2021/2022 Canadian Ladies: News and Updates

[euterpe]

Thanks @Frau Muller and @danafan. Too bad she can't do the US / Canadian senior B - it's closer to home and she can get the basic requirements out of the way ASAP.

In any event, if she makes JGPF and it clashes with a senior B that she wants to go, I say definitely go to the senior B because only that helps her case for BOW for the Olympics. Just not sure if there will be repurcussions if she skips JGPF after qualifying for it.

It's unlikely that Kaiya will make the JGPF, if plans go ahead to base qualification on Total Score. Her total score is 357.52. In the 2019 JGP, the lowest total scores of the last two JGP finalists were 391 and 395; the other 4 all had total scores in the 400s. The 3 alternates had scores ranging from 358 to 374. We'll just have to wait and see the scores the Russian women get in the next 5 events.

 

[Marco]

It's unlikely that Kaiya will make the JGPF, if plans go ahead to base qualification on Total Score. Her total score is 357.52. In the 2019 JGP, the lowest total scores of the last two JGP finalists were 391 and 395; the other 4 all had total scores in the 400s. The 3 alternates had scores ranging from 358 to 374. We'll just have to wait and see the scores the Russian women get in the next 5 events.

That's the thought but let's wait til JGPF arrangements are finalized.

If it wasn't already clear, I am completely neutral at this stage but think Canada should maximize its options.

 

[danafan]

Sara-Maude Dupuis appears as a substitute multiple times. I think hers is the only name that hasn't had an assignment yet.

Not surprisingly, Dupuis got the last JGP spot, at least per the ISU site. Skate Canada ending up giving the assignments to the top 6 from the NextGen camp simulation.

Miclette struggled a bit last week at her JGP, but she still made the jr worlds TES minimums. She was only 11th at nationals in novice in 2020 (it seems she did not compete in the virtual events last year), so good progress if you ask me.

Looking forward to seeing who else gets international assignments this season!

 

[Colonel Green]

ACI Day 1:

• I've long critiqued Emily's components, but I thought she actually showed noticeable improvement here.
• Alison's program is lovely (straightforward instrumentals play to her strengths), but the jumps were all haywire.
• Gabrielle...there's really not much new to say at this point.

 

[Karen-W]

ACI Day 1:

• I've long critiqued Emily's components, but I thought she actually showed noticeable improvement here.
• Alison's program is lovely (straightforward instrumentals play to her strengths), but the jumps were all haywire.
• Gabrielle...there's really not much new to say at this point.

I really hope Skate Canada is lining up at least one or two Challenger assignments for Kaiya. Seems pretty clear, at this point, that it's going to be a choice between her or Maddie for the Olympic spot.

 

[Colonel Green]

I really hope Skate Canada is lining up at least one or two Challenger assignments for Kaiya. Seems pretty clear, at this point, that it's going to be a choice between her or Maddie for the Olympic spot.

The Skate Canada events page has listings for the Cup of Austria, the Warsaw Cup and Golden Spin (all four disciplines at all three), so they're evidently planning to send a number of people out to the later Challengers where most of the more prominent skaters are away to the Grand Prix events. Which is what they've done in prior years for people seeking senior minimums or some non-GP experience, though doing all three (as they're at least contemplating) is pretty rare.

 

[Karen-W]

The Skate Canada events page has listings for the Cup of Austria, the Warsaw Cup and Golden Spin (all four disciplines at all three), so they're evidently planning to send a number of people out to the later Challengers where most of the more prominent skaters are away to the Grand Prix events. Which is what they've done in prior years for people seeking senior minimums or some non-GP experience, though doing all three (as they're at least contemplating) is pretty rare.

Yes, but they also have a history of not sending up and coming juniors or unknown skaters out to those events and found themselves scrambling post-Nationals. Until we see her name on the assignment list for one of those events, I'll continue to worry that Skate Canada will shoot themselves in the foot again, lol.

