2019-20 Canadian Men news & updates

Sylvia

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The end of this article includes quotes from Aleksa Rakic, 15, after his 4th place finish at the Youth Olympic Games: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/youtholympics/youth-olympics-lausanne-figure-skating-1.5424102
Sitting fourth going into the long program, Rakic took to the ice in front of thousands inside the Lausanne Skating Arena. He put together a near flawless performance, scoring 134.27 which secured fourth place in the 15-skater field.
"I think that I skated great and that I was able to show what I do in training. I'm happy with the whole competition."
Rakic says he believes this Youth Olympic experience so early in his career will only mean positive things moving forward.
"It's been amazing. The audience has been so supportive," he said.
"I feel that this experience will help in other competitions and give me more motivation to make it to the Olympics."
Rakic's Rachmaninov FS can be watched here:

Skate Canada is posting brief Q&A Athlete Spotlights ahead of next week's Nationals:
3 more (with Nguyen's still to come):
ETA:
 
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Colonel Green

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I will say, if Roman wins, I would not consider sending him to Worlds unless he does a clean short program here and also at Four Continents, because I don't think he's managed that in the last two(?) seasons, and that could easily have him buried deep in the standings after the short program at Worlds.
 

Japanfan

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I will say, if Roman wins, I would not consider sending him to Worlds unless he does a clean short program here and also at Four Continents, because I don't think he's managed that in the last two(?) seasons, and that could easily have him buried deep in the standings after the short program at Worlds.

ITA. If Nam delivers at Worlds, he'd be the better choice IMO. IIRC, he's already not qualified for the free program at Worlds. I doubt he wants to repeat that experience. And he seems to have reinvented himself this year quite successfully. The Beatles medley for the free is just perfect for him.
 

RoseRed

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ITA. If Nam delivers at Worlds, he'd be the better choice IMO. IIRC, he's already not qualified for the free program at Worlds. I doubt he wants to repeat that experience. And he seems to have reinvented himself this year quite successfully. The Beatles medley for the free is just perfect for him.
Not that I'm against sending Nam, but he's actually missed qualifying for the FS twice, in 2016 and 2018.
 

aftershocks

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I would say Nam and Keegan ideally should be able to do well at Cdn Nationals this year and either of them should place well enough at Worlds to get back two spots for Canadian men. And with Roman improving to top contention, hopefully Cdn guys will begin to build back to 3 spots by Beijing 2022.
 

screech

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Keegan and Nam are the safe choices, but if Roman wins, he shouldn't be out of consideration, since he medalled at a GP event and Keegan didn't.
I think that if Keegan or Nam wins, they'll get a direct pass to Worlds (unless it's within like 2 points). If Roman wins, I think they'll do a 4CC skate-off.
 

Sylvia

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Re-posting here (also in the Canadian Dance thread) from the Kiss & Cry section for higher visibility :)):
Bev Smith article on Corey Circelli who won two medals [Junior Men's gold & Junior Dance bronze] in two days at Canadians despite a torn meniscus!!
https://bevsmithwrites.com/corey-circelli-artist-and-meniscus-manager/
ETA that Elladj inerviewed Corey after the medal ceremony:

I also enjoyed watching Gabriel Blumenthal's 6-triple FS yesterday to music from Les Patineurs. He was 3rd in the FS and 4th overall. Ted Barton mentioned at the beginning of his FP that he is 18 years old.
 
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Sylvia

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2 articles by Dan Barnes in Edmonton for Postmedia:
“Keegan is one of our veterans, he’s been around, been to junior worlds, worlds and Olympics. He’s going to come out fighting and so will Nam,” said Skate Canada’s high performance director Mike Slipchuk. “The two of them, they’re good friends and they push each other. It’s unfortunate that only one man goes to worlds, but that’s sport, and sometimes that makes everyone better.”
Nguyen hasn’t decided whether he’ll put one or two quads in his Friday short program at nationals, but is planning three in the free skate on Saturday. Messing will try just one quad in the short and three in the long.
 
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coppertop1

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It really is a shame we only have one spot. I hadn't really thought Roman was going to be in the mix at the start of the season.
 

Rafter

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Vincent Zhou is in the house at Cdn Nationals. Walking the concourse with Kurt Browning.

First group of men for the LP were.....awful.
 

screech

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Congratulations Roman! What a skate, and what a deserved win.

Now, do they fill the only Worlds spot with the unpredictable/inconsistent champion who has never been to Worlds, yet won Canadians by a huge margin, or do they do a skate-off at Four Continents?

I was cheering for Keegan to finally get the win, but hugely proud of Roman (whose program I love).
 
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Tavi

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Roman :)

I’m going to re-post here my interview with him—get to know the new national champion!


Great interview, Claire! Roman’s channel is really fun and I love his skating.
 

Zazy

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Now, do they fill the only Worlds spot with the unpredictable/inconsistent champion who has never been to Worlds, yet won Canadians by a huge margin, or do they do a skate-off at Four Continents?

My guess is that they'll do a skate-off at Four Continents. If Roman hadn't done so well at NHK, then I'd get it, but he just showed he can deliver internationally - this isn't a Liam Firus situation.

BTW, it was bizarre how the tv broadcast was all about Nam and Keegan, and mostly ignored Roman. He medalled at NHK and anyone paying attention would know he had a shot at winning this thing. It wasn't the huge surprise they were making it out to be.
 

