2024–25 Canadian Women: News and Updates

Not to be forgotten but Ruiter had a great skate, finished 2nd in the free and has the worlds CTES now along with Medland-Spence (joining Dupuis, Shiryaeva and Schizas). Those five skaters plus Brezden, Landry and Miclette are also eligible for 4CC. Bring on nationals!!
 
danafan said:
Just to see how far she's come I searched for posts about Medland-Spence and found this one from the 2019 Quebec Summer Skate.


Now just over 5 years later she's a Challenger series gold medalist!
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It's completely bananas to think that she actually finished in next-to-last place at Challenge in 2020! Her improvement since then is astounding!
 
I found this article from November 6th about Breken Brezden's international debut in Nice last month.

wcmbnews.com

Brezden competes in her first international competition

Dauphin’s Breken Brezden recently skated in her first senior international competition in Nice, France. Brezden was one of two senior skaters representing Canada at the Challenger Series Trophy Metropole Nice Cote d’Azur, Oct. 16 to 20, where she finished 10th overall. She was 20th after the...
wcmbnews.com wcmbnews.com

(I searched and hadn't seen this posted).
 
The full live stream from today seems to be gone but they have uploaded individual programs:'

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
victorskid said:
An article about Katherine as she was about to head to Warsaw: https://ottawasportspages.ca/2024/1...for-first-international-assignment-in-europe/
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Thank you! An excerpt (eta that Ken & Danielle Rose coached Fiona Bombardier to her Senior national bronze 2 years ago before she switched to pairs):
Medland Spence, 24, fought through and escaped her troublesome season [2023-24] in part because she connected with Ken and Danielle Rose, who are coaches, directors and owners of the Richmond Training Centre in Richmond Hill, ON.
“I reached out to them. I needed something more added to my team,” said Medland Spence, who is only a handful of courses away from completing her BSc in chemistry at Carleton University.
“Skate Ontario thought Ken and Danielle would be a good fit. They have been nothing but positive and encouraging to allow me to build myself up. I was very aware of them as I have competed against their skaters. I knew they were very good people. Ron pulled me up.”
For the past year, she has been training with them in Richmond Hill or through virtual sessions, while she is on Nepean club ice. Physically and mentally healthy, Medland Spence is back in business meeting the high standards she has set for herself, achieving solid results and recently earning her first international assignment for a European competition.
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In case anyone may have missed seeing these 2 Katherine Medland Spence articles - also by Martin Cleary :) - from 2022 earlier in this thread:
Sylvia said:
Martin Cleary wrote 2 HIGH ACHIEVERS columns about Katherine back in 2022 - one before her Nationals debut at the age of 21:
ottawasportspages.ca

HIGH ACHIEVERS: Athlete-coach Katherine Medland-Spence ready for Canadian figure skating championship debut

Katherine Medland-Spence. Photo: Danielle Earl By Martin Cleary Katherine Medland-Spence has a unique perspective on competitive figure skating. As an elite athlete, she is less than a day away fro…
ottawasportspages.ca
And one after she placed 6th (her highest finish in her 3 Nationals so far):
ottawasportspages.ca

HIGH ACHIEVERS: Katherine Medland Spence makes bold statement in Canadian figure skating championship debut

By Martin Cleary Katherine Medland Spence returns to her part-time bio-chemistry studies at Carleton University on Monday, having learned a valuable lesson during her Christmas holiday break. This …
ottawasportspages.ca
Click to expand...
https://twitter.com/x/status/1860424705166987333
 
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Does anyone know the status of Lulu Lin? She's not on the start list for Challenge and doesn't meet the criteria for a bye.
 
Sylvia said:
Unfortunately both Lulu & Ksenia K. are injured :(, I’ve heard.
Click to expand...
almiranara said:
People have suspected something happened with Canadian Ice Academy skaters because a number of their skaters are not on the entry list for Challenge (Ksenia Krouzkevitch, Miriam Kleiman, etc)
Click to expand...
People have said two of their other skaters, Valeria and Megan, also pulled last minute. But only Valeria seems listed as withdrawn. So maybe people on site know about Megan's pull.

There have been rumours swirling for a long time within the skating community about the training environment at Toronto Lakeshore (previously CIA) but I hesitated to ever bring it up as I don't want to stir the pot. But their skaters do seem injured quite often, even looking at other Ontario competitions where their skaters have withdrawn or not entered.
 
Totally different tangent...