 

[Lemonade20]

Agreed, Skate Canada needs to get it together. Kaiya is the next superstar in skating, beautiful lines

 

[danafan]

I just watched Lia Pereira's short program from the JGP and unfortunately she fell on the second triple toe in her combo but the rest was very good and she scored just over 53 points and over 29 TES. I believe she ended up 9th. But she's another skater who should get a senior assignment before nationals (along with Ruiter obviously and maybe Carle depending on how she skates at her JGP event). Not because they might be in contention for the olympic spot but there are spots at 4CC too.

 

[euterpe]

The top 6 JGP Women's SP finishers were 5 Russians and a Belarussian.
Kate Wang (US) was 7th, Anna La Porta (SUI) was 8th and Lia Pereira, 9th.

Lia's TES was over 29, but her PCS was 24.77.
The highest PCS scores went to the 5 Russians, then the Belarussian, then the two US skaters. Lia was 9th in PCS.

 

[barbarafan]

The top 6 JGP Women's SP finishers were 5 Russians and a Belarussian.
Kate Wang (US) was 7th, Anna La Porta (SUI) was 8th and Lia Pereira, 9th.

Lia's TES was over 29, but her PCS was 24.77.
The highest PCS scores went to the 5 Russians, then the Belarussian, then the two US skaters. Lia was 9th in PCS.

Well let's see.....This was the event in Russia and the scoring results were very slow and then during dance it completely exploded & had to be reset. WTH. Was someone mucking around with the software and if so why?

 

[Karen-W]

Well let's see.....This was the event in Russia and the scoring results were very slow and then during dance it completely exploded & had to be reset. WTH. Was someone mucking around with the software and if so why?

Did you watch the competition? Lia is a nice skater but her PCS isn't better than the ladies who were higher than her. Kisel was a delightful surprise this morning - quite mature for the junior level. And the Russians and Americans were also better, all around, on PCS, than Perreira.

 

[barbarafan]

Did you watch the competition? Lia is a nice skater but her PCS isn't better than the ladies who were higher than her. Kisel was a delightful surprise this morning - quite mature for the junior level. And the Russians and Americans were also better, all around, on PCS, than Perreira.

I am not talking specifically about Lia. I haven't checked out the judging yet or looked up the judges. I was checking out ACI at the moment where I only saw one judge who had large diffs. in the Tss against the mean.

 

[Rock2]

I really hope Skate Canada is lining up at least one or two Challenger assignments for Kaiya. Seems pretty clear, at this point, that it's going to be a choice between her or Maddie for the Olympic spot.

After watching ACI, it's pretty clear all our eggs are in the Maddie basket. I hope she doesn't get injured or implodes. There's literally. No. One. Else.

I would think of Kaiya for next cycle. Love what we saw from her this year. There are some issues behind the scenes (nothing overly tragic, but...). Might just see her at Nationals - maybe Challenge - and call it a season unless some things get resolved. Lots to look forward to from her, though. Maddie needs to get 2 spots so we can get her and Kaiya to world's for the whole next cycle and I'd be good!

 

[dramagrrl]

I would think of Kaiya for next cycle. Love what we saw from her this year. There are some issues behind the scenes (nothing overly tragic, but...). Might just see her at Nationals - maybe Challenge - and call it a season unless some things get resolved. Lots to look forward to from her, though. Maddie needs to get 2 spots so we can get her and Kaiya to world's for the whole next cycle and I'd be good!

This sounds rather alarming. I hope it's not about financial costs of training/travelling or an injury that might need surgery or long-term rehab.

 

[Karen-W]

So, after today's SP at Finlandia, I really hope Skate Canada is getting Kaiya Ruiter assigned to one of the senior Bs scheduled for November in Europe (Volvo Cup in Riga, Cup of Austria in Graz, Tallinn Trophy or Warsaw Cup). I'd throw Golden Spin on that list but Golden Bear which was scheduled for Zagreb at the end of this month has been cancelled so I'm a bit worried that Golden Spin will also wind up being cancelled. Maddie was okay but her SP was very beatable and Kaiya outscored her in the SP at both of her JGPs.

