2024 Canadian Championships Sr Women FS - Baby it's cold outside!!

[Private Citizen]

Schizas has always been a pedestrian skater with small jumps and not a lot of ice coverage. Her domestic scores are finally reflecting that. Third in the free seems about right. It's a shame SC doesn't have another option for Worlds, but they don't.

 

[overedge]

Good heavens, what HAS happened to figure skating in Canada? It's a very sad situation right now. I think we are pretty good in dance (and there's hope for that to continue into the future). Pairs? Don't know about that. Ladies: scary situation. Men: Terrible inconsistency in that discipline. Best of luck to Wesley (and everyone else tonight) though. I always wish them the best but I've reached the point where I have ZERO expectations.

I've watched skating since the days of Toller and have seen and cheered on so many Canadian "greats" in all the disciplines over the decades but we are at a very low point right now. No TV coverage and just the hardcore fans (that would be us) watching livestreaming from a nearly empty arena. I love this sport and all of this makes me very sad.

People were saying "OMG what is happening" when Netty Kim was the ladies' champion (and she fully deserved to be) and Barbara Ann Scott was saying "if you can't do a triple well, then just do a nice double".

There was one year when the only international medal won by a Canadian man was by an adult skater.

It happens. There are up years and there are down years, and there are years when some disciplines are stronger than others. Personally, even though I am definitely not a fan of how Skate Canada runs things, I'm not ready to write off the entire sport just because this is not one of the up years.

 

[Flip Jump]

https://x.com/goldenskate/status/1746283832826065335?s=20
Interesting comments from Maddie’s coach Nancy Lemaire post free skate.

 

[Wyliefan]

And from Maddie. She sounds super upset.

 

[skatfan]

https://x.com/goldenskate/status/1746283832826065335?s=20
Interesting comments from Maddie’s coach Nancy Lemaire post free skate.

Great to blame your federation for doing a no-frills national championships without TV money for why your skater bombed.

 

[Flip Jump]

And from Maddie. She sounds super upset.

I have always been super impressed with Maddie and how honest she is about her skates. Hoping things turn around for her!

 

[overedge]

Great to blame your federation for doing a no-frills national championships without TV money for why your skater bombed.

Yeah, that's not going to go over well with the SC brass.

 

[Wyliefan]

I mean, a few years ago people were skating GPs with mostly domestic competitors in front of cardboard cutouts. You do what you have to do.

 

[Rukia]

https://x.com/goldenskate/status/1746283832826065335?s=20
Interesting comments from Maddie’s coach Nancy Lemaire post free skate.

my eyes are about to roll right out my head like just admit you had a bad competition and vow to do better in the future and move on with your life

 

[Habs]

Maddie is certainly having some feelings up there on the podium.

 

[victorskid]

Two smiling medalists and one only smiling on special request for the photos.

And then the non-smiling one leads the group around the ice!

 

[Aceon6]

my eyes are about to roll right out my head like just admit you had a bad competition and vow to do better in the future and move on with your life

Yeah. I call bull hockey. When Wylie and Kerrigan were training with the Scotvolds, there would be fake championships from time to time with 0 spectators and for some miniscule reward. They’d skate lights out for whatever it was. It’s called preparation.

 

[Habs]

Paul Ayer coming out to congratulate Kaiya was the cutest thing.

 

[kylet3]

https://x.com/goldenskate/status/1746283832826065335?s=20
Interesting comments from Maddie’s coach Nancy Lemaire post free skate.

Those comments are... a choice. Maddie's comments I think reflect that she's upset, and yeah I get that, but her coach? That was utterly crass. I don't care if you're skating in an empty arena in Flin Flon, Manitoba, it doesn't matter where you are, we can argue about the business and marketing stuff about SC in due course, but these excuses are p*ss poor and not justifiable. Maddie didn't skate well, Kaiya did and she won. The end, move on.

 

[marbri]

Does Kaiya have a sister? Just after Ayer came to congratulate her there was a shot of a group of girls in the audience and one cute little face in the back that looked just like her.

 

[danafan]

Didn't Schizas win her first Canadian title with literally no audience due to covid rules? Those comments sure are...interesting.

 

[Flip Jump]

Does Kaiya have a sister? Just after Ayer came to congratulate her there was a shot of a group of girls in the audience and one cute little face in the back that looked just like her.

She has 3 sisters! They were all there hugging her with their mom! We got many views of them in the stands at jr worlds last year. They all look very similar.

 

[Habs]

Does Kaiya have a sister? Just after Ayer came to congratulate her there was a shot of a group of girls in the audience and one cute little face in the back that looked just like her.

More than one. And they all look alike!

 

[Desperado]

IIRC Madeline has a big university workload on top of skating. Sometimes a lot is too much. That’s a personal thing, projection amd/or transference never helps.