Does anyone know what happened to Michelle Lee in Jrs? She was doing very well through to Novice, even being sent out on international assignments. Then she disappeared for a few years. Came back last year in Jr and ended up making it onto this year's Nextgen team. But she hasn't competed since her appointment to the team, missing both October event and Sectionals which means not at Challenge either. Did she stop skating again?

I was rooting for her with such an incredible comeback after being away from competition for so long. She also has such a joy in her skating. Lia Cho reminds me of her when she was younger.
 
Yyzskater said:
People have said two of their other skaters, Valeria and Megan, also pulled last minute. But only Valeria seems listed as withdrawn. So maybe people on site know about Megan's pull.

There have been rumours swirling for a long time within the skating community about the training environment at Toronto Lakeshore (previously CIA) but I hesitated to ever bring it up as I don't want to stir the pot. But their skaters do seem injured quite often, even looking at other Ontario competitions where their skaters have withdrawn or not entered.
Click to expand...
Such as?
 
victorskid said:
Another article by Martin Cleary after Katherine Medland Spence's win at the Warsaw Cup: https://ottawasportspages.ca/2024/1...rnational-figure-skating-debut-at-warsaw-cup/
Click to expand...
Thank you! Kudos to Martin Cleary for writing about Katherine Medland Spence’s inspirational skating journey since early 2022. :)

Katherine’s post-Warsaw Cup posts+clips:
www.instagram.com

Katherine Medland Spence on Instagram: "2024 PGE Warsaw Cup ? A wonderful time at my first Challenger Series event. Really proud of the programs I performed and how I handled myself during this new experience. Thank you to Marie, Shirley, Patty, the

313 likes, 16 comments - skatingwithkatherine on November 26, 2024: "2024 PGE Warsaw Cup ? A wonderful time at my first Challenger Series event. Really proud of the programs I performed and how I handled myself during this new experience. Thank you to Marie, Shirley, Patty, the rest of team...
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
www.instagram.com

Katherine Medland Spence on Instagram: "highlights and bts of the Warsaw Cup ?? • • • • • #figureskating #skating #skatecanada #skateontario #nepeanskatingclub #richmondtrainingcentre #skatingwithkatherine #edeaskates #johnwilsonblades #competition #

38 likes, 2 comments - skatingwithkatherine on November 28, 2024: "highlights and bts of the Warsaw Cup ?? • • • • • #figureskating #skating #skatecanada #skateontario #nepeanskatingclub #richmondtrainingcentre #skatingwithkatherine #edeaskates #johnwilsonblades #competition #challenger #series...
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
 
Re-posting from the Challenge competition thread in the Kiss & Cry section yesterday:
Sylvia said:
Lia’s jumps [FS to Romeo & Juliet by Nino Rota, choreo. by Garrett Gosselin]: 3Lz+3T clean/good height, 3F, 2A, 3Lo, stag leap to half loop/1Eu into 3S, 3F+2T, 3Lz+2A+2T. Very Impressive for a 12-year-old - really looking forward to watching her progress! :)
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The rink announcer said that Lia Cho had set a new Canadian junior women's record - 186.50.

Lia's kiss & cry reaction to her FS (123.15) & total scores :) (sitting with junior Parker Heiderich & their coach, Scott Davis):
www.instagram.com

Skate Canada / Patinage Canada on Instagram: "Core memories in the making ?? ________________ Des souvenirs à jamais gravés dans notre mémoire ??"

1,971 likes, 18 comments - skate_canada on November 29, 2024: "Core memories in the making ?? ________________ Des souvenirs à jamais gravés dans notre mémoire ??".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
Sylvia said:
ADORABLE - Reese [Rose] & Mégane [Vallières] both lifted little Lia up when they were all standing on the top step so she could be taller! :lol:
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They're in Skate Canada's 2nd photo :): https://www.instagram.com/p/DC-t5lFR0ST/

Lia scored 63.35 in her SP - landed 2A, 3F & 3Lz+3T - to the Blue Danube waltz, choreo. by Jeff Langdon. Thanks to @danafan for the link to Lia Cho's ISU bio (due to her August birthday she won't be ISU Junior age-eligible until the fall of 2026): https://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00120295.htm

2024 CAN Junior silver medalist Aleksa Volkova is listed as WD in the updated Challenge Women's SP starting order earlier today.
 
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Relevant excerpt re: Breken Brezden from the latest Laurie Nealin Winnipeg Free Press article posted by @Skate Talker in the Kiss And Cry forum (email required to access full article): Manitoba quartet qualifies for skating championships
On Sunday, Brezden, 18, showed why she is now considered among Canada’s top senior women with a solid, fifth-best free skate performance that lifted her from eleventh place in the opening round to seventh overall on 154.79 points. B.C.’s Amy Shao Ning Yang claimed the gold medal with 170.02.