 

[greenapple]

Ruiter outscored Schizas in her first JGP by 0.30 of a point. Hardly worth mentioning. This was Schizas first event so let's see how she fares at her next before nominating a very junior skater to fill her shoes.

 

[Colonel Green]

I was very impressed by Madeline because she had multiple jump issues that would have completely doomed pretty much all our other senior ladies but managed to mostly pull it out -- the lack of height on the Lutz, but still went for the triple toe, even if it was UR; tripping on the loop setup but still getting it done.

 

[Karen-W]

I was very impressed by Madeline because she had multiple jump issues that would have completely doomed pretty much all our other senior ladies but managed to mostly pull it out -- the lack of height on the Lutz, but still went for the triple toe, even if it was UR; tripping on the loop setup but still getting it done.

I'm not saying that she was a hot mess - she made mistakes and fought through. I really admire her competitive spirit and I do think the Olympic spot is probably hers to lose; but I also think Skate Canada would be incredibly short-sighted to not make sure Ruiter has the senior minimums by the end of November so that, should she win Canadian Nats, she can go to the Olympics (or 4CCs).

 

[danafan]

I'm very curious who else will get a senior international assignment this season. Because the ISU is allowing scores from 2019-2020 to count for TES minimums this season, it means Pineault is still eligible for worlds/4CC/Olympics, and Mallet and Daleman are eligible for 4CC/Olympics. Daleman has the SP TES minimum for worlds and Mallet has it for the free. After Autumn Classic, Daleman wrote on instagram "Was far from what I’ve been training but at the end of the day I’m still proud of myself for fighting through and always getting back up first international competition of the season done now time to regroup and get ready for the next one" perhaps implying she expects to get another assignment. I'm not sure Mallet or Pineault have been convincing enough in their skates this year to get an assignment and they already have the 4CC/Olympics minimums anyway.

Michelle Long has the 4CC/Olympics minimums for the free but missed the short minimums by 0.05 the last time she competed. But based on the two virtual events so far this year I don't see them giving Long another chance, but you never know. I would love to see Amanda Tobin get a shot as she looked pretty good at the September Skate Ontario hub. The October hub is happening this week so this might be their last chance to make their case for an assignment.

Of course Ruiter should get a senior assignment but Skate Canada hasn't published the last three senior events on their assignments page yet (Cup of Austria, Warsaw Cup and Golden Spin). So there's no reason to assume she's being overlooked.

Besides Ruiter, there are other JGP skaters who are skating senior domestically (Carle, Dupuis, Pereira) who could also be considered for one of those senior assignments.

Here's hoping Maddie has a great skate tomorrow. She really fought in the short whereas most of the other Canadian women would have crumbled. Yes I am the Canadian ladies uber but I'm still realistic LOL. Always hopeful but realistic LOL.

 

[greenapple]

The Olympic spot is not hers to lose. At this point, she will be the one who goes. SC would be extremely short-sighted to send a junior to the Olympic Games. Ruiter winning nationals is an extremely unlikely eventuality.

As noted above, Schizas did a great job today, fighting for that loop after tripping was commendable and shows a true competitive spirit.

 

[4rkidz]

I liked the fight in Maddie, agreed past women would likely have gone down the slippery slope! Im sure she will fight back in the long. She is still our most promising senior at this stage. Kaiya is a promising Junior.

 

[dramagrrl]

The Olympic spot is not hers to lose. At this point, she will be the one who goes. SC would be extremely short-sighted to send a junior to the Olympic Games. Ruiter winning nationals is an extremely unlikely eventuality.

As noted above, Schizas did a great job today, fighting for that loop after tripping was commendable and shows a true competitive spirit.

