Minto Skating Club -

2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships

Worlds took place March 11th through 17th at Budweiser Gardens with skaters representing 41 countries. Full results can be found here.

Canada's team took home medals in all three colours - gold for Patrick Chan; silver for Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir; & bronze for Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford. The overall team results means that Canada will have 3 men; 2 ladies; 3 pairs and 3 ice dance couples at the 2014 Olympics since the results of this championship helped determine the number of national competitors who will participate in Sochi, Russia.

Articles in the London newspaper can be found through links here.

2013 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships

The "World Juniors" are taking place in Milan, Italy from February 25th through March 3rd, 2013.   The schedule, entries and results are available here.  Canada is being represented by a team of nine entries (14 skaters). Read all about the team here.

CBC will be providing TV and streaming coverage on March 2nd and 3rd - check their schedule.

2013 ISU Four Continents Championships

The second of the two annual "regional" championships that occur each year before the World Championships has begun in Osaka, Japan. The skaters represent ISU member countries on four continents outside of Europe - the Americas, Asia and Australia. Occasionally they are also joined by skaters from Africa and this year that means the Republic of South Africa. 

The competition takes place from February 8th through 11th and the schedule, entries, and results can be found here.

Canada is being represented by a full team of 3 entries in each discipline: Elladj Balde; Kevin Reynolds; Andrei Rogozine; Amelie Lacoste; Kaetlyn Osmond; Julianne Seguin; Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford; Paige Lawrence & Rudy Swiegers; Kristen Moore-Towers & Dylan Moscovitch; Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier; Nicole Orford & Thomas Williams; and Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir.

Television coverage on CBC is delayed for a couple of weeks (until Feb. 23/24) - check your local listings.

ISU European Championships 2013

This season's Europeans are taking place in Zagreb, Croatia from January 23rd through 27th.  The entries, schedule and results can be found here.

Injuries/illnesses caused several high profile withdrawals leading up to the championships and weather conditions in Europe delayed the arrival of a number of participants &/or their luggage. 

2012/13 ISU Grand Prix Final

The top six qualifiers in each of the disciplines from the Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix were in Sochi, Russia to compete in the finale of this year's series. The event was held in the "Iceberg Skating Palace" which will be the site for the skating events in the 2014 Winter Olympics. The competition ran from December 5th through 9th, beginning with the junior short programs. 

Canada had four entries in the Grand Prix final - Patrick Chan (who took the bronze medal in the Men's competition); Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (who brought home the silver in Ice Dance); Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford; and Kirsten Moore-Towers & Dylan Moscovitch (who were 4th & 5th respectively in Pairs). In the junior event, Canada had two entries, both in pairs - Brittany Jones & Ian Beharry; Margaret Purdy & Michael Marinaro who placed 6th and 4th respectively. Full results and detailed protocols can be found here.

Television and online coverage in Canada was provided by CBC and some videos may be archived on their website. As was the case during the earlier Junior Grand Prix events, the International Skating Union posted videos of individual competitors in the Junior Grand Prix final on their YouTube channel. There are playlists for each discipline.

ISU Grand Prix 2012/13

The annual series of GP events for this year included:

• 19 - 21 Oct 2012 -  Hilton HHonors Skate America -  Kent/Seattle, WA, USA - Results (including detailed protocols). Canada was represented by Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje who won a bronze medal in ice dance.

• 26 - 28 Oct 2012 - Skate Canada International -  Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The results (including detailed protocols) are here. There were many more Canadian skaters than competed at the first event and they won two gold medals and two silver medals. Congratulations!

• 2 - 4 Nov 2012 - Cup of China -  Shanghai, China. Results and detailed protocols. Canada was represented in all four disciplines with Weaver & Poje earning their second bronze medal of the series.

• 9 - 11 Nov 2012 - Rostelecom Cup 2012 -  Moscow, Russia. Results & detailed protocols are here. Canada's team of seven skaters competed in mens (Chan), pairs (Lawrence & Swiegers) and ice dance (Virtue & Moir; Orford & Williams). Patrick Chan and Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir won gold medals, the first for Canadian skaters at this event, and earned spots in the Grand Prix Final.

• 16 - 18 Nov 2012 - Trophée Eric Bompard -  Paris, France. Results & detailed protocols are now available. Canada was represented in pairs (Duhamel & Radford) and ice dance (Gilles & Poirier) with Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford bringing home a silver medal and qualifying for the Grand Prix Final.

• 23 - 25 Nov  2012 - NHK Trophy -  Miyagi, Japan. Results (including detailed protocols) produced the final entries for the Grand Prix Final. The Canadian team included six skaters in three disciplines - men (Reynolds & Rogozine); pairs (Moore-Towers/Moscovitch) and ice dance (Orford/Williams). Moore-Towers & Moscovitch brought home a silver medal and qualified for the Grand Prix Final.

• 6 - 9 Dec 2012 - Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (Combined Juniors and Seniors) -  Sochi, Russia. Those officially qualified, the alternates, and the remainder of final standings in each of the four disciplines can be viewed by clicking on the links here.

Check the ISU press release about the GP series for this season for information about the prize money, points, etc.

