

Overall results:

​

1	Lia CHO	CAN	151.81	1	1
2	Ksenia KROUZKEVITCH	CAN	129.16	2	2
3	Hannah KIM	USA	119.67	3	3
4	Camila VOLKOVA	CAN	109.97	4	4
5	Uxia GONZALEZ-ABRALDES	CAN	93.16	14	5
6	Emily BOSCARO	ITA	92.51	8	6
7	Miah FRAGNITO	ITA	90.16	11	7
8	Ada KORIC	BIH	88.00	9	9
9	Adriana SHEVTSOVA	UKR	86.56	12	8
10	Ornella MESSANA	ITA	85.32	5	13
11	Mariia SHCHERBINA	UKR	84.32	7	11
12	Julia JARCO	POL	83.89	10	10
13	Rebecca LO CASCIO	ITA	82.64	6	12
14	Julia SUBOCZ	POL	75.55	13	15
15	Aniceta VILCINSKAITE	LTU	72.36	17	14
16	Kalina POPOW	POL	70.50	15	17
17	Vladyslava HRYHORIEVA	UKR	68.09	18	19
18	Wanda KEDZIERSKA	POL	67.52	16	21
19	Anastazja BUCHCZYK	POL	66.65	20	18
20	Maryia LUKSHA	POL	66.40	23	16
21	Nadia IGNACZAK	POL	63.33	22	20
22	Anna RUIS	AUT	61.67	21	22
23	Wiktoria BEDNAREK	POL	60.00	19	24
24	Helene MATZKEIT	POL	54.52	24	23
25	Wanda MROZEK	POL	52.69	25	25

 

[floridaice]

Sharing this here as the livestream videos from the competition aren't being archived:

How is this skater only 12??? ? Just remarkable.

If you can find video of her programs at the Junior level from Canadian Nationals watch them -- she was terrific.

 

[shutterbug]

March 8, 2025 Rob Brodie interview with Sara-Maude Dupuis: 'I feel like everything is possible now'

“I finally broke my biggest mental blockage at nationals and I feel like everything is possible now. I feel like I can do it again next year, maybe win next year,” she said. “Going into next season as really a top contender and be really good competition every time because I’ve established myself as a top-two skater (in Canada).”

Ask Dupuis what made the difference for her this year at nationals, and she points to a Challenger Series in Estonia in November. That’s where she earned a bronze medal, her first trip to the podium at an international event. One big breakthrough, it might be said, led to another one two months later.

Dupuis balances all of this with continuing her studies in the classroom. She is currently in CEGEP in health sciences (a preparatory level for university in Quebec), and will finish up at College de Maisonneuve in the spring. She has applied to enter the pharmacy or biopharmaceutics program at the University of Montreal (“I’m just waiting for an answer on that”).

“One of my big dreams off the ice, one of my big passions is science and I want to become a pharmacist. I just don’t know how that’s going to work with figure skating. Pharmacy is a doctorate program and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do it in tandem with figure skating,” she said. “But that’s my end goal, and I really appreciate being able to go to school as well as my skating. I think it keeps me balanced. It allows my to accentuate different sides of my personality, the athlete and the scientist. My goal is to get into university in the fall. I just don’t know whether it’s going to be in biopharmaceutics or pharmacy just yet.”

Lia Cho's FP from the Maria Olszewska Memorial 2025 competition:

On February 8, 2025, Rob Brodie also shared his thoughts on the challenges arising from Lia's birthdate falling after the ISU's July 1st eligibility deadline: What's in a number? More than you think

If you keep doing the math (again, some of you already have), you can see the ramifications for her down the road. The age limit for both the World Championships and Olympics is 17 years old — it was raised from 15 in the wake of the Kamila Valieva doping mess that blew up at the 2022 Beijing Games — and that’s an age Cho won’t reach until August 2029. Again, too late for the 2030 cutoff (her birthday is three weeks beyond the deadline for that year’s Winter Olympics in France).

In other words, she’ll be 21 years old when the 2034 Winter Games roll around in Salt Lake City. That’s nine long years away and, as we all know, a lot happens in a young person’s life through their teenage years, both mentally and physically. It’s easy to wonder about a skater’s motivation over that period of time, or whether their interest in the sport might wane.