While I agree that SC will send Schizas to the Olympics barring some sort of injury or complete disaster in multiple competitions, I don't think it would be an "extremely unlikely eventuality" for Kaiya to win nationals. Given the way Canadian ladies have skated at nationals in the past, and given Kaiya's consistency so far this year and also in past years, it would not be that shocking if she won. Madeline would have to have a bad day, but not even a terrible day - if she landed, say, half the triples planned in her FS while Kaiya landed all of hers, Kaiya could win. I also think that unless the other senior ladies step it up majorly from what they have shown in the early season so far, Kaiya could be second to Maddie very easily (barring any issues/problems that we may not know about that @Rock2 hinted at upthread).

 

[greenapple]

...given Kaiya's consistency so far this year and also in past years...

Ruiter finished 11th and 6th at her two JGP assignments in 2019 and did not make the cut for the free skate at 2020 World Juniors, so this season is her only success at major international events. She is definitely a talent and the future of Canadian women's skating, but that will be the next quad - not this one. She would also need a huge increase in her second mark to overtake Schizas at nationals - unless of course, as you point out, Schizas fails technically. I just don't see that happening. Schizas has that competitive nerve and in some ways seems fearless.

Guess we will see on Sunday. Hope she skates lights out tomorrow so we all have a better sense of where she is at.

 

[dramagrrl]

Ruiter finished 11th and 6th at her two JGP assignments in 2019 and did not make the cut for the free skate at 2020 World Juniors, so this season is her only success at major international events.

True. I was thinking more about her consistency at Canadians, where (IIRC) she skated clean free skates in both 2019 and 2020 when she won her novice and junior titles.

 

[haribobo]

I think Schizas and Ruiter each have a 50/50 shot at the title. I think Daleman or Bausback or Pineault could win on a good day, but those seem less likely right now. Saying Ruiter is an extremely unlikely winner is silly based on what we have seen so far this season. She scored 179 and 177 at her two JGP events. That's astronomical for a Canadian woman and would put her around 15th at Worlds 2021.

 

[dramagrrl]

I think Schizas and Ruiter each have a 50/50 shot at the title. I think Daleman or Bausback or Pineault could win on a good day, but those seem less likely right now. Saying Ruiter is an extremely unlikely winner is silly based on what we have seen so far this season. She scored 179 and 177 at her two JGP events. That's astronomical for a Canadian woman and would put her around 15th at Worlds 2021.

Unless things change majorly within the next few months, I don't think Daleman, Bausback, Pineault or any other current Canadian senior woman has a realistic chance of winning even on their absolute best day (and for Daleman, by "best day" I mean in terms of what she has been skating like in the last two years, not her best during her prime) unless both Schizas and Ruiter were either absent from the competition, injured but still competing, or had total meltdowns in both the SP and FS.

As for Ruiter's scores this season, we also have to remember that her FS scores in her JGP events were for a junior-length FS - in her senior-length FS, she will have additional elements which could make her marks even higher if she skated clean. Another few points would have put her between 13th-15th at Worlds 2021, which theoretically could have matched Maddie's placement.

 

[Lemonade20]

Unless things change majorly within the next few months, I don't think Daleman, Bausback, Pineault or any other current Canadian senior woman has a realistic chance of winning even on their absolute best day (and for Daleman, by "best day" I mean in terms of what she has been skating like in the last two years, not her best during her prime) unless both Schizas and Ruiter were either absent from the competition, injured but still competing, or had total meltdowns in both the SP and FS.

As for Ruiter's scores this season, we also have to remember that her FS scores in her JGP events were for a junior-length FS - in her senior-length FS, she will have additional elements which could make her marks even higher if she skated clean. Another few points would have put her between 13th-15th at Worlds 2021, which theoretically could have matched Maddie's placement.

Completely agree, Emily is getting there but she's still got a way to go. Gabby I'm not placing my bets on. She had Katelyn to push her back in 2018 but since then hasn't quite been the same anymore.

 

[wickedwitch]

Regardless how you feel about Maddie vs Kaiya, they need to get Kaiya to a senior international just in case Maddie is injured if they want a shot at a team medal.

 

[Lara]

Agreed. It’d be very short-sighted to not have Kaiya as a backup possibility at least.