One weekend - Two International Senior Competitions; Two Open Competitions

In addition to a Junior Grand Prix event taking place in Zagreb, Croatia, the weekend of October 3-7, 2012 had two senior events taking place in which Canadian participation was planned.

The Finlandia Trophy 2012 was to have had defending champions Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir take to the ice for their first competition of the season.  It was announced on October 4th, however, that they had withdrawn as Scott had an injury. They were the only Canadian entries. The results (included detailed protocols) are here.

The participants in the 20th Ondrej Nepala Memorial in Bratislava included Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje plus Kevin Reynolds. Kaitlyn & Andrew brought home a gold medal.  The full results are here.

In addition to these competitions, there were two "open" competitions which took place in Japan involving currently eligible skaters plus those who are currently skating professionally. The first was the inaugural Medal Winners Open event with six single skaters representing Japan, North American and Europe. Jeffrey Buttle from Canada placed first among the men followed by Kurt Browning and Ilia Kulik. Kurt performed an updated version of "Singing in the rain". In the ladies event the top three were Shizuka Arikawa, Joannie Rochette and Irena Slutskaya. The full results are here. Judging was done by a version of the current ISU Code of Points. On the following day the Japan Open 2012 event took place. Jeffrey Buttle competed again and placed third. The full results are here.

Cynthia Phaneuf Retires

Two-time Canadian Champion and 2010 Olympian Cynthia Phaneuf announced her retirement from competitive skating at a press conference in Montreal on Sept. 26, 2012.  Her contributions to the sport were acknowledged by Skate Canada President Benoit Lavoie and Skate Canada High Performance Director Michael Slipchuk. To read more, go to this article on the Skate Canada website.

Nebelhorn Trophy 2012

This annual senior competition took place in Oberstdorf, Germany from Sept. 26-29, 2012.  As a "senior B" event recognized by the ISU, it provided an opportunity for the competitors to earn scores that could qualify them for entry into ISU championship events such as Four Continents, Europeans and Worlds.  Several Canadian skaters competed: Kaetyln Osmond, Elladj Balde; Andrei Rogozine; Alexandra Paul & Mitchell Islam; and Kharis Ralph & Asher Hill.

Congratulations to Kaetlyn who brought home a gold medal, Canada's only medal at this event. The full results and detailed protocols are available at this link.

2012 US International Figure Skating Classic

This inaugural event was held in Salt Lake City, Utah from Sept. 13th through 16th. As an ISU-sanctioned "B" event, it provided an opportunity for competitors to achieve the necessary minimum scores for entry in this season's ISU championships, including Worlds, Europeans and Four Continents.

Skate Canada sent a team consisting of two men, one lady, two pairs, and two ice dance couples. The results for the Canadian team included two gold medals, two silver medals, and a bronze medal. Read more about the results in the news section on the Skate Canada website.

ISU Junior Grand Prix 2012/13

The seven events of this season's Junior Grand Prix run from August through October with the final (championship) taking place in conjunction with that of the senior Grand Prix in December. A full announcement of the rules, procedures, prize structure, etc. is available on the ISU website as a .pdf document.

Video of the events will be available on the ISU JGP YouTube channel. When no events are taking place, archived videos are available for viewing.

Here are the dates & locations with links to the ISU site where entries in each event are/will be posted as well as to start orders/results as they become available:

• Courcheval, France - 22 - 26 August - results (including detailed protocols)
• Lake Placid, USA - 29 August - 2 September - results (including detailed protocols). Congratulations to the Canadian team members on their three medals at this event.
• Linz, Austria - 12 - 16 September - results (including detailed protocols). One of the Canadian pairs brought home a gold medal while the ice dance couple brought home a bronze.
• Istanbul, Turkey - 19 - 23 September - results (including detailed protocols; there were no pairs). Canada was represented by a man and an ice dance team and they each won bronze medals.
• Bled, Slovenia - 26 - 30 September - results (including detailed protocols; there were no pairs). Canada was being represented by 1 lady; 1 man; and 2 ice dance couples. One of the dance couples brought home a bronze medal.
• Zagreb, Croatia - 3 - 7 October - results (including detailed protocols). Canada's team included 1 man, 1 lady, 3 pairs, and 2 ice dance couples. One of the Canadian pairs won their second gold medal of the series, qualifying for the JGP Final in Russia in December.
• Chemnitz, Germany - 10 - 14 October - results (including detailed protocols). There were 12 Canadian skaters entered - 1 man; 1 lady; 3 pairs and 2 dance couples. One pair brought home a bronze medal and qualification to the Grand Prix Final.
• Junior Grand Prix Final - Sochi, Russia - 6 - 9 December - the qualified entries, determined by the results of the JGP events, include two Canadian pairs [For those who have qualified and the official substitutes, follow the standings in each of the four disciplines by clicking on the relevant links on the ISU website.]

Note: As mentioned above, the ISU has made video of the JGP events available online as they did last season.

Rochette ponders return to Olympics

Joannie Rochette has not yet "shut the door" on returning to competition in time for the 2014 Olympics  in Sochi, Russia. She has some plans for assessing that possibility over the coming months.