2034 ?

eta... ugh i have a lunch meeting will miss the rest of the Canadians live, maybe someone will record them?

Full videos of the events with Canadian participants have been uploaded on the same YouTube channel as Lia's videos: https://www.youtube.com/@FigureSkating_Stream

 

[4rkidz]

We know we have many young pre pubescent girls who can quickly rotate and do triple triples and are holding their own amongst their peers from other countries. I hope they are truly enjoying the journey and have fun so they actually stay in the sport.
Lia is a wonderfully talented skater, but I hope they are pacing her and she isn’t going to be full of injuries as she grows. Often there is a correlation between the number of hours training and injuries with younger skaters.
That is why I am always so impressed with those skaters who are older and balancing university and still improving their skating. I think it is a marathon not a sprint but kudos to the young ones.

 

[Orm Irian]

— it was raised from 15 in the wake of the Kamila Valieva doping mess that blew up at the 2022 Beijing Games —

Off-topic slightly, but I do wish people, especially media commentators, would stop repeating this piece of misinformation. The age limit was raised as part of the ISU's response to the suicide of Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya; it happened to be formalised shortly after the 2022 Olympics, but it had nothing to do with what happened there.

That grumble aside, congrats to Sara-Maude Dupuis on her breakthroughs!

 

[danafan]

OMG with the skate of her life Maddie Schizas is guaranteed top 10 after the short at worlds. The dream of two Olympic spots is alive!

 

[Former Lurve Goddess]

OMG with the skate of her life Maddie Schizas is guaranteed top 10 after the short at worlds. The dream of two Olympic spots is alive!

She's top 6!

 

[danafan]

This is better than anyone could have expected. She did her job and was rewarded for it. She obviously worked hard on the step sequence. That level 4 plus the GOE was huge. I'm sure the rest of the top Canadian senior women will be watching the free skate very closely now! Let's go!

 

[danafan]

CBC uploaded Maddie's program to their youtube (probably geoblocked?)

Canada's Madeline Schizas sits in 6th place at world figure skating championships | #CBCSports

Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., placed sixth in the women's short program, at the world figure skating championships in Boston.Watch Live sports on CBC S...

youtu.be

 

[honey]

She did her job beautifully today. She looked very composed, focused and delivered that like she knew she would do it. There have been some tweaks to the steps that I think helped her get the level 4 today. She also seemed very careful about getting the spin rotations done, again paying off with all level 4 spins.

I think skating in the final group unexpectedly can sometimes be a bit of a mind eff, but I think she’s been around the block enough that hopefully that won’t be too much for her. The pressure is going to be immense regardless, hopefully she just looks at it as a nice bonus (and hopefully the PCS bump that usually goes with it).

She has given herself the best possible chance at a top 10 here. I hope she can deliver as calmly and confidently on Friday and see where the chips fall. The field behind her is deep still, and there are no guarantees. But it is certainly within her sights now and would be really wonderful if it could happen.

 

[Alilou]

I'm hoping with this SP she'll feel less pressure to make the top ten - she's already ahead of the game.

 

[danafan]

All I have to say right now is now that Schizas is guaranteed two grand prix assignments due to being top 12 I hope Skate Canada will select three other Canadian skaters for their host picks. Let Schizas compete at two other grand prixs.

 

[Andora]

All I have to say right now is now that Schizas is guaranteed two grand prix assignments due to being top 12 I hope Skate Canada will select three other Canadian skaters for their host picks. Let Schizas compete at two other grand prixs.

Too bad she couldn't get it done for two spots at the Olympics.

 

[Skate Talker]

Madeline's placement seems fair to me. Sadly she wasn't able to skate as freely today as she did in her short program. There are a lot of really good women skaters and I personally feel 11th is a fantastic outcome for her. Congrats Maddie!

 

[honey]

Not a disastrous skate, but she needed to be better than that. Before she went out I was thinking that with the string of people scoring around 130 in the second last group that she had a chance. She could have scored mid-high 120s with a solid skate it would have been enough.

Oh well. She fought well and got some really nice jumps out. And this is her highest placement ever at a worlds.

What I wouldn’t give for a few Canadian skaters with the mind of Elvis Stojko right now though