2025–26 Canadian Men: News and Updates

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

There's still the free skate to go tomorrow in Finland but Gogolev is sure making the best case for himself for the Olympic spot. A clean short program like that could make a big difference for Canada in the team event.

Stephen (and Roman) have been really bringing their A Games this season.

On a day when a lot of the top contenders were undone by nerves, how exciting would it be for Gogolev to skate well in the free and stay on the podium.

 

[4rkidz]

Stephen (and Roman) have been really bringing their A Games this season.

On a day when a lot of the top contenders were undone by nerves, how exciting would it be for Gogolev to skate well in the free and stay on the podium.

Well it happened and now I think I am giving the edge to Gogolev who continues as he becomes more confident improve his pcs as well. This one will come down to nationals.

 

[haribobo]

New or returning to the Senior Men field for 2026 Nationals this season- Keegan Messing, Wesley Chiu, Stephen Gogolev, David Howes, Jake Ellis, David Bondar, David Shteyngart, Edward Nicholas Vasii

WD last year's Nats after SP, returning - Aleksa Rakic

Competed last year, returning- Roman, Anthony, Grayson, David Li, John Kim, Matthew, Bruce, Shohei, Alec

Competed at 2025 Nationals but did not compete or did not qualify in 2026- Damien Bueckert, Brian Chiem, Antoine Goyette, Edrian Paul Celestino, Rio Morita

 

[shutterbug]

Rob Brodie interview with Grayson Long: 'It's been feeling like my breakout season'

Ask the 18-year-old from Oakville, Ont., about what’s behind his big improvement so far this season, in both performance and results, and he immediately points to a two-week period at the beginning of July when he got to train in Japan alongside one of his best friends — who also happens to be the reigning world junior men’s champion.

“One thing that they do in Japan that I don’t see a lot in Canada is they’ll have an entire session just for stroking and edge work, and they have this little rink, this mini sized rink. When it’s not in use by the elite skaters, it’s kind of like a learn to skate rink,” he said. “And the coaches will draw lines on the ice, and you’ll have to do various exercises along that for 45 minutes.

“And I was so bad at it, so it was kind of a wake-up call that I needed to get some of the basics down. I practised it while I was there and then when I came back, I practised it at home and I felt like I was more confident in the basics of my edges and my turn quality and my twizzles. It felt like it kind of transferred to my jumps, too.”

 

[Aceon6]

Keegan’s return seems to be going about as well as the Shibs’.

 

[danafan]

They might as well name Gogolev to the Olympic team tonight. So happy he delivered and hopefully he skates this well tomorrow.

 

[screech]

Well done to Gogolev! Amazing SP, and great job in the FP, especially after the doubled jump. He was under so much pressure and he's done so well to be able to keep it together like that.

Though Stephen rightfully won, Roman was the skate of the night for me. I've never understood why his PCS are so low both nationally (barely beat Stephen in them) and internationally, but he's such a beautiful skater, and his spins are sublime. I really hope he has a fantastic skate at 4CC and is able to come away with a medal.

Fantastic job by Aleksa as well! His jump entry technique is still weird, but it clearly works for him. Also happy to see Wesley back. His short program was spectacular, and once he's back to 100%, I hope to see his FP matching up.

If Stephen is able to get us 2 spots for next year's Worlds, Canadian men could be on an upswing? After 2018 I did predict it would be about 10 years until Canada was back in the game for men, and I don't want to make a liar of myself...

 

[Sylvia]

From Skate Canada's press release today (Jan. 12):

2026 ISU FOUR CONTINENTS FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
BEIJING, CHINA / JANUARY 21-25, 2026

Men
Wesley Chiu
Aleksa Rakic
Roman Sadovsky

2026 ISU WORLD JUNIOR FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
TALLINN, ESTONIA / MARCH 3-8, 2026

Men
Grayson Long

 

[Sylvia]

"the chiu chiu train is back on track
next stop: beijing"

WESLEY CHIU on Instagram: "the chiu chiu train is back on track 🫡 next stop: beijing"

wesleychiu_ on January 13, 2026: "the chiu chiu train is back on track 🫡 next stop: beijing".

www.instagram.com

 

[Sylvia]

"Maryam had the chance to chat with Wesley Chiu, 2024 Canadian National Champion, about his skating journey, his comeback post-injury, as well as his current interests. He just finished competing at the 2026 Canadian National Championships where he finished in 4th place with a score of 241.48. He has been assigned a spot to compete at the Four Continents Championships as his last international assignment of the season!"

Interview with Wesley Chiu — In The Loop

Maryam had the chance to chat with Wesley Chiu, 2024 Canadian National Champion, about his skating journey, his comeback post-injury, as well as his current interests. He just finished competing at the 2026 Canadian National Championships where he finished in 4th place with a score of 241.48. He has

www.inthelopodcast.com

 

[Sylvia]

Rob Brodie's latest Substack artlcle (Jan. 24) focuses on Wesley Chiu's performance at Nationals and includes 4CC updates for the Canadian skaters:

'I'm more grateful for every experience'

After being out of competition for almost a year, Wesley Chiu bounced back with some bright moments at Canadian nationals. And a long-awaited return to the Four Continents Championships

rwbrodiewrites.substack.com

“My mindset going into competition has kind of shifted a little bit, sort of with the injury, and I guess, part of measuring as a person, but I think I’m definitely more grateful for every experience,” he said after all the skating was done at nationals. “I try to be as present as possible and try to soak it all in, because in the blink of an eye and just one jump, it could turn your whole season sideways.
“So yeah, definitely a lot of paying attention when I need to, but also trying to soak up every opportunity that I get. And I think I definitely did that here.” [...]
“It’s extremely validating. And he can just continue the progress we’ve made to competing again and travelling again,” said [Keegan] Murphy. “Those are things that go away pretty quickly (after an injury) and you do them for years. It’s not the result of any of that. It’s really the process of that that is so crucial for his career right now, and where that brings him into the next season.”