Read more in the Winnipeg Free Press article.

Watch the World Team Trophy video online

Check it out on the ISU Skating Channel for free. For those who didn't get up in the middle of the night to watch the competition live, the video is now all archived, including the gala.

Here's the link for the full list of entries per discipline, schedule, results, detailed protocols, and team standings.

World Team Trophy (WTT) 2012

This event took place in Tokyo, Japan from April 19-22. Teams representing the top six countries, based on ISU rankings (post 2012 Worlds), participated. The countries, in order of their qualifying points for the competition, were:

• Japan
• Canada
• Russia
• USA
• Italy
• France

Each team had eight members - a dance couple, a pair team, two men, and two ladies. Team Japan, the "home team" and winners of the gold medal, consisted of Kathy & Chris Reed; Narumi Takahashi & Mervin Tran; Daisuke Takahashi & Takahiko Kozuka; Akiko Suzuki & Kanako Murikami. Team Canada, winners of the bronze medal, consisted of Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir; Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford; Patrick Chan & Kevin Reynolds; Amelie Lacoste & Cynthia Phaneuf. The silver medal was won by Team USA.

This event, the second to take place, had significant prize money as detailed in the downloadable ISU competition announcement. It served as a precursor for the newly announced team event which will be part of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The same IceNetwork article describing Team Canada (above) has additional details.

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2012

This year's World Championships took place in Nice, France - the competition ran from March 26th through 31st with the Gala on April 1st. Visit the official website or the site for the schedule/entries/results - the latter has links for the detailed judging protocols in each portion of the competition, including the preliminaries where those who were not direct entries had to compete for the right to perform their short program.

The Canadian team included 13 skaters with three entries in ice dance, two in mens and pairs, and one in ladies. Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir were successful in regaining their World Champion status, winning the gold medal over their training mates from the USA who were the 2011 champions. Patrick Chan successfully defended his 2011 championship title, winning the gold medal over former World Champion, Daisuke Takahashi of Japan.

TV and live streaming coverage in Canada was provided by CBC beginning on March 27th with a show about the preliminary rounds  and concluding with the gala on April 1st - check their schedule for the main network, for CBCsports.ca, and for Bold here.

International Challenge Cup 2012

In the Hague, Netherlands from March 8-11, skaters competed in "Ladies, Men, Pairs, Senior, Junior, Novice, Debs" with those in Junior and Senior acquiring world ranking points. There were several prominent senior skaters participating in a warm-up to the World Championships coming up in Nice, France at the end of the month. All participants are listed here. Canada was represented by a junior lady, Gabrielle Daleman, and a novice man, Roman Sadovsky.

The schedule and results link is where detailed protocols are posted.

Congratulations to the two Canadian medallists: Gabrielle Daleman who placed third in the short program, second in the free program, and brought home a silver medal in juniors; Roman Sadovsky who placed first in both the short and free programs to bring home a gold medal in novice.

A YouTube channel was set up and videos of senior short programs and all free skates was to be uploaded.

ISU World Junior Championships 2012

This competition took place in Minsk, Belarus from February 27th through March 4th. The results and detailed protocols are  available online beginning with the preliminary rounds. Canada had entries in all four disciplines - read all about our team here.

CBC has posted articles about the pairs and ice dance results with a focus on the Canadian couples. A Canadian Press article about this event with quotes from several Canadian competitors was printed by the Winnipeg Free Press.

CBC provided coverage of the free programs on the main network on March 3rd & 4th with streaming on cbcsports.ca and delayed coverage on Bold and Vision. The schedule is available here.

ISU Four Continents Championships 2012

From Feb. 7th to 12th this event took place in Colorado Springs, USA. There was competition in all four disciplines with participants in at least one discipline from the following ISU member countries: Australia; Brazil; Canada; China; Chinese Taipei; Hong Kong; Japan; Kazakhstan; Mexico; the Philippines; Puerto Rico; the Republic of Korea; the Republic of South Africa; Singapore; Thailand; the United States of America; and Uzbekistan.

The Canadian team brought home three medals - a gold for Patrick Chan; a gold for Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir; and a bronze for Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje. After the ladies competition, Skate Canada announced that Amelie Lacoste would represent Canada at the 2012 World Championships in Nice, France.

The full results and detailed protocols are now available.

Delayed TV and internet coverage in Canada was scheduled on CBC and CBCSports.ca with repeat broadcasts on Bold & Vision TV. Unexpectedly, Radio-Canada Sports provided live streaming of the full competition.

Skate Canada names teams for ISU Championships

After completion of the 2012 Canadian Championships in Moncton, NB, the teams for the ISU Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs, USA (February 6-12); the ISU World Championships in Nice, France (March 26 - April 1); and the ISU Junior World Championships in Minsk, Belarus (Feb. 27 - March 4) have been named.

The single exception was the identification of the woman to represent Canada in Nice - that decision was made after the Four Continents Championship when Amelie Lacoste was named to the team for Worlds.

