2023/24 Canadian Women: News & Updates

[barbarafan]

I watched her program - it was great! Good for her.

was it streamed?

 

[shutterbug]

Who knows what the future years will bring her, but I’m impressed with the power in her jumps for such a little tot. The technique is reasonable and the base of her skating is strong. Lots of potential.

ITA. The height on the first lutz in the program literally made me gasp. So unexpected from such a tiny skater. It's going to be fun following her progress.

 

[Winnipeg]

was it streamed?

I used the link provided by a blog poster above

 

[Sylvia]

Feb. 3, 2024:

Lia Cho of Alberta (last years pre-novice champion and Canada Winter Games silver medalist) won the Novice Women's SP at the Skate Canada Novice/Pre-Novice Challenge today by a whopping 16 points. 54.70 (4 points bonus) with a 3Z/3T and 3F (slight negative GOE, her only minus). She's only 11 so not eligible for JGP for a while.

I found this news segment on/interview with a cute 10-year-old Lia after she was named CTV Calgary's Athlete of the Week in March 2023 :

Athlete of the Week: Lia Cho

10-year-old figure skater Lia Cho is a rising Alberta figure skater. She's our Athlete of the Week. Glenn Campbell reports.

calgary.ctvnews.ca

was it streamed?

Yes, Novice Nationals results & video links are posted in the"2023/24 Canadian Sectionals & Fall/Winter Competitions" thread in Kiss & Cry - here's the first part of what I posted there yesterday with the link to the Women's FP that was streamed on Dailymotion:

I really enjoyed her [Lia's] joyful SP performance to La La Land!

Lia Cho (final skater in FP) in replay stream: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8t7xp8?start=8428
Can someone ID her music please?

She scored 112.16 in the FP (59.70 TES/43.46 PCS + 9 bonus points!): https://cssterminalserv.skatecanada.ca/results/24CANCUPNoviceWomenFP2DRO.pdf

Thanks for the music ID!

Shazam says it's from The Red Poppy Suite by Gliere. Nice energetic music for her. Such a talented kid!

Top 3 in SP were the medalists:

Women
Lia Cho Glencoe Club, AB/NT/NU - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8t5p4u?start=8493 [scored 54.40 with 3Lz+3Tq, 3F(!), 2A - very animated performance]

Also:
2.) Sandrine Blais Sherbrooke, QC - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8t5p4u?start=3552
3.) Ksenia Krouzkevitch, Canadian Ice Academy, ON - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8t5p4u?start=1105

 

[coppertop1]

I also enjoy Ksenia Krouzkevitch. She showed some nice musicality and expression, and solid jumps

 

[million$momma]

I also enjoy Ksenia Krouzkevitch. She showed some nice musicality and expression, and solid jumps

I did too. Same coach as Hetty Shi and Lulu Lin, right? Lots of great young skaters coming out of the Canadian Ice Academy right now!

 

[Yyzskater]

I did too. Same coach as Hetty Shi and Lulu Lin, right? Lots of great young skaters coming out of the Canadian Ice Academy right now!

It seems Hetty is spending alot of time in California with Raf's team.

 

[million$momma]

It seems Hetty is spending alot of time in California with Raf's team.

Wow...that's quite a commute for a 15 year old!

 

[honey]

It seems Hetty is spending alot of time in California with Raf's team.

Interesting. I always thought there was something a little Raf-like in her jump set ups.

 

[Colonel Green]

Nice outing for Lulu in the short program.

Kaiya I will always love to watch, but I think this off-season they will need to consider how to try to address the jumping. She just isn’t going anywhere internationally without improvements in the height/rotations.

 

[Winnipeg]

I agree re KR, she needs to take a good look at what needs to improve to take her to the next level. She has the artistry and seems to be able to conquer nerves but her technical needs a boost.

Her placing after the SP at Jr Worlds is not very good and much less than what I would have hoped for. Hopefully the LP will improve her final placement.

