2024–25 Canadian Women: News and Updates

[shutterbug]

Rob Brodie's latest substack article about Lulu Lin: https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/the-magic-of-lulu-lin

While Lin’s intent is to move up to senior domestically next season, she still isn’t age eligible for that level internationally. But she’s willing to be patient for that time to come, even if it means a few more years toiling in junior.

“I think there’s always something that I can do to improve, and having a lot of years in junior will help set me up better for senior,” she said.

Already, the work is starting to up the technical ante for next season. Her long program this season included triple Lutz-double toe and triple flip-double toe combinations — her short featured a triple toe-triple toe — but she’s looking for more. And that means ramping it up higher.

“I’m working to get a new triple-triple combo as well as improve the more artistic side of my skating … to be able to connect to the music more,” she said. “I’m working toward a triple Lutz-triple toe. It’s going pretty good. I’ve been able to land one or two a day, but I think doing more and more repetitions over the next couple of months will be able to help smooth that out and make it consistent. It hoping to have it in both my short and my long.”

 

[Colonel Green]

Andrew Evans was posting little training clips of Lulu for years on his Instagram Stories, from when she was very young, so seeing her out on the international scene has definitely been an adjustment.

 

[shutterbug]

Rob Brodie's latest interview with Kaiya Ruiter: https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/im-grateful-for-every-opportunity

We’re still very early in the formative stages of a new campaign for most every skater, but the 18-year-old Ruiter is already over the moon enthused about the free program choreographer David Wilson is building for her. It’ll be skated to music from the soundtrack of the 2017 superhero movie Wonder Woman. And while she’ll tell you that she is “very much” into that genre, she credits Wilson with presenting the idea to her.

“It was David that had the idea and I’m full on board with it, for sure,” said Ruiter, whose previous two long programs were crafted by Wilson. “So I love the character. It’s really fun. I love it and what David has done in just a few days … I’m already in love with it.

While Ruiter says they’re “over halfway” through the creative process, the short program work is still in its infancy. For this season, she’s turned to Montreal-based choreographer Julie Marcotte to create that program.

“She did my show program for Stars On Ice and we had such a great time that we’re going to do a short program … which is really exciting for me.”

 

[Former Lurve Goddess]

Rob Brodie's latest interview with Kaiya Ruiter: https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/im-grateful-for-every-opportunity

Yay to a Wonder Woman program! On the other hand, in that the short program seems to be Ruiter's weaker area, I'm not too enthused about Julie Marcotte being the SP choreographer.

 

[Sylvia]

Rob Brodie keeps churning out Substack articles! June 8th on Schizas (after having a 25-minute conversation on Friday morning):

'There's no going back now'

Maddie Schizas wishes her 2023-24 season had finished in a better way, but there's no more time to dwell on that. Not when she can see brighter days ahead in her future.

rwbrodiewrites.substack.com

Excerpt:

With the 2026 Winter Olympics fast approaching — we’re officially more than halfway through the quadrennial — skating needs to have the majority of Schizas’ attention. To that end, she’s decided to slow down the pace of her studies at McMaster, and will spread her fourth-year course load over two years (she is working toward a degree in either Environmental Science or Environment and Society, “which is geography,” she says).
“I’m getting close to done (with my degree). I’m going to slow it down a bit for the next couple of years. I have a year’s worth of courses and I’m going to split it over two years. I want to give it some more time, and also the courses are becoming a lot more specialized and they’re not offered as frequently,” said Schizas, who is currently taking one summer class online. “If they’re offered in the middle of the day, I’m not going to split up my training day. The first three years of courses, we could make it work a little easier because there’s so many options. But I’m kind of running out of elective courses this year, so I’m going to slow it down and split it up. I feel like because I pushed through the first part of it, it’s not going to be hard to finish up.”

From the Programs & Choreographers thread:

...Maddie Schizas is getting her new FP choreo from Scott Moir, Madison Hubbell and Adrian Diaz at IAM Ontario and that her SP choreo from Allison Purkiss is already done

 

[danafan]

The national team lists were updated today and on Hetty Shi's profile it lists her coaches as Rafael Arutyunyan and Brian Orser

The other national team members are Schizas, Ruiter and Dupuis.

 

[marshallpond]

Madeline Schizas, Skate Canada competed today at Skate Detroit for her short program

 

[honey]

Madeline Schizas, Skate Canada competed today at Skate Detroit for her short program

Decent-ish outing for a first go. Got the combo done with good GOE, but doubled the solo triple loop and a level 2 on the steps.

Her Instagram post the other day had me thinking her short program might be an adapted version of her Lion King program she did on SOI that suited her very well. Anyone know what she skated to?

https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2024/34066/CAT057SEG058.html

 

[shutterbug]

Rob Brodie interview with Hetty Shi: https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/california-dreamin-with-hetty-shi

Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll start to understand why she chose to end her successful run at the Canadian Ice Academy under the direction of coaches Paul Parkinson and Andrew Evans. Just weeks after earning that medal in Calgary, Shi pulled up stakes and joined the camp of renowned coach Rafael Arutyunyan at Great Park Ice & Fivepoint Arena in Irvine, California.