2012 ISU European Championships - 23-29 January

This year's event took place in Sheffield, England and saw the return to ISU competition of Evgeni Plushenko who was successful in winning a historic seventh European championship. All the placements, scores, and detailed protocols for the competitors at Europeans are available on the results page.

After his win, Evgeni confirmed that he would not compete at the 2012 ISU World Championships because of the need to have surgery for an injured leg. He intends to return to international competition in 2013.

2012 US Nationals - 22-29 January

The event in San Jose, California included novice, junior and championship (senior) skaters in all four disciplines. Check all the results online.  In the senior events, only the 2011 ice dance champions, Meryl Davis & Charlie White, were able to defend their title; Jeremy Abbott regained the title he failed to defend in 2011; Ashley Wagner won her first title; and John Coughlin returned as pairs champion but with a new partner, Caydee Denny.

Following the competition the USFS named its teams for upcoming 2012 ISU competions including the Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs, Worlds in Nice, France, and Junior Worlds in Minsk, Belarus.

News from Japanese & Russian nationals

The annual national competitions in Japan and Russia have now been completed - results have posted and articles have appeared in the press.

The Japanese teams for Worlds and Four Continents have been announced and each will include this year's gold medalists Mao Asada (Ladies), Daisuke Takahashi (Men), and Narumi Takahashi & Mevin Tran (Pairs) as well as Cathy & Chris Reed (Ice Dance) who did not compete.

Evgeni Plushenko claimed his 9th Russian championship but may not be part of the Russian team at Worlds. The gold medalist in ladies, Adeline Sotnikov, is not yet age eligible for senior Worlds, having turned 15 on July 1, 2011 rather than before that date. The Russian team for 2012 Worlds in Nice has not yet been announced.

ISU 2011/2012 Grand Prix Final completed

Once this season's Grand Prix series (both senior and junior) were completed, the competitors and alternates for the Grand Prix Final in Quebec City (Dec. 8-11) were determined. Those who competed in the senior event were:

• Men - Patrick Chan (CAN); Daisuke Takahashi (JPN); Jeremy Abbott (USA); Michal Brezina (CZE); Javier Fernandez (ESP); & Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN).
• Ladies - Elizaveta Tuktamisheva (RUS); Carolina Kostner (ITA); Akiko Suzuki (JPN); Alissa Czisny (USA); & Alena Leonova (RUS). Unfortunately, Mao Asada (JPN) withdrew before the short program to return to Japan because of her mother's fatal illness.
• Pairs - Volosozhar & Trankov (RUS); Savchenko & Szolkowy (GER); Kavaguti & Smirnov (RUS); Zhang & Zhang (CHN); Takahashi & Tran (JPN); & Duhamel & Radford (CAN).
• Ice Dance - Davis & White (USA); Virtue & Moir (CAN); Shibutani & Shibutani (USA); Bobrova & Soloviev (RUS); Pechalat & Bourzat (FRA); Weaver & Poje (CAN).

Detailed results and protocols for both the Junior and Senior events.

Congratulations to Canadian medalists Patrick Chan (gold); Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (silver); and Katherine Bobak & Ian Beharry (bronze in junior pairs).

Full details of the points earned by all competitors in each discipline of the GP series can be found on the ISU site as well as for those in all disciplines in the Junior GP series.

ISU 2011 Grand Prix

This series of 6 events determined the qualifiers to participate in the Grand Prix Final in Quebec City (8-11 December 2011):

• 2011 Hilton HHonors Skate America, Ontario, CA, USA (21 - 23 Oct.) - Detailed results. Canada's team competed in pairs and ice dance. Kristin Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch brought home a bronze medal after finishing 2nd in the pairs free skate.
• Skate Canada International, Mississauga, ON (28 - 30 Oct.) - Detailed results. Preview article with focus on the CDN team. Congratulations to the CDN team members who received 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal.
• Cup of China, Shanghai, China (4 - 6 Nov.) - Detailed results. Canada's team consisted of 2 pairs and 1 man. Brian Joubert (FRA) & Jinlin Guan (CHN) were late withdrawals, leaving a field of only 8 men. Congratulations to Kristin Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch for their second bronze medal of the GP series.
• NHK Trophy, Sapporo, Japan (11 - 13 Nov.) - Detailed results. Canada's team competed in ladies, pairs & ice dance. In the latter, Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje won their 2nd silver medal of the series, missing out on gold by less than a 1/4 of a point. Alexandra Paul & Mitchell Islam were forced to withdraw before the free dance when she cut her posterior thigh after a collision during practice.
• Trophée Eric Bompard, Paris, France (18 - 20 Nov.) -  Detailed results. Canada's team consisted of 2 men, 2 pairs, and an ice dance couple and brought home 2 gold & 1 bronze medal. Brian Joubert (FRA) was a late withdrawal from the event and was replaced by his countryman, Romain Ponsart. Kevin Reynolds withdrew during the event, after the warmup for the free skate.
• Rostelecom Cup, Moscow, Russia (25 - 27 Nov.) - Detailed results. Canada's team competed in all four disciplines in this final event and Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje brought home a silver medal in ice dance.

Those qualifying for the Grand Prix Final and the alternates in each discipline can be found on the ISU site.