 

[skatingguy]

Kaiya I will always love to watch, but I think this off-season they will need to consider how to try to address the jumping. She just isn’t going anywhere internationally without improvements in the height/rotations.

I agree re KR, she needs to take a good look at what needs to improve to take her to the next level. She has the artistry and seems to be able to conquer nerves but her technical needs a boost.

Her placing after the SP at Jr Worlds is not very good and much less than what I would have hoped for. Hopefully the LP will improve her final placement.

As an example of the issue with Ruiter's jumps, she managed to get an edge warning on both her Lutz, and her flip.

 

[danafan]

Great free skate from Lulu Lin at junior worlds, she will finish no worse than 11th and Canada retains two spots for next year. JGP spots remain to be seen. Well done!

 

[coppertop1]

Great free skate from Lulu Lin at junior worlds, she will finish no worse than 11th and Canada retains two spots for next year. JGP spots remain to be seen. Well done!

Remind me of Joannie Rochette saving two spots for Canada at 2007 Worlds.

 

[Sylvia]

Lulu Lin in the mixed zone after her 6th place FS, 10th overall:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1763527152799187117

Kaiya (20th in FS, 21st overall):

https://twitter.com/x/status/1763512923505201425

 

[doritos]

Great free skate from Lulu Lin at junior worlds, she will finish no worse than 11th and Canada retains two spots for next year. JGP spots remain to be seen. Well done!

Yes, great job LuLu (edited my brain fart response)

 

[Sylvia]

Lulu (10 points for 10th) and Kaiya (16 points for making the FS) = 26. It's 18 points if the singles skater does not qualify for the FS (25th & below in SP).

As for JGP spots, Canada ended up as the 8th highest country so gets 1 woman in 6 events.

 

[Habs]

Great skate for Lin!

Okay - I like Kaiya Ruiter. I think she has good potential. I think she can clean up her issues and get stronger. She has good coaching and a good team around her. And most definitely, Skate Canada needs to send its skaters out to competitions more often.
BUT - the send Kaiya to (sr) Worlds group is awfully quiet this week.

 

[kwanfan1818]

BUT - the send Kaiya to (sr) Worlds group is awfully quiet this week.

Some people might not have seen the results yet, and some may be waiting for how Schizas does at Worlds before commenting. It happened when Pfaneuf was sent to Jr. Worlds and finished in 10th, and suddenly the decision seemed to make more sense, and JRo went to Sr. Worlds and finished in 14th, and suddenly the decision didn’t necessarily.

I don’t think that Ruiter should have been chosen over Schizas, but different competitions at different times in different places with different judging and tech panels plus different start orders don’t always yield similar results.

 

[Karen-W]

Great skate for Lin!

Okay - I like Kaiya Ruiter. I think she has good potential. I think she can clean up her issues and get stronger. She has good coaching and a good team around her. And most definitely, Skate Canada needs to send its skaters out to competitions more often.
BUT - the send Kaiya to (sr) Worlds group is awfully quiet this week.

I haven't watched either of her skates this week - the women's event is happening in the dead of night while I'm asleep. The tech panels in Taipei seem to be a bit tight so I'm withholding judgment until after I have time to watch her programs. I do think, though, that she should have had at least one opportunity in February to get the senior SP min, if only so that Skate Canada at least had an alternate.

 

[doritos]

Lulu (10 points for 10th) and Kaiya (16 points for making the FS) = 26. It's 18 points if the singles skater does not qualify for the FS (25th & below in SP).

As for JGP spots, Canada ended up as the 8th highest country so gets 1 woman in 6 events.

WHOOPSIE!

Total brain fart. Thanks Sylvia!

 

[kwanfan1818]

Lulu (10 points for 10th) and Kaiya (16 points for making the FS) = 26. It's 18 points if the singles skater does not qualify for the FS (25th & below in SP).