"When I was still at my old club, I was at the highest level there was there. So I wasn’t really able to see past myself and my friends who were on the same level as me,” she said. “I wasn’t going to get better, so I needed to go away.”

Shi didn’t walk blindly into her new situation. When she was going through some early season struggles last season, Shi decided to spend two weeks in Irvine in September with Arutyunyan to sharpen up some of her skating skills. Shi liked it so much, she went back for most of October and felt she emerged from the experience as a better, more confident skater. She is quick to draw a straight line between that training period and the bronze medal in Calgary.

The changes in her skating life didn’t end with new coaches. Shi also enlisted two new choreographers for this season: Misha Ge for the short, fellow Canadian Shae-Lynn Bourne for the free. And she’s enthused about what the duo has come up with for her newest material.

For the short, Shi will skate to a piece of music from the French movie classic “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (Michel Legrand’s “I Will Wait For You”).

“He’s a really good person and I really enjoyed working with him,” she said of collaborating with Ge, a two-time Olympian from Uzbekistan. “This program is more my style and I enjoy doing it a lot.

“I grew up skating to classical, slow pieces of music, and I never really grew out of that comfort zone. So this is what that is, which is in (contrast) to my long, which was done by Shae-Lynn Bourne. I skate to a bunch of different pieces from the movie ‘Maleficent’ (they include “Once Upon a Dream,” “Mistress of Evil” and “Maleficent Suite,” by Lana Del Rey, Geoff Zanelli and James Newton Howard). It’s really different from my style because it’s really dark and I have to be more sharp with my movements and stuff. Very different from balletic, elegant moves.”.

 

[Colonel Green]

I appreciate seeing young skaters like Shi taking a big swing like this to try to take the next step.

 

[her grace]

Really, Canada? Only sending one entry to Cranberry Open. No wonder Skate Canada never has many skaters with tech minimum scores at the end of the season.

 

[Colonel Green]

Really, Canada? Only sending one entry to Cranberry Open. No wonder Skate Canada never has many skaters with tech minimum scores at the end of the season.

Based on prior scoring there, if they were going to send more people out I wouldn’t recommend Cranberry.

 

[danafan]

Coaching change noticed at the Next Gen event and confirmed by her ISU bio: Kara Yun is skating with Lee Barkell in Toronto.

https://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00113293.htm

 

[danafan]

Beautiful triple flip triple toe from Katherine Medland-Spence on her instagram. From her recent posts she appears to be training at Richmond Training Centre

Katherine Medland Spence on Instagram: "3F+3T • • • • • #figureskating #skating #skatecanada #skateontario #richmondtrainingcentre #nepeanskatingclub #skatingwithkatherine #edeaskates #johnwilsonblades #flip #3F #toe #3T #triple #jump #combo"

14 likes, 0 comments - skatingwithkatherine on July 29, 2024: "3F+3T • • • • • #figureskating #skating #skatecanada #skateontario #richmondtrainingcentre #nepeanskatingclub #skatingwithkatherine #edeaskates #johnwilsonblades #flip #3F #toe #3T #triple #jump #combo".

www.instagram.com

 

[danafan]

Canada has 6 JGP spots and not surprisingly the first two went to Lulu Lin (JGP #1 in Riga) and Hetty Shi (JGP #3 in Bangkok). Canada doesn't have a spot at JGP #2.

Events

skatecanada.ca

 

[Colonel Green]

Canada has 6 JGP spots and not surprisingly the first two went to Lulu Lin (JGP #1 in Riga) and Hetty Shi (JGP #3 in Bangkok). Canada doesn't have a spot at JGP #2.

Events

skatecanada.ca

I’ll be interested to see if either of them get a second one, since they’re more promising than most.

 

[Karen-W]

Gabby is entered in the Philly Summer Championships - https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2024/33453/CAT017SEG029.html

Four other Canadian women are also entered - Ellie Cheung, Angelina Guan, Amy Yang, and Emily Millard

 

[Karen-W]

Ooooo - I was just looking over the new Combined TES for ISU Championships (replaces Min TES) - https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ment-scores-ctes-and-multiple-entries.111935/

Canada now has 2 women who are eligible for Worlds - Sara-Maude Dupuis just met the 90.00 CTES threshold!

Kaiya is 5.18 points shy and Justine is 6.77 points shy of the new CTES.

 

[Sonata]

Random thought, but after watching Celine Dion sing at Olympics, I remembered watching an Olympic fluff piece about Josee Chouinard during which she goes to meet Celine in the U.S. Does anyone remember this? I’m unable to find it on YouTube.

It also reminded me that we do not get skating fluff pieces anymore, even during Olympics, ever since coverage has essentially moved to streaming online. A bit of a vicious circle, where the audience doesn’t get to know the skaters, so the sport is not popular enough to be on tv.

