Maddie Schizas cheer/appreciation thread - We’ve Got A New Girl Now!

[shutterbug]

I think it’s pretty safe to say the Madeline Schizas era of women’s figure skating in Canada has begun , so time for a new lurve thread!

You can follow Maddie on social media at:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MaddieSchizas

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/maddieschizas/

At only age 18 and a first time Olympian, her performance in the Team event has been nothing short of remarkable. Looking forward to cheering her on in the individual event next week, and for many years to come.

 

[Sylvia]

Copying over my "fan girl" post from the Canadian Ladies news thread in GSD....

For those in the USA, here's NBC Sports' video of Maddie's awesome Team Event 3rd place SP : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj9d4byZUJM

2022 Olympics is her 7th senior international competition, starting with Challenge Cup (won bronze) in The Hague in Feb. 2020: http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00106351.htm

Digging out my January 2020 post from the 2019-20 Canadian Ladies news thread:

Schizas won the junior national silver medal last season and has only competed once internationally, getting her ISU Junior Worlds minimums at Volvo Open Cup in Latvia (5th place) this past November [2019] ...
I've been following her progress all season ever since she won the Skate Milwaukee junior ladies' event in July 2019 - here's her clean SP with 3T+3T, 3Lo & 2A from there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCXV5Fdr_fE

Schizas' old YT channel has three other videos posted - her 2018-19 Junior SP & LP and 2017-18 Novice SP: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX3CIbdNob_SZ1DW4aISNlg

 

[skategal]

Maddie

 

[BlueRidge]

I'm on board!

(there's Maddies everywhere you look! )

 

[Vash01]

She was a pleasant surprise in this relatively bland team event.

 

[shutterbug]

Testing the Olympic Village pizza : https://twitter.com/CanadianFSNews/status/1490703702491111431?s=20&t=ihpRdqxXgnn1GTqMd0TzMQ

 

[Pink Cats]

Maddie's score would have put her in the top 8 at last year's worlds. So way to go Maddie, I think I am becoming an Ubber.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Didn’t she have a short program score in the 70s in the last year or two, an ISU event? I recall that she did

 

[Excidra]

Maddie is very talented. As a Canadian, I am super happy that we have a female skater who has the talent to compete against the best in the world. I will be following her skating career here onwards.

 

[danafan]

Didn’t she have a short program score in the 70s in the last year or two, an ISU event? I recall that she did

She's only scored above 70 at domestic events. Her short program score from the team event is her new ISU personal best (her bio was already updated!) Her previous best was 68.77 at 2021 worlds.

 

[shutterbug]

Round up of Maddie-related videos:

Interview with coach Nancy Lemaire on That Figure Skating Show:

Post LP interview with Radio-Canada Sports in French (of course she’s fluent ):

https://twitter.com/x/status/1494295801203511296

That Figure Skating Show episode discussing the Women’s LP: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2004308035503

They start discussing Maddie at 11:30 into the video and include her English post LP interview. She talks about the impact of her lengthy stay in Beijing and how she’ll be better prepared at her next Games.

 

[Skate Talker]

Congrats to Madeline on being so strong through a marathon of competition days in an insane pressure cooker of an Olympics. She is a Fierce Woman.

 

[coppertop1]

Our girl is tenth after the SP! She is in a great position to get that second spot back.

Seriously, Skate Canada better prop her up big time after this.

 

[shutterbug]

Such good fight from Maddie today! Definitely a few nerves, and maybe some fatigue after a long, gruelling season, but she held it together. One more free program to go and then a well deserved break. Hopefully she can put aside the pressure of trying to get the 2nd spot and just stay focused on laying down the best performance she can.