Chiu turned in a season’s best score of 73.61 in placing 15th in the short program on Saturday in Beijing. While he started out by landing a quad toe and triple Axel, a downgraded triple Lutz combination cost him points later in the program. Roman Sadovsky (79.96) was the highest ranked Canadian in ninth place, while Aleksa Rakic (68.83) sat one spot behind Chiu in 16th place after the short.

 

[haribobo]

Gogolev and Sadovsky should get two GP spots outright if they continue.

Grayson, Rakic, and Chiu are 13-15 SB on the GP alternate list I created (a rough guess as we wait to see how many skaters retire) so either hoping for a SC spot or just on Challenger/B circuit.

Bondar, Paradis, John Kim, and Newnham will be on the Challenger/B circuit and/or hoping for a SC spot.

 

[victorskid]

@haribobo - Might Grayson Long's performance at Junior Worlds have an impact?

 

[haribobo]

Not with that music but yea he could move up a few spots potentially

 

[victorskid]

Not with that music but yea he could move up a few spots potentially

Grayson won both the short and free programs at the Bavarian Open

1

Grayson LONG

CAN

210.88

1

1

 

[Sonata]

This interview between Lia Pereira and Roman Sadovsky was delightful: https://youtu.be/STRsMIYgwVk?si=CRkABy7cTQbfG2AD

 

[victorskid]

Stephen finally has a costume that fits for his SP

 

[Sylvia]

I bumped up the Gogolev fan thread with these articles:

Stephen Gogolev’s challenging decade-long journey from figure skating wunderkind to Olympian by Paula Nichols (Feb. 4, 2026):

Stephen Gogolev’s challenging decade-long journey from figure skating wunderkind to Olympian - Team Canada

The road to achieving a lifelong dream is never straight. Figure skater Stephen Gogolev knows this all too well.

olympic.ca

[University of Toronto] Political science student Stephen Gogolev skates for gold in Milano Cortina by Cynthia Macdonald - A&S News (Feb. 2): https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/news...nt-stephen-gogolev-skates-gold-milano-cortina

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Stephen finally has a costume that fits for his SP

That makes such a huge difference! He looks great!

 

[puglover]

I am massively thrilled for Stephen. I love it when the lessons skating teaches are applicable to life and Stephen's skate today really is a fine example of don't listen to the critics, don't give up, endure and keep on working. Way to Go!!

 

[coppertop1]

What a skate for Gogo! We're only two points off the bronze

 

[Jammers]

What was Skate Canada thinking leaving P/P out of the FD? They may have blown any chance for a medal there. I would think P/P would want to leave Milan with some kind of medal even in the team event.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

What was Skate Canada thinking leaving P/P out of the FD? They may have blown any chance for a medal there. I would think P/P would want to leave Milan with some kind of medal even in the team event.

Agreed.

The Team Event is about strategy, and a shame if Canada misses out on a team medal without P/P skating the free dance.
Although I would never have predicted Gogolev coming through and beating some of the bigger names. Great job from Stephen!
The points look pretty close.

Good for the Japanese Ice Dance couple, though, who only qualified for the team event, to potentially skate away with a medal.

The scheduling is so weird, with the Ice Dance - Rhythm Dance starting on Monday. So little down time between the events.

I hope Madi & Evan / Charlene & Marco are suitably rested, refreshed and recovered by then.

 

[coppertop1]

Don't the top ranked skaters get the right time pick? Maybe Piper and Paul didn't want to didn't want to do both, plus, with Deanna and Max out, it was the only one they could split

 

[haribobo]

World Juniors roster is posted - Paradis and Bondar are the substitutes listed for men, if anyone cares. It wasn't posted anywhere before that I saw.

 

[skategal]

Don't the top ranked skaters get the right time pick? Maybe Piper and Paul didn't want to didn't want to do both, plus, with Deanna and Max out, it was the only one they could split

On CBC yesterday it was said that the plan all along was to split Pairs and Ice Dance because the chance at a medal in the team event was slim.

No one predicted Gogo would skate so well and get them in medal contention.

So happy he skated so well.

More good things to come in his future I think.

 

[coppertop1]

On CBC yesterday it was said that the plan all along was to split Pairs and Ice Dance because the chance at a medal in the team event was slim.

No one predicted Gogo would skate so well and get them in medal contention.

So happy he skated so well.

More good things to come in his future I think.

That makes sense. Gogo nailed it! After so much injuries, it's great to see. Yeah, there's no compelling argument against splitting dance, since a medal was a long shot and Piper and Paul probably would have finished the same. It would be great if we get bronze. Italy and Georgia are wildcards, especially for the men.

 

[dramagrrl]

Gogo is pulling me out of the hopeless era of the last few years of Canadian men. (Come at me, people, but I was never sold on Roman and gave up on him a lonnng time ago, and the fact that no one else was stepping up was not a good sign.)

 

[puglover]

Gogo is pulling me out of the hopeless era of the last few years of Canadian men. (Come at me, people, but I was never sold on Roman and gave up on him a lonnng time ago, and the fact that no one else was stepping up was not a good sign.)

What is also encouraging is that not only do Stephen's jumps seem so much more reliable, it would seem he has found a good match for choreography with Benoit. Hopefully, as he puts out more consistently good programs jump wise he will continue to grow in his expression and judges will see him as a real contender and reward him so.