Had it not been for a misfire on her triple-triple jump combo that cost her about six points in the short program and a fall on her triple lutz in the long, Brezden could well have finished top-five here, if not on the podium.

“I did make a few mistakes still so there’s room to grow and improve for nationals. But, overall, I’m happy with how I was able to fight back,” Brezden said after Sunday’s finale.

“In my head, as soon as I made the first mistakes, I was like, ‘Okay. You can’t let go of any more points. You need to fight for every single thing moving forward.’
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In winning Challenge, Amy Shao Ning Yang defeated 1 of the 5 skaters with the world mins (Shiryaeva) and the other 4 did not compete. She also defeated all 3 of the women with the CTES for 4CC. I would love to see her with a shot at the 4cc mins at any international, if there even is something else between now and late January/early February when presumably entries would be set. Bavarian Open is Jan 27-Feb 2, which might be cutting it close and isn't even listed on the Skate Canada site as a potential competition, but is on the USFS site. Kara Yun would also be a worthwhile senior international entry, but at least she still has the potential to do Junior Worlds. Also worth considering are Anthony Paradis and Rio Morita in Men, who have not completed any senior international events and might be needed if 2 of the 4 big guys end up bombing or injured, which is always possible. The only senior man with 4CC mins besides those "big 4" is Matthew Newnham, so there is that...
 
haribobo said:
In winning Challenge, Amy Shao Ning Yang defeated 1 of the 5 skaters with the world mins (Shiryaeva) and the other 4 did not compete. She also defeated all 3 of the women with the CTES for 4CC. I would love to see her with a shot at the 4cc mins at any international, if there even is something else between now and late January/early February when presumably entries would be set. Bavarian Open is Jan 27-Feb 2, which might be cutting it close and isn't even listed on the Skate Canada site as a potential competition, but is on the USFS site. Kara Yun would also be a worthwhile senior international entry, but at least she still has the potential to do Junior Worlds. Also worth considering are Anthony Paradis and Rio Morita in Men, who have not completed any senior international events and might be needed if 2 of the 4 big guys end up bombing or injured, which is always possible. The only senior man with 4CC mins besides those "big 4" is Matthew Newnham, so there is that...
Click to expand...
Bavarian Open is too late for 4CCs. Startin lg this season, the deadline for CTES mins is 4 weeks ahead of the 1st day of the ISU Championship in question.
 
haribobo said:
In winning Challenge, Amy Shao Ning Yang defeated 1 of the 5 skaters with the world mins (Shiryaeva) and the other 4 did not compete. She also defeated all 3 of the women with the CTES for 4CC. I would love to see her with a shot at the 4cc mins at any international, if there even is something else between now and late January/early February when presumably entries would be set. Bavarian Open is Jan 27-Feb 2, which might be cutting it close and isn't even listed on the Skate Canada site as a potential competition, but is on the USFS site. Kara Yun would also be a worthwhile senior international entry, but at least she still has the potential to do Junior Worlds. Also worth considering are Anthony Paradis and Rio Morita in Men, who have not completed any senior international events and might be needed if 2 of the 4 big guys end up bombing or injured, which is always possible. The only senior man with 4CC mins besides those "big 4" is Matthew Newnham, so there is that...
Click to expand...
Bavarian open takes place January 20 to January 26, 2025. Not that it makes a difference.

Bavarian Open

Die Deutsche Eislauf-Union e.V. ist nationaler Spitzenverband für Eiskunstlaufen, Eistanz und Synchroneiskunstlaufen und einer von nur 7 olympischen Wintersportverbänden.
www.eislauf-union.de www.eislauf-union.de
 
haribobo said:
In winning Challenge, Amy Shao Ning Yang defeated 1 of the 5 skaters with the world mins (Shiryaeva) and the other 4 did not compete. She also defeated all 3 of the women with the CTES for 4CC. I would love to see her with a shot at the 4cc mins at any international, if there even is something else between now and late January/early February when presumably entries would be set. Bavarian Open is Jan 27-Feb 2, which might be cutting it close and isn't even listed on the Skate Canada site as a potential competition, but is on the USFS site. Kara Yun would also be a worthwhile senior international entry, but at least she still has the potential to do Junior Worlds. Also worth considering are Anthony Paradis and Rio Morita in Men, who have not completed any senior international events and might be needed if 2 of the 4 big guys end up bombing or injured, which is always possible. The only senior man with 4CC mins besides those "big 4" is Matthew Newnham, so there is that...
Click to expand...
Kara Yun isn’t senior eligible for 2 more seasons.
 