2011/12 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final - Qualifiers Determined

All of the events in this season have now been completed and the qualifiers (and alternates) for the JGP final in Quebec City have been identified. Canada has only one entry, the pair team of Bobak & Beharry who won a silver and a gold medal in their first season competing together. Skate Canada has posted an article about the competition.

All the qualifiers and alternates are identified in the links below along with the full results of the season in each discipline.

• Junior Men
• Junior Ladies
• Junior Pairs
• Junior Ice Dance

Virtue & Moir 2011/2012 debut

Vantaa, Finland was the location where Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir debuted their new programs for this season at the 2011 Finlandia Trophy, a senior international event for men, ladies & ice dancers.  They were Canada's only entries in this event which took place October 7-9, 2011. As might be expected, Tessa & Scott won the gold medal by a significant margin, followed by two American couples who also train in Canton, MI - Maia & Alex Shibutani and the new team of Madison Chock & Evan Bates.  Detailed results.

Nebelhorn Trophy 2011

This annual international senior competition took place in Oberstdorf, Germany Sept. 21-24, 2011 - 31 nations were represented. Results from this competition can be used for qualifying to gain entry into ISU events. Skate Canada sent seven entries - 2 men, 1 lady, 2 pairs and 2 ice dance couples. One of our dance couples, Kharis Ralph & Asher Hill brought home a bronze medal. Detailed results.

New International Skating Union online resources

The ISU is now on Facebook & YouTube. The YouTube channel is for the 2011/12 Junior Grand Prix - check it out to see videos of individual competitive performances in each of the Junior Grand Prix events as they take place or after the events.

2011/12 ISU Junior Grand Prix

This season's Junior Grand Prix is now underway and the ISU has set up a YouTube channel to broadcast videos after each skating performance. It is not live but videos are uploaded very quickly.

There are seven events this season:

• Riga, Latvia (31 August - 4 September). Canada was represented by a junior man, a pairs team, and a dance couple and they brought home a bronze medal in pairs. Detailed results (all four disciplines).
• Brisbane, Australia (7 - 11 September). Canada's team was one junior man, one junior lady, and an ice dance couple and they brought home a bronze medal (men) and a gold medal (dance). Detailed results (men, ladies and ice dance).
• Gdansk, Poland (14 - 18 September). Detailed results. Canada had representatives in all four disciplines and they brought home a silver medal in pairs with all of the other competitors finishing within the top 10 in their discipline.
• Brasov, Romania (21 - 25 September). Detailed results. Canadian team included 2 men and 2 ice dance couples - one of the former, Nam Nguyen and one of the latter, Mackenzie Bent & Garrett MacKeen each came home with a bronze medal.
• Innsbruck, Austria (18 September - 2 October). Detailed results.  Canada's team.
• Milano, Italy (5 - 9 October). Detailed results for men, ladies and ice dance. The best finish for Canada's team was a fifth place in ice dance.
• Tallinn, Estonia (12 - 16 October). Detailed results for the 4 disciplines. Canada's team competed in men's, pairs & ice dance and the team of Bobak & Beharry came home with a gold medal in pairs, qualifying them for the Grand Prix Final.

The Junior Grand Prix final will take place in Quebec City (in combination with the senior Grand Prix final) from December 6 - 9, 2011. The standings, by discipline, are available on the ISU site.

2011/12 program information from Canton teams

Information on the music choices for several dance teams training in Canton, MI, including Canada's Virtue and Moir, is revealed in this IceNetwork article.

Indy Challenge 2011

This annual event in Indianapolis features pair skating with senior, junior and novice participants from Canada and the USA. Kirstin Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch were scheduled to compete but withdrew due to his strained Achilles tendon. Ice Network articles detail the short and free results in the Senior event as well as the short and free results in the Junior event. Congratulations to the CDN team of Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers who placed 2nd in both parts of the senior event and to the new CDN team of Katherine Bobak & Ian Beharry who were 3rd in the junior short and first in the free. Another new team, Caydee Denny & John Coughlin of the USA, won both the senior short and free.

Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships 2011

The annual Lake Placid ice dance competition took place July 27-30, the same weekend as Minto Summer Skate 2011. Several Canadian teams actually participated in both events., including two senior teams from British Columbia. Results are available from the event site.

New CDN ice dance team

Paul Poirier, whose 10 year partnership with Vanessa Crone ended earlier in the off-season, has a new partner who has moved to Canada from the USA - Piper Gilles. The couple will be eligible to compete for Canada internationally in 2012 and will make their debut at the Canadian championships in Moncton, NB in January 2012.

Piper and Paul were spotted at Minto Summer Skate 2011 cheering on their training mates from the Scarboro Figure Skating Club.

More on the 2011/2012 ISU Grand Prix

The dates and locations of the six Grand Prix events were announced earlier and appear in an item lower down on this page. The ISU has now released more information including some changes in the series for this year. The changes include a reduction in the number of competitors per event to 10 ladies, 10 men, 8 pairs and 8 ice dance couples. At the end of the series, the top 6 qualifiers in each discipline will proceed to the Grand Prix Final in Quebec City in December.