ETA - so cute: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CbdswZaqUaU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

[Sylvia]

I posted this article & podcast interview in GSD before Worlds:

“Madeline Schizas, a student of Urban Planning at the Faculty of Environment, Waterloo talks about her experience at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics” (March 6):

Olympian skating prodigy making Waterloo proud | Waterloo News

What a milestone achievement for Madeline Schizas, a student of Urban Planning at the Faculty of Environment, Waterloo! She competed at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics recording a personal best of 69.60 points in the women’s short program portion. Schizas is a competitive skater. The...

uwaterloo.ca

Link to her 20+ minute podcast interview that’s embedded in the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwN9FB50MhY

Schizas' coach, Nancy Lemaire, tested positive after she arrived in Montpellier so that's why Manon Perron was with her in the kiss & cry yesterday - Maddie's post after the SP: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbdswZaqUaU/

ETA - copied from the ISU's Quick Quotes document:

Madeline Schizas (CAN) 2022 National Champion
It was okay; it wasn’t as good as I can skate but you don’t always get the perfect program. It was definitely a fight through the program today and through this whole week, so I’m just happy with how it went and I’m excited to put out another strong performance in the free. (on her coach Nancy Lemaire not being with her in the kiss & cry) She has covid. She’s fine - she feels like she’s got a bit of a head cold. The rest of the team, none of us were exposed necessarily and she unfortunately tested positive once she got here. A lot of things have happened that were out of my control but I’m pretty proud of how I have managed the situation and taken it all with some humor. I’m happy I got through it and showed some resilience this week. (on her goal for this Worlds) I would like to place in the top 10 and get a second spot for Canada. We have a home Worlds (in 2024) and obviously the goal is to work towards having more spots for that.

 

[shutterbug]

Maddie has been added to the SOI cast for the shows in Toronto and Hamilton :

https://twitter.com/x/status/1509708061493014530

 

[Wyliefan]

What a gorgeous picture of her!

 

[shutterbug]

Nice Maddie mention in this Steve Milton article about Stars On Ice in Hamilton : Browning, Stojko, Buttle and Stars On Ice finally back in Hamilton

Madeline Schizas recalls coming to Hamilton from her hometown of Oakville when she was 11 years old to watch Stars on Ice.

Eight years later, she’s returning for the prestigious skating tour’s stop on Saturday Night at FirstOntario Centre. But, this time, she’s performing in it.

“I remember watching Kaetlyn Osmond, Kurt (Browning) and Elvis (Stojko) in it,” says the 19-year-old Olympian from the Milton Skating Club, who is the reigning Canadian women’s champion. “So, I’m pretty excited to skate with the people I’ve watched growing up.”

After winning her first senior national title in January, Schizas was the talk of the early part of the Beijing Games when her pressure-packed third-place finish in the short program of the team event moved Canada from sixth to fourth place, qualifying her and her teammates to advance to the free skating portion. She was a third again in the freeskate as Canada finish fourth overall, but may eventually receive bronze medals because of a doping infraction by the winning Russians.

The Hamilton show is usually taped by CBC to be broadcast as part of their holiday programming, so Maddie is included!

 

[shutterbug]

A couple of clips of Maddie's new Swan Lake/Black Swan SP:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1558547930952261632

It's very early in the season and she's clearly thinking her way through the program, so I'm not going to pass judgement at this point.

 

[Colonel Green]

There are some really nice bits of choreo in there, mainly pertaining to the middle music cut.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

She’s actually giving me Kaetlyn Osmond vibes with this

 

[The Accordion]

Oooo! I like that a lot better than I thought I would based on the reviews. Even this early she seems to be owning it well!

 

[shutterbug]

Found clips of Maddie's West Side Story FP on Twitter already!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1558868027965202432

I like this program very much, even with the jump errors.

 

[shutterbug]

From High Performance Camp:

 

[shutterbug]

Golden Skate did an interview with Maddie after her win in Oshawa:

She's quite analytical about her processes around skating, will be interesting to see if that changes her as her career progresses.

 

[Sylvia]

Thanks! Haven't seen Ted Flett in a while! (He wrote the Nationals recaps for Golden Skate this year.)

Maddie's Nationals photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CniIUPPL8dQ/

I’m just hopping on here to say THANK YOU to everyone who helped me achieve something I never thought was possible.

I don’t think anyone would’ve pegged an uncoordinated kid from a little club to become a 2x champion. But here we are?!