Skate Canada seems to be getting the corrupted Dailymotion video archives from Challenge sorted out, so I thought I would post 12 year old Lia Cho's remarkable FP here for anyone who wasn't able to catch the Junior Women's freeskate livestream last Friday (no annoying ads!!!): https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x99z1i4?start=12330

In all the years I've been watching Canadian women's skating, I've never seen anything quite like this from such a young skater. Obviously she has a great deal of natural jumping ability, but what’s most impressive is the maturity of her presentation and musical interpretation. It was a joy to be in the arena for the performance. :) Of course there is still much work to do (the lutz edge!), and she is going to grow as she reaches her teen years. Her mum was at the competition with her, and fortunately is quite a petite lady, although as we saw with Nam Nguyen, parental height doesn’t always always get passed down. And with 2 years to go before she can compete in junior international competition, Scott Davis is going to have his hands full keeping her challenged, motivated and injury free. Fingers crossed that everything works out for her!
 
SENIOR WOMEN NATIONAL SCORE AVERAGE (highest 2 comps or 1 if only 1 score)

Kaiya Ruiter 189
Madeline Schizas 173
Katherine Medland Spence 170
Sara Maude Dupuis 169
Breken Brezden 167
Uliana Shiryaeva 166
Fee Ann Landry 160
Amy Shao Ning Yang 159
Kara Yun 156
Hetty Shi 152
Marie Maude Pomerleau 152
Megan Woodley 151
Marie Raphaele Savoie 145
Justine Miclette 144
Marie France D'Amour 138
Grace Johnson 137
Justine Lussier 135
Uma Zagele 126

INTERNATIONAL SCORE AVERAGE
Madeline Schizas 185
Katherine Medland Spence 181
Uliana Shiryaeva 178
Fee Ann Landry 169
Sara Maude Dupuis 164
Kaiya Ruiter 163
Breken Brezden 150
Megan Woodley 148 (jr)
Kara Yun 143 (jr)
Hetty Shi 138 (jr)
 
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In a recent TSL with Duhamel/Lease I felt her comments were rather pointed about Madi and Trennt/Lia. She did comment on Madi only achieving level 2 with her footwork (I think twice) and the potential she saw in the pair that hasn't materialized. I felt she might be suggesting they mix it up - maybe a coaching/training location change. Any thoughts?
 
puglover said:
In a recent TSL with Duhamel/Lease I felt her comments were rather pointed about Madi and Trennt/Lia. She did comment on Madi only achieving level 2 with her footwork (I think twice) and the potential she saw in the pair that hasn't materialized. I felt she might be suggesting they mix it up - maybe a coaching/training location change. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
i'd be inclined to agree. they all have so much potential, but their stubbornness to stay with their coaching team(s) when they're not achieving improved results has led to that potential to not be realized.
 
puglover said:
In a recent TSL with Duhamel/Lease I felt her comments were rather pointed about Madi and Trennt/Lia. She did comment on Madi only achieving level 2 with her footwork (I think twice) and the potential she saw in the pair that hasn't materialized. I felt she might be suggesting they mix it up - maybe a coaching/training location change. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Just my opinion, but Schizas has needed alternative coaching for like three years now. Work had certainly been done on her skating skills and overall presentation, but she is still lagging behind. She’s tried different choreographers and this has helped to a degree, but something more is still needed for her to get to the next level. The short is a good step forward, but the long is more of the same. And what’s that saying? If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten…

She could very much benefit from the Tracy/Brian environment from my view. They are good finishers and packagers and she desperately needs that. She needs someone to pay attention to all of that day in and day out to really make a run at elevating the overall picture.

Of course none of that really matters without the jumps, and she’s also less consistent than she was earlier in her senior career. So there is that as well.

For Lia and Trennt, I think they too could benefit from other coaching. Who they would go to is a good question though. Would Bruno be able to take them on? He would be the logical choice. Getting them to move is another question. But they haven’t progressed technically, and are in most ways falling behind where they were in their first season. So, staying where they are is unlikely to change the course they are currently on.

They also need to work with someone new next year on the choreo, because what they have right now isn’t cutting it. I think they are far more capable skaters than what the programs they have are showing them to be. In a lot of ways, the work that needs done for them is much less than someone like Madeline Schizas. What they really need is a more skilled choreographer to play to their strengths and provide them with a solid piece of choreography.

But you can’t force people to leave if they don’t want to, and there are other factors at play I’m sure (school, financial etc).
 
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