Seeded skaters (those who placed in the top six at Worlds 2011) are assigned to two GP events. They also have the opportunity to compete in a third event, where they will be eligible to win prize money and earn a bonus of US$10,000. For the seeded entries, the skater/couple’s best two out of three events will collect points towards the qualification for the GPF. Skaters/couples who placed 7-12 at Worlds 2011 are selected for two GP events, and skaters with a high seasons best score as well as those placed in the top of the World Standings can also be invited. This season, in order for a skater/couple to be eligible to compete at a Grand Prix event, a minimum score must be achieved.

The current list of entries in each discipline has been posted on the ISU site. There are still some places "to be announced", generally these are places to be filled by the host country. For the Skate Canada International event, Skate Canada has announced the remaining members of the team.

ISU International Adult Figure Skating Competition 2011

This event took place in Oberstdorf, Germany from June 8 - 11, 2011 and the schedule is available. Skate Canada posted a list of the Canadian entries - the full list of entries included 1989 World Champion & 1992 Olympic silver medalist Midori Ito of Japan. She was defeated by Jan Calnan in the Masters Elite II Free Skate. All the competition results are now available.

Congratulations to all the participants, but especially those who skate/have skated at Minto!

2012 Canadian Canadian Figure Skating Championships

It has been announced by Skate Canada that the 2012 national championships will take place in Moncton, New Brunswick from January 16-22, 2012. The event will be held in the Moncton Coliseum Complex and will include novice, junior and senior category events.

All event ticket packages will go on sale in September 2011.

Some "off season" skating news

On June 2nd, 2011 Vanessa Crone & Paul Poirier surprised many with the announcement via Skate Canada of the end of their 10 year ice dance partnership. They were part of Canada's team at 2010 Olympics and, as national champions, represented Canada at the 2011 World Championships. The latest news is that they are each hoping to continue competing, just with different partners.

Joey Russell, who represented Canada at the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships, announced his retirement from competitive skating. A thank you message from Joey was posted on the Skate Canada Newfoundland and Labrador section website. According to the CBC News, Joey will be spending several months performing on cruise ships with his first gig on the Freedom of the Seas according to an Ice Network article.

Two Japanese skating champions are recovering from recent knee surgery but both Daisuke Takahashi and Nobunari Oda are planning to compete next season according to a Universal Sports article.

In the USA there have been some developments in pairs:

• Caitlin Yankowskas & John Coughlin announced the end of their partnership shortly after their best-ever international placement - finishing 6th at the 2011 World Championships
• Caydee Denney and John Coughlin announced their partnership; Caydee's partnership with with Jeremy Barrett ended before the 2011 World Championships.
• Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig committed to skate for another season

Also in the USA, Ryan Bradley, the 2011 champion, announced his retirement from competitive skating and ice dancers Madison Chock & Greg Zuerlein announced the end of their partnership as did Emily Samuelson & Evan Bates. Chock and Bates have formed a new ice dance team according to a sidebar to this article about Adam Rippon's move from Toronto to Detroit. Earlier the US's Hubbell brother and sister ice dance team also announced an end to their competitive partnership and Madison Hubbell has reteamed with Zach Donohue, making a debut at the Lake Placid dance event. In late August the latest new US dance partnership was announced - Emily Samuelson and Todd Gilles. At the time of their announcement their arrangements for coaching had not yet been determined.

ISU competition schedule 2011/2012

An official announcement from the ISU details the full schedule of its recognized international skating competitions for the 2011/2012 season. The details of the two grand prix series have been reproduced in separate articles below.

The four championship events this season will be:

• ISU European Figure Skating Championships - Jan. 23 - 29, 2012 - Sheffield, England
• ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships - Feb. 7 - 12, 2012 - Colorado Springs, USA
• ISU Junior World Figure Skating Championships - Feb. 27 - March 4, 2012 - Minsk, Belarus
• ISU World Figure Skating Championships - March 26 - April 1, 2012 - Nice, France

Of note in the early announcement of the schedule was the addition of Summer Skate in Thornhill, Ontario as an international qualifying event in both juniors and seniors. However, on June 30th Skate Canada announced that the Thornhill senior international event had been cancelled.

ISU Grand Prix 2011/2012

The ISU has officially announced the dates and locations of the six events in the Grand Prix for next season:

• Oct. 21 - 23 - Skate America - Ontario, California
• Oct 27 - 30 - Skate Canada International - Mississauga, Ontario
• Nov. 4 - 6 - Cup of China - Shanghai, China
• Nov. 11 - 13 - NHK Trophy - Sapporo, Japan
• Nov. 18 - 20 - Trophée Eric Bompard - Paris, France
• Nov. 25 - 27 - Cup of Russia - Moscow, Russia

The culmination of the series will be the Grand Prix Final which will take place in Quebec City on December 8 - 11th in conjunction with the final for the junior series.