Big shout out this week to my amazing family (from both sides!) who came to see me perform at Nationals for the first time since Covid. Thank you for being the most supportive cheering section a girl could ask for

She also tweeted: https://twitter.com/MaddieSchizas/status/1615480018196389888

 

[Sylvia]

Link to watch Ted Barton's Q&A with Maddie (~6 mins.) starts here in the Nationals Women's SP replay video: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8h7848?start=3978

Re-posting here from the Canadian Women's news thread:

AnythingGOE's Anna caught up with Madeline Schizas earlier this month. They talked about Madeline's experience post-Olympics, her programs, and preparing to defend her National title. (26-minute chat uploaded on Dec. 30, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXpRkYpX0yQ

 

[shutterbug]

Rob Brodie article from last week: 'I want to move up and I want to be better'

“Last year went kind of … not great. It was kind of rough from start to finish. There were definitely some good moments but on the whole, it did not go the way I wanted it to,” she said. “I came off Worlds and did Stars On Ice, and I would think ‘if I want to keep doing this, I’ve got to be better.’ I’ve gotten really good at coming 12th or 13th at Worlds — in fact, I’ve done it three times. But I thought ‘if I’m going to keep doing this, I’m going to do it right. How can I reflect and figure out how to do that?’

Well, she sounds motivated. Fingers crossed for a better season this year!

 

[Sylvia]

Pre-Skate Canada International article by The Canadian Press' Nick Wells (updated Oct. 20) that includes quotes from Schizas:

Exams, flights all part of training for international figure skating, competitor says

Canadian champion Madeline Schizas looking forward to Skate Canada International

www.theglobeandmail.com

Excerpts:

Madeline Schizas is in her third year at McMaster University and has been training alongside her studies.
“It’s not something that’s easy. I’m writing two midterms in the next week,” she said, adding that the exams are for transportation planning and research methods. “I really do rely on my support network … I don’t know how I do it.”
Schizas, who won her second straight Canadian women’s title in January, writes her second exam Tuesday before catching a flight to Vancouver the next day for the event, which runs from Oct. 27 to 29.

The aim became to improve her skating skill work as during her first senior events Schizas looked, in her own words, “shaky and kind of like I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“I spent a lot of time doing skating skill work; that was the big item over the summer,” Schizas said. “It’s always been my weakest component and it continues to be, so I've worked on my speed, and flow, and ice coverage and control. I think that’s the thing that’s improved the most from my first couple of senior events.”
Her training has required her to commute between Hamilton and London, Ont., during the week, meaning she stays with an aunt when training before heading back to university.
But her training regimen has allowed her to work with former Olympic gold medalist turned coach Scott Moir.
“Scott really hones in on the details, he’s a fun choreographer to work with but also wants you to get it right,” Schizas said.

at this Skate Canada video about "the funniest woman on the National Team": https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cy4nqAYrz1R/

ETA:

Rob Brodie article

He includes more recent quotes from Maddie in his Skate Canada Int'l preview piece based on the media calls (Oct. 20):

Skate Canada Notebook: Some early words from the home side

With the Grand Prix event coming to Vancouver next week, we checked in with some Canadian skaters aiming to dazzle the crowd with their performances.

rwbrodiewrites.substack.com

An excerpt:

“It’s a big task and it’s not something that’s easy, that’s for sure. I’m writing two mid-terms in the next week, so it’s going to be busy. I really do rely on my support system to make the trips to London and Scarborough happen, for sure,” she said. “I don’t know how I do it. People are always surprised, but it just takes a lot of time management. I get home from the rink and I do really have to sit down and work for awhile … work on school, work on whatever. I just use my time very effectively. But I like being in school. I think it gives me a little bit of necessary balance. I would lose my mind if I was just skating all the time. I think it would be too much, so I enjoy doing both.”
She also leans heavily on family to make the trips for training work.
“It’s been a lot of driving, let me tell you, every week. I really had to rely on my network of people,” said Schizas. “I’ve been staying with my aunt one night a week to skate in Scarborough, and I stayed with family in London to make this happen. So I’m really grateful to my support network for making this happen. It was a big effort but I think that it’s paid off.”

 

[Jonas]

Her FS last weekend was the best I've ever seen her skate. She has the technical goods on paper, but never delivered like that. Doesn't look to me like she overhauled her jump technique nor is she stretching stylistically, but she just looks like she had more attack entering the jumps, more snap jumping up, and more oomph landing down (ok, not technical terms, I know!) Just solid all around!

Your thoughts...