Canadian medallists headline the 2019 Skate Canada International in Kelowna

ISU announces line-up for Grand Prix events

OTTAWA, ON: The International Skating Union (ISU) has announced the line-ups for the six 2019 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating events. Canada will host the second stop on the circuit, the 2019 Skate Canada International in Kelowna, British Columbia, from October 25-27, 2019, at Prospera Place.

The line-up in Kelowna will feature current Canadian champions Nam Nguyen, Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro, and several Canadian medallists including, Piper Gilles, Paul Poirier, Gabrielle Daleman and Aurora Cotop. They will be joined by various current and former world medallists including   Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of Russia, and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States and more.

Skate Canada International is the second competition in the annual ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. The other events take place in the United States (Skate America), France (Internationaux de France), China (Cup of China), Russia (Rostelecom Cup) and Japan (NHK Trophy).

Each skater/team can be assigned a maximum of two events. Skaters are awarded points based on their placements at their events. The top six from each discipline (men, women, pair and ice dance) qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final to be held in Torino, Italy from December 5-8, 2019.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW 
All-event ticket packages for the 2019 Skate Canada International are on sale now! The all event-ticket includes four days of access including:

  • One day of official practices (Thursday)
  • Two days of exciting competition, including practices (Friday and Saturday)
  • Exhibition Gala (Sunday)

Fans will be able to choose from four levels of all-event ticket packages that are priced at:

  • $138.50 ($120 ticket + $18.50 venue fee)
  • $180.50 ($160 ticket + $20.50 venue fee)
  • $222.00 ($200 ticket + $22.00 venue fee)
  • $325.00 ($300 ticket + $25.00 venue fee)

Tickets can be purchased online, by phone at 1-866-514-5050 toll free or 250-762-5050 locally or in person at the Prospera Place Box Office.

2019 SKATE CANADA INTERNATIONAL ENTRIES*

MEN WOMEN
Brendan Kerry (AUS)
Nicolas Nadeau (CAN)
Nam Nguyen (CAN)
Roman Sadovsky (CAN)
Paul Fentz (GER)
Matteo Rizzo (ITA)
Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)
Keiji Tanaka (JPN)
Deniss Vasiljevs (LAT)
Mikhail