Foolhardy Ham Lint

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My guess is that they'll do a skate-off at Four Continents. If Roman hadn't done so well at NHK, then I'd get it, but he just showed he can deliver internationally - this isn't a Liam Firus situation.

BTW, it was bizarre how the tv broadcast was all about Nam and Keegan, and mostly ignored Roman. He medalled at NHK and anyone paying attention would know he had a shot at winning this thing. It wasn't the huge surprise they were making it out to be.


Roman seems to skate best when there is little pre-event hype pointed in his direction. Now that he is the next big thing in Canada, I wonder how he will cope meeting international expectations.
 
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Colonel Green

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Roman seems to skate best when there is little pre-event publicity pointed in his direction.
Do we have much point of comparison? He’s never not been a dark horse, so we’ve yet to see how he handles some modicum of expectation.

In terms of assignments, while I previously said that I’d prefer to see Roman be completely clean in the short before giving him the Worlds berth, based on how nationals went I think they will probably just award it to him outright.
 

Dobre

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Do we have much point of comparison? He’s never not been a dark horse, so we’ve yet to see how he handles some modicum of expectation.

Not much at the senior level. He had 5 medals at regular JGPs in juniors so I would say he wasn't much of a dark horse there. (Not to the extent that one would predict 13th, 14th, and 17th place finishes at Junior Worlds). It's not like there are 5 guys in the whole world who have a track record for dealing well with expectations though. This event was a good sign for Roman. He knew he was in the hunt for a medal. I do think there was less pressure on him going up before the final two guys here; but he did his job & applied the pressure to the those guys. He could use more experience, for sure.

There were expectations heading into SC this year because Roman had just recently medaled at Finlandia and the men's field at SC was weak because 1. Kolyada had pulled out and 2. SC didn't invite a really heavy duty field in the first place. Jackie even predicted Roman for bronze:

https://www.rockerskating.com/news/...da-preview-men-one-of-the-few-hanyu-hasnt-won

The opportunity was there, and Roman so did not grab it. He grabbed the one at NHK where loads of other guys were still in the hunt for the GPF and feeling the pressure. But really . . . I mean this is a very international dilemma. You up the pressure high enough, and even Nathan & Hanyu can feel it.

BTW, it was bizarre how the tv broadcast was all about Nam and Keegan, and mostly ignored Roman. He medalled at NHK and anyone paying attention would know he had a shot at winning this thing. It wasn't the huge surprise they were making it out to be.

The whole "rivalry" thing was just packaging for TV. (Rivalries sell better with 2 people rather than 3 or in the case of Canadian men's skating more like 6). TV stations are excellent at missing the story. How many times have they pitched blank1 & blank2 for gold at the Olympic Games only to have blank3 win it all. (If they would acknowledge all the contenders up front, we might have less controversy over results later).
 
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VarBar

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Had been waiting for a skate like that from Roman for so long and honestly had lost hope it would ever come. Lesson to learn: never lose hope. Roman is the most deserving successor of Patrick in my book and if Skate Canada doesn't put him on the team for World's immediately after this decisive win, what's Nationals good for, what's the point being a national champion?
 

Foolhardy Ham Lint

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Had been waiting for a skate like that from Roman for so long and honestly had lost hope it would ever come. Lesson to learn: never lose hope. Roman is the most deserving successor of Patrick in my book and if Skate Canada doesn't put him on the team for World's immediately after this decisive win, what's Nationals good for, what's the point being a national champion?

Well, Skate Canada sent Nam over Firus in 2016, and they still haven't lived that down.

As for the USFSA, it's funny how Adam Rippon's Olympic dream came at the cost of another skater, Ross Miner, too.

Skating can be so brutal and unfair even at the best of times.
 

aftershocks

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Romsky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYui1UdvclE sp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M3rlIfW-2E fp

Nam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B66MhT2F6HU sp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beWsFaHdNaA

Keegan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GNxNdTBEww sp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=678XVJ9Ms-8 fp

Phan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhULtCH8r2Q fp

Nadeau:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkUTYT8kIVI fp

Elladj interviews the champion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbaG-vkxj-M

Spotlight on Roman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qklbX20gKDA

Wow, Roman, congratulations! :cheer2: Definitely Roman's overall skating talent is superior. He only lacks the depth of senior international experience compared to Nam and Keegan. But Roman has proven himself on the GP this season which helped his confidence going into Cdn Nationals. With Nam and Keegan faltering in their fps and Roman skating very well with only minor hiccoughs in both programs, Roman prevailed with some gorgeous jumps, beautiful skating, commanding presence on the ice and hanging in there to pull out his final jump elements in the free program after the jump that went strangely awry on the landing. Kudos to Roman for staying strong and believing in himself.

Nam and Keegan deserve thanks and congrats too for their hard work, courage and many accomplishments. It's great to see their smiles and their wonderful friendship with each other. :saint:
 

Sylvia

TBD
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4CC:
Roman Sadovsky
Nam Nguyen
Keegan Messing

Junior Worlds:
Stephen Gogolev
Joseph Phan

Worlds (1 spot): TBD*
*To be determined after the 2020 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships

ETA: OOPS re. an online article headline I saw - "Sadovsky wins Canadian figure skating title, spot at worlds"
:shuffle:
 
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