ISU Junior Grand Prix - 2011/2012

The ISU has officially announced the dates and locations of the seven events in the Junior Grand Prix for next season:

• Aug. 31 - Sept. 4, 2011 - Riga, Latvia
• Sept. 7 - 11 - Brisbane, Australia (no pairs)
• Sept. 14 - 18 - Gdansk, Poland
• Sept. 21 - 25 - Brasov, Romania (no pairs)
• Sept. 28 - Oct. 2 - Innsbruck, Austria
• Oct. 5 - 9 - Milano, Italy (no pairs)
• Oct. 12 - 16 - Tallinn, Estonia

The culmination of the junior series will be the Junior Grand Prix Final which will take place in Quebec City on Dec. 8-11th in conjunction with the final for the senior series.

ISU 2011 World Championships - Moscow, Russia

A little more than one month late, due to the disastrous series of events in Japan, the rescheduled and relocated 2011 World Figure Skating Championships took place in Moscow, Russia from April 24-May 1st. The competition schedule, entries & results, including full protocols, are available here. Canadian TV & live online coverage began on April 27th and concludes with the gala on May 1st. The preliminary (qualifying) rounds took place on April 25th & 26th and were not available for viewing. In these rounds for men and ladies, a free skate was performed and the top 12 moved into the main competition while in ice dance, after a free dance, the top 10 moved forward. There was no preliminary round required in pairs.

The Canadian team at the 2011 World Championships which brought home a gold medal (in the men's event) and a silver medal (in the dance event) was composed of:

Pair
Kirsten Moore-Towers, 18, St. Catharines, Ont. / Dylan Moscovitch, 26, Toronto, Ont.
Meagan Duhamel, 25, Lively, Ont. / Eric Radford, 25, Balmerton, Ont.
Ladies
Cynthia Phaneuf, 23, Contrecoeur, Que.
Myriane Samson, 22, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. - replaced by Amelie Lacoste [participated in the preliminary round placing 5th & moving on to the short program]
Men
Patrick Chan, 20, Toronto, Ont.
Shawn Sawyer, 26, Edmundston, N.B. - replaced by Kevin Reynolds
Joey Russell, 22, Labrador City, Nfld. [participated in the preliminary round placing 7th & moving on to the short program]
Ice Dance
Tessa Virtue, 21, London, Ont. / Scott Moir, 23, Ilderton, Ont.
Vanessa Crone, 20, North York, Ont. / Paul Poirier, 19, Unionville, Ont.
Kaitlyn Weaver, 21, Waterloo, Ont. – Houston, TX / Andrew Poje, 23, Waterloo, Ont. [participated in the preliminary round placing 1st and moving on to the short program]

Retirements & other announcements

As the 2010-2011 season was moving toward its culmination with the rescheduled and relocated World Championships, several important announcements were made:

• Jessica Dubé & Bryce Davison announced the dissolution of their successful nine-year partnership with Jessica making plans to continue the singles career to which she returned at the 2011 Canadian championships. Bryce was continuing his rehabilitation following the injury and surgery that kept him out of competition this season. Both skaters expressed an interest in returning to pairs competition in the future, should the right partner be found. Jessica & Bryce paid special thanks to all those who had helped and supported them throughout their career together.
• Mylène Brodeur & John Mattatall announced their retirement from amateur skating after a five-year partnership. Both skaters plan to return to full-time education with John continuing to coach.
• Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett announced the dissolution of their three-year partnership which took them to the 2010 Olympic games. The team was forced to withdraw from the 2011 Four Continents competition due to an extensive cut to Jeremy's leg suffered in training. Caydee intends to continue competing in pairs while Jeremy plans to coach and appear in skatiing shows.
• Federica Faiella & Massimo Scali announced their retirement after a successful career representing Italy in ice dance at three Olympic Games, finishing in fifth place at the 2010 Olympics. Federica is embarking on a career outside skating while Massimo will work as part of the Camerlengo-Krylova team in Detroit.
• On March 29th, John Kerr posted on his Facebook page that he and his sister Sinead had withdrawn from the World Championships. He said that Sinead had reinjured her shoulder in a training accident earlier in the month and would undergo surgery on March 30th. Recovery is expected to take approximately 2 months. A similar message was added to the News on their website while a news article the following day announced their retirement from competition.
• On the same day, Skate Canada announced some changes in the Canadian team heading to Moscow with Shawn Sawyer being replaced by Kevin Reynolds & Myriane Samson being replaced by Amelie Lacoste.

ISU 2011 World Figure Skating Championships - relocated to Moscow & rescheduled

This year's championship event was scheduled to take place in Tokyo, Japan from March 21st-27th but it was announced by the ISU on March 14th that, in light of the current situation in Japan, the event would not take place on those dates. Postponement or cancellation were still being evaluated at the time of that announcement, awaiting further input from the Japanese federation. See also note below. On March 21st the ISU announced that the 2011 Worlds would not take place in Japan but that they would be evaluating alternate locations with a decision expected within a few days. Several national federations had apparently expressed willingness to host a postponed 2011 Worlds and formal bids were required to be submitted on March 22nd. Official bids were received from Austria, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Russia and the United States.

On March 24th, the ISU announced that the 2011 World Championships would take place in Moscow, Russia from April 24-May 1st, 2011 at the Megasport Arena.  This ISU page has links to the entries in each of the disciplines. The practice and competition time schedule is available on the ISU site - Moscow will be 8 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Saving Time when the competition occurs.