 

[Rukia]

IIRC Madeline has a big university workload on top of skating. Sometimes a lot is too much. That’s a personal thing, projection amd/or transference never helps.

But that's a valid reason. I mean if she said, "I've got a really heavy workload and just wasn't able to balance everything," then I'm sure a lot of people will relate and sympathize with her. idk I'd even have given her the benefit of the doubt with "it's just way too cold and I could never get as warm as I needed" and I'd just be like weather sucks and go watch the Canadian Chicken Farmers teach me how much people love them again. Almost anything would have been better than what they went with lol.

 

[Desperado]

But that's a valid reason. I mean if she said, "I've got a really heavy workload and just wasn't able to balance everything," then I'm sure a lot of people will relate and sympathize with her. idk I'd even have given her the benefit of the doubt with "it's just way too cold and I could never get as warm as I needed" and I'd just be like weather sucks and go watch the Canadian Chicken Farmers teach me how much people love them again. Almost anything would have been better than what they went with lol.

I’m not here to psychoanalize anyone, but high achievers often don’t realize they’re choices are wrong for them until they hit a big wall. Until then, any other excuse can work for them.

 

[Karen-W]

I see it both ways with Maddie's comments.

She's not wrong about the event - attendance is sad and pathetique. We've been griping about the lighting on TV because Skate Canada didn't want to pay for the correct and necessary TV lighting. There is no TV contract. Even doing all the correct training and preparation at home doesn't alter the fact that this very much feels like a half-assed effort by the federation.

But there also is no excuse for how she skated. She should have walked away with this title and she didn't. She was outscored and not in a good way. Disregarding the fact that this was a domestic event with typical over-scoring, Kaiya's score today would put her at #35 on the ISU SB list - not exactly resounding there. Maddie's SB is 9 points higher than what Kaiya delivered today and that was at SCI where she didn't even land on the podium. Maddie should have won and had a nice cushion going into the FS. It's good she acknowledged this but she probably needs to work a little on her sportsmanship during & after the victory ceremony because it wasn't a good look, especially combined with her remarks.

 

[Wyliefan]

Not to get too far off-topic, but I still don't understand what happened with the "no TV contract." I thought Canadian TV coverage of skating was usually stellar -- how did we get here? Is this being discussed somewhere on the board?

 

[Colonel Green]

Not to get too far off-topic, but I still don't understand what happened with the "no TV contract." I thought Canadian TV coverage of skating was usually stellar -- how did we get here? Is this being discussed somewhere on the board?

All the sports channels are downsizing coverage of niche sports. Especially CBC, which is more or less in perpetual budget crisis these days; they just had a bunch of layoffs.

 

[Wyliefan]

Oh, I had no idea!

 

[honey]

All the sports channels are downsizing coverage of niche sports. Especially CBC, which is more or less in perpetual budget crisis these days; they just had a bunch of layoffs.

Ted gave an interview (forget where now) where he said the streaming numbers were higher last year than the tv numbers were. So it was felt the better choice was to pursue streaming only.

I do find that the amateurish production that SC produces to be a draw back and I miss the CBC/CTV overall more professional product.

 

[fsfann]

I think platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime are really taking a toll on a number of sports. People clearly aren’t following FS like they used to. I remember it always being on tv (on one of the 25 channels we had). Now there are 400 channels, numerous platforms to stream shows etc. it’s sad.

And the turn out for this event is quite frankly pathetic. They should have had it at a small community arena with a 1,000 capacity if this is all they can get to turn out. A far cry from Nationals a few years ago. It’s just bizarre. Last nats for me was Saint John I think, or Vancouver…. Regardless they had a much better “vibe” than this. This time around it feels like you are at a practice rink watching run thoughs. The skaters deserve better .

 

[made_in_canada]

Ted gave an interview (forget where now) where he said the streaming numbers were higher last year than the tv numbers were. So it was felt the better choice was to pursue streaming only.

I do find that the amateurish production that SC produces to be a draw back and I miss the CBC/CTV overall more professional product.

Yeah, I get that streaming is probably the way forward, but my goodness the production values are horrid It feels like streaming was an afterthought.

 

[Habs]

Ted gave an interview (forget where now) where he said the streaming numbers were higher last year than the tv numbers were. So it was felt the better choice was to pursue streaming only.

I do find that the amateurish production that SC produces to be a draw back and I miss the CBC/CTV overall more professional product.

That’s exactly it. If streaming is the way they’re going, they should do it right. I appreciate that we get everything and it’s free. But throw some lights up and monitor your sound levels, Skate Canada.

 

[Wyliefan]

I get the advantages of streaming, but is there really no hope at all anymore of using TV to pull in new viewers and create fans? I know, easy for me to talk when I'm not in charge of the CBC's budget. I just have an uneasy feeling that this could come back to bite everyone.