 

[tony]

It also reminded me that we do not get skating fluff pieces anymore, even during Olympics, ever since coverage has essentially moved to streaming online. A bit of a vicious circle, where the audience doesn’t get to know the skaters, so the sport is not popular enough to be on tv.

Target audiences get 1000000x more insight into skaters by following them on social media, or following any skating-esque social media in general. In the 90s and even into the 2000s, fans only learned about skaters through said fluff pieces. No program planning clips-- we'd have to wait until the Grand Prix to find out what most skaters were using that season. No who actually got along and who didn't- but gossip always ran rampant. Now we see all of the skaters get along just fine and are constantly rooting each other on. Probably not as exciting seeing the reality for some drama-obsessed fans

And once again, for the love of God, network television is dead. I'm not even in the target audience anymore at the ripe old age of 38, and my generation is basically the group that sent it on it's way in lieu of streaming options. Younger generations? no chance.

 

[Sonata]

You make a good point about television because I don’t have one anymore either. But big events or sports still end up on tv and then are easy to stream. I often have to do a lot of intentional digging to find skating events on the CBC app. Someone also has to intentionally follow a skater on social media to get to know them. A good producer will help build a narrative (and yes I know this can be good or bad). Some producer probably arranged the Josee-Celine meeting as it was based on their Quebec connection. I don’t think this is something you could easily arrange as a skater with a few thousand followers. Maybe someone like Elladj Balde could given his social media status.

 

[uandmfan]

Random thought, but after watching Celine Dion sing at Olympics, I remembered watching an Olympic fluff piece about Josee Chouinard during which she goes to meet Celine in the U.S. Does anyone remember this? I’m unable to find it on YouTube.

It also reminded me that we do not get skating fluff pieces anymore, even during Olympics, ever since coverage has essentially moved to streaming online. A bit of a vicious circle, where the audience doesn’t get to know the skaters, so the sport is not popular enough to be on tv.

I remember it and was also thinking about it the other day! It was a cute piece.

 

[Sonata]

It was indeed cute! I remember her walking down the hall being nervous on her way to meet Celine. Alas, not on YouTube.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

We're getting a bunch of fluff pieces for gymnastics on the primetime coverage on NBC. I don't have cable, but it's on peacock.

 

[victorskid]

We're getting a bunch of fluff pieces for gymnastics on the primetime coverage on NBC. I don't have cable, but it's on peacock.

Ah, but NBC and its affiliates love the fluff - didn't they insert quite a bit of it into you Opening Ceremonies coverage too?

 

[skatingguy]

wrong thread

 

[danafan]

I really hope Breken Brezden will get an international assignment. She scored 118 in the free and 172 overall at Quebec Summer Skate, and she also did a really good free skate at the Skate Ontario event last month. 172 is above the Skate Canada target score for an international. She was on next gen team last year so it's not like she wasn't on Skate Canada's radar.

 

[haribobo]

Top Summer 2024-25 Scores
updated 8/18

SENIOR WOMEN
Kaiya Ruiter 189
Breken Brezden 172
Sara-Maude Dupuis 169
Uliana Shiryaeva 168
Fee Ann Landry 165
Marie-Raphaele Savoie 155
Madeline Schizas 155
Gabrielle Daleman 152
Bella Jia 151
Marie-Maude Pomerleau 149
Jade Bouchard 149
Amy Shao Ning Yang 148
Katherine Medland Spence 165
Justine Miclette 140
Rose Theroux 140
Hetty Shi TBD (has competed junior)


JUNIOR WOMEN
Lia Cho 176
Ksenia Krouzkevitch 156
Hetty Shi 155
Lulu Lin 154
Kara Yun 148
Brookelynn Pollock 143
Reese Rose 141
Megan Woodley 141

 

[danafan]

Former Canadian junior champion Kim Deguise-Léveillée announced her retirement on her instagram. Not surprising as she had so many injuries and had hip surgery last year. It's hard to believe she never skated internationally as a senior (she was on the JGP and made junior worlds, but missed what was supposed to be her international senior debut with an injury). Still she skated for a very long time and I enjoyed watching her.

Kim DeGuise Léveillée on Instagram: "Toute bonne chose à une fin ✨ Malgré les multiples consultations et traitements pour ma hanche, et malgré mes nombreuses tentatives à patiner tout en suivant les conseils des professionnels de la santé, un retou

28 likes, 4 comments - kimdeguiseleveillee on August 19, 2024: "Toute bonne chose à une fin ✨ Malgré les multiples consultations et traitements pour ma hanche, et malgré mes nombreuses tentatives à patiner tout en suivant les conseils des professionnels de la santé, un retour sur la glace à un...

www.instagram.com

 

[Wyliefan]

Tweet from Gabby Daleman after this weekend's competition: "Was so so incredible being back at competition! Six months ago, I couldn’t even walk and now I’m back competing. It’s a great starting point and I can’t wait to keep moving forward. Thank you to team, parents and my amazing Boyfriend for always being by my side. #comeback " https://x.com/gabby_daleman/status/1825308912792268892?t=x675ej1VzIeUhxB7OPx1HQ&s=19