Which would have made two spots for Canada if Ruiter hadn’t made the FS, the magic of a top ten finish.

 

[Winnipeg]

Great skate for Lin!

Okay - I like Kaiya Ruiter. I think she has good potential. I think she can clean up her issues and get stronger. She has good coaching and a good team around her. And most definitely, Skate Canada needs to send its skaters out to competitions more often.
BUT - the send Kaiya to (sr) Worlds group is awfully quiet this week.

Yes, and I was one of those in the group. Clearly, that would not have been a good decision. I really hope KR gets better during the off season because she really has (IMHO) great potential. She can be magical when she is on.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

I don’t think that Ruiter should have been chosen over Schizas, but different competitions at different times in different places with different judging and tech panels plus different start orders don’t always yield similar results.

I agree with that, but also Ruiter has consistently been far enough off the senior TES mins for the SP in every opportunity that she had. Enough to feel confident she’d be buried in the senior worlds SP.

 

[kwanfan1818]

But, Nationals!

 

[Winnipeg]

What would you recommend KR do to up her SP score?

 

[tony]

What would you recommend KR do to up her SP score?

This is pretty straight-forward to me. She needs to rework her jump technique, plain and simple. Her triple triple attempts are often way short and she's twisting all over the place between jumps. That's a killer in the short program and a big part of why she's not even close on the TES there. She'd completely be buried at Worlds if she did somehow achieve that minimum.

Second, the basic skating needs to step up. She's not really done a lot of improving in that department since everyone was raving about her many years ago, and even at this World Juniors, the PCS was way down there compared to the rest of the junior skaters, let alone even stepping it up in senior.

 

[kwanfan1818]

If Ruiter had been selection provisionally, sent to a Senior B to earn minimums, and earned them, the most incremental WS points she could have earned would have been 22 for silver and 25 for gold. She couldn't have caught Joos to bump Joos from Starting Group 4, and would have started in Group 3/6, compared to Schizas, who will be in Starting Group 5/6.

 

[danafan]

Ruiter always looks so stiff on her jump landings and it doesn't seem to be improving. I do wonder if she should try to do a clean short with a triple toe triple toe, go for GOE, and maybe she could hit 32 points.

Of course I'm hoping for the best at that Schizas can deliver a top 10 at worlds this year. It's not going to be easy and I just hope she isn't overwhelmed by the pressure of skating at home with so much on the line.

I'm always complaining that Canada doesn't send more women to international events. I'd like to think if we had had two spots this year more skaters would have been sent, or the same skaters would have been sent to more events. If we get two spots back for next year it would be so embarrassing not to have a second eligible skater.

In the past some juniors have been sent to a spring international so I'm curious to see if that happens this year.

Next season I'm hoping they will be more generous with women's assignments. I think a few skaters are capable of getting the worlds TES minimums, skaters like Landry, Shiryaeva, Théroux, Foster, Pomerleau, Medland-Spence.

 

[Former Lurve Goddess]

Ruiter always looks so stiff on her jump landings and it doesn't seem to be improving. I do wonder if she should try to do a clean short with a triple toe triple toe, go for GOE, and maybe she could hit 32 points.

Of course I'm hoping for the best at that Schizas can deliver a top 10 at worlds this year. It's not going to be easy and I just hope she isn't overwhelmed by the pressure of skating at home with so much on the line.

I'm always complaining that Canada doesn't send more women to international events. I'd like to think if we had had two spots this year more skaters would have been sent, or the same skaters would have been sent to more events. If we get two spots back for next year it would be so embarrassing not to have a second eligible skater.

In the past some juniors have been sent to a spring international so I'm curious to see if that happens this year.

Next season I'm hoping they will be more generous with women's assignments. I think a few skaters are capable of getting the worlds TES minimums, skaters like Landry, Shiryaeva, Théroux, Foster, Pomerleau, Medland-Spence.

Skate Canada should hold special clinics for the women to devise strategies for best achieving the TES minimums.