The CDN team for Worlds was announced after our national championships, however, on March 30th Skate Canada announced that Shawn Sawyer would be replaced by the first alternate Kevin Reynolds and Myriane Samson would be replaced by the first alternate Amelie Lacoste. 

TV and online streaming coverage in Canada was to be through CBC Sports and BOLD and they will carry the coverage of the rescheduled and relocated event.

NOTE: An earthquake of historic proportions followed by a devastating tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11th with the quake and continuing aftershocks being felt in Tokyo. Totals of those killed, missing and injured increased exponentially with continuing nuclear threats due to damaged reactors causing evacuations in the surrounding area. There were rolling power blackouts and shortages of food and safe drinking water in parts of the country. Travel advisories against travel to the most impacted areas were issued by many countries. Foreign skaters already in Japan returned to their own countries awaiting further news. Sympathy is expressed to all of those impacted by this horrendous series of events.

Two international events in Canada in 2011-2012 season

Canada annually hosts Skate Canada International as one of the six events in the ISU Grand Prix series.  This season it will take place at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga from Oct. 27th-30th according to the announcement from Skate Canada. The announcement includes information about ticket sales which begin on March 10th.

The culmination of the ISU Grand Prix series, the Grand Prix Final, will also be hosted in Canada this year - in Quebec City. As has been the case for the past few years, the event will include the finals of both the junior and senior series and will run from December 8th through 11th at the Pavillon de la Jeunesse at ExpoCité. More information can be found in the announcement from Skate Canada.

ISU World Junior Championships 2011

This year's World Junior Championships took place in Gangneung City, Republic of Korea from February 28th through March 6th. The results, including full protocols, are here.

Canada's team included: Liam Firus; Andrei Rogozine; Vanessa Grenier; Alexandra Najarro; Brittany Jones & Kurtis Gaskell; Natasha Purich & Raymond Schultz; Kelly Oliveira & Jordan Hockley; and Nicole Orford & Thomas Williams. 

As the schedule indicates, there were preliminary (qualifying) rounds in all disciplines except pairs. The skaters shown in bold above did not have to compete in them but participated in the short program as they were considered "direct entries"; those not in bold had to take part in the preliminary round. Liam Firus placed 4th in that round and qualified for the short program. Vanessa Grenier placed 17th and did not qualify for the short program as only the top 12 moved forward. Alexandra Najarro failed to qualify to skate her free program, placing 25th in the short where the top 24 moved forward.

Canada's team came away with one medal, a gold for Andrei Rogozine who placed 3rd in the short program and 2nd in the free program. Congratulations to him on winning Canada's first gold medal in mens at Junior Worlds since 1978!

ISU Four Continents Championships 2011

The ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships took place in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei from 15 - 20 February 2011. It had been anticipated that, as at the European Championships, a preliminary round in one or more disciplines might be required to reduce the number of entries skating the short program. Due to the number of skaters able to meet the minimum points standard and/or some withdrawals, however, this did not actually occur.

Canada's team came away from the competition with a silver and bronze medal in pairs and a bronze medal in dance. The results page is available and includes full protocols. 

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir were eager to get back into competition and make their season debut at the Four Continents competition according to this CBC article. They were, in fact, in first place after the short dance but had to withdraw from the competition during the free dance due to a problem with Tessa's thigh. In interviews afterward they indicated that this should not prevent them from participating in the World Championships in Tokyo in March.

25th Winter Universiade 2011

This event took place in Erzurum, Turkey from 30 January - 5 February 2011 and included skating competition for men, ladies, pairs and ice dance as well as for synchronized skating teams. The results are available online. There were no Canadian or US entries.

European Championships 2011

The European Figure Skating Championships took place in Bern, Switzerland from 24-30 January 2011. Like the upcoming World Championships, this event included "preliminary rounds" to qualify additional skaters to the championships. This process is explained in a preview article on the ISU website.

To see what happened at these championships, go to the results page which includes full protocols.

US Nationals - 23-30 January 2011

Just as the Canadian championships were finishing with the exciting final skates by Shawn Sawyer (formerly of Minto) and Patrick Chan, the US championships were getting underway in Greensboro, NC. As with Canadians, US Nationals began with the Novice and Junior events and culminated with the championship (senior) men's free skate on Sunday, January 30th.

To see the results, go to this page on IceNetwork. For news stories, photos, etc. try this link.

Japanese figure skating championships 2010

The natonal championships were held at the Big Hat in Nagano, Japan from Dec. 24-26, 2010.

In the mens event the gold medalist was Takahiko Kozuka with Nobunari Oda taking the silver and Daisuke Takahashi taking the bronze. All three are expected to participate in the World Championships in March 2011 in Tokyo. 

In the ladies event Miki Ando took the gold medal with Mao Asada taking silver and Kanako Murakami taking bronze. They are all expected to participate in the World Championships in March.

Narumi Takahashi & Mervin Tran were unopposed in the pairs event and Cathy & Chris Reed took the gold medal in ice dance.

The full results and protocols are here.