... Skate Canada high performance director Mike Slipchuk made it official today: no final decision on which men’s skater will represent Canada at the all-important 2025 World Championships in Boston will be made until after the Four Continents Championships next month in South Korea.
Given that Skate Canada did the same thing a year ago in advance of 2024 Worlds in Montreal, it’s really no surprise. Especially, too, in light of the fact that only two Canadian men with the qualifying criteria for Worlds (Aleksa Rakic and Roman Sadovsky) will compete here in Laval this week. The other two Canadian men who have the necessary scores are both injured and one of them, Stephen Gogolev, is done for the season due to recurring back issues. The other is Chiu, the defending Canadian champion who had to pull out of this week’s event due to an ankle injury that has not fully healed since it happened at Cup of China back in November.
“If you had multiple spots (for Worlds), you may be in a position to name one and then wait on the other. None of the men were clearly ahead of the pack this season, they were all kind of in there,” said Slipchuk. “So it’s best for us to have two events. You get to see them domestically but Four Continents is where your get a real good litmus test because it’s an international (judging) panel. It’s safe to say that, barring something unforeseen, we will wait on that decision and we have that built into our criteria.”
That criteria involves taking the entire season into consideration before making any World team decisions, and every skater is fully aware of that going into the campaign. That’s why Chiu’s absence in Laval isn’t a season-killer for him. He was Canada’s highest finisher (17th) in the men’s event at Montreal Worlds and that, in part, is what keeps his name in the discussion for the upcoming Worlds in Boston. Skate Canada knows what he’s capable of on that stage; it’s just a matter of whether he can get himself back to full health in time to prove it at Four Continents.
“At the end of the day, we want to be able to send the best skaters that we have to the (Canadian and World) Championships. There’s been a whole plan put in place for (Chiu’s) recovery, so we’re well aware of where things are at,” explained Slipchuk. “He’s back on the ice, but he’s not at a point yet where he’s ready to compete. He’s not doing everything. So he’s best to keep training and getting healthy.
“(Missing nationals) does not eliminate him from the discussion for Worlds because he has the (qualifying) scores all the way through. I’ll go see him in a few weeks and I’ll see him regardless, and we’ll go from there. He’s our top guy from Worlds last year but then again, we have to look at all aspects … Things happen, injuries happen and it’s a little unique this year where Four Continents is four weeks later. So you have five weeks now, so there’s a bit of a time. He’ll definitely be in the conversation.”
While it won’t be the last word in this discussion, Rakic (the silver medalist in Calgary a year ago) and Sadovsky (the 2020 Canadian champion) both have an opportunity to make a compelling argument for themselves this week.
“It’s a national title and there’s always that allure, and you want to win that. So there’s a bit of extra motivation here,” said Slipchuk. “Definitely, it’s an opportunity for them here to try to show what they can do and build that confidence. That’s kind of what we’re hoping to see here.
“It helps in the decision making process but even more, it helps their confidence. To come here and have a good nationals and two good skates only builds that confidence and when they go to Four Continents, it keeps building. They’re kind of starting to hit their stride; they need to hit that now.”
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It's best not to tempt the Skategods.
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