Figure Skating 2021 - 2022 Discussion Thread

[NearPup 4,188]

The Canadian Championships (and de-facto Olympic trials) are happening today and tomorrow.

 

There is a free live-stream on gem.cbc.ca, and it does not appear to be geo-blocked. Good lineup of commentators, too (Ted Barton, Kaetlyn Osmond and Elladj Baldé).

[dcro 10,211]

6 minutes ago, NearPup said:

The Canadian Championships (and de-facto Olympic trials) are happening today and tomorrow.

 

There is a free live-stream on gem.cbc.ca, and it does not appear to be geo-blocked. Good lineup of commentators, too (Ted Barton, Kaetlyn Osmond and Elladj Baldé).

Canadian figure skating is pretty much sinking like Finnish ski jumping did back in the day. Kind of hard to get excited for this event.

[NearPup 4,188]

12 minutes ago, dcro said:

Canadian figure skating is pretty much sinking like Finnish ski jumping did back in the day. Kind of hard to get excited for this event.

This is basically the hangover from a golden generation. Canada won world championship golds and Olympic medals in every single disciplines last decade. Everyone involved is retired, except for the least exciting and most problematic skater from that group (Radford).

 

So this is a deep rebuild for sure. Still a couple fun battles to watch, and there is an infinite amount of drama around James/Radford for the people who like that kind of thing. At least the final flight in ice dance is going to be good xD

 

That being said, I don't think Canada will ever have a group as special as Chan, Osmond, Duhamel / Radford, Virtue / Moir and Weaver / Poje. At times Canada has had a lot of depth in one discipline (mostly men's) but there was never a time where Canada had medal contenders in all four events at roughly the same time.

[NearPup 4,188]

 Alysa Liu has tested positive for COVID-19 and has withdrawn from US championships. She was in third place after the short.

[Illya 590]

Anastasia Shabotova 🇺🇦 is out from entry list on European Championship due to health reasons. Mariia Andriychuk in

[NearPup 4,188]

Canadian Nationals, day 1 (Short program / rhythm dance)

 

Men's Single (2 quotas available)

1. Keegan Messing (84.38)
2. Wesley Chiu (81.47)
3. Joseph Phan (78.14)
4. Roman Sadovsky (77.17)
5. Corey Circelli (76.64)
6. Bennet Toman (72.83)
7. Nam Nguyen (71.27)

Women's Single (1 quota available)

1. Madeline Schizas (72.05)
2. Véronik Mallet (59.35)
3. Gabrielle Daleman (58.48)
4. Michelle Long (57.14)
5. Emily Bausback (56.82)
6. Alison Schumacher (56.38)
7. Katherine Medland-Spence (55.74)

Pairs (2 quotas available)

1. Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro (73.02)
2. Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud (66.88)
3. Deanna Stellato-Dudek / Maxime Deschamps (63.54) (AFAIK Stellato-Dudek does not have Canadian citizenship)
4. Vanessa James / Eric Radford (63.33)
5. Lori-Ann Matte / Thierry Ferland (60.13)
6. Patricia Andrew / Steven Adcock (56.37)
7. Kelly Ann Laurin / Loucas Éthier (49.93)

Ice Dance (3 quotas available)

1. Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier (86.98)
2. Laurence Fournier-Beaudry / Nikolaj Sørensen (81.04)
3. Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha (76.67)
4. Carolane Soucisse / Shane Firus (72.55)
5. Marie-Jade Lauriault / Romain Le Gac (71.29)
6. Haley Sales / Nikolas  Wamsteeker (70.00)
7. Molly Lanaghan / Dmitre Razgulajevs (67.51)

Very close battles for the second spots in the men's single and the pairs event (and Messing is far from certain from being in the top two).

 

Biggest dissapointment of the day was Nguyen, who is retiring at the end of the season. He had a really bad fall on his 3A which completly ruined his program.

 

Very happy that Fournier-Beaudry / Sørensen, formerly of , will very likely finally make their Olympic debut. Also worth noting that Lauriault / Le Gac competed for at the 2018 Olympics.

[Monzanator 5,136]

Vanessa James is back competing for Canada? Geez, that's three countries she represented on international level now? And none of them dissolved like   or

[NearPup 4,188]

11 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

Vanessa James is back competing for Canada? Geez, that's three countries she represented on international level now? And none of them dissolved like   or

Ya, triple citizen ( ). Could have gotten a US passport too, she held a Green Card when she was younger and she actually learned to skate while she was living in the US.

[NearPup 4,188]

US Nationals, women's single

Mariah Bell, at the ripe old age of 25, won her first senior nationals. She is the oldest women to win in 95 years, and in all likelihood she will be the oldest American women to compete in women's single at the Olympics since 1928. Again, at the ancient age of 25.

 

Karen Chen finished second and is also virtually guaranteed a spot at the Olympics.

 

Isabeau Levito finished third, but is not age eligible for the Olympics.

 

Gabriella Izzo, in fourth, is the third highest ranked age-eligible competitor. The last spot on the Olympic team will likely come down to her or Alysa Liu.

[intoronto 6,936]

7 minutes ago, NearPup said:

Ya, triple citizen ( ). Could have gotten a US passport too, she held a Green Card when she was younger.

She could have also competed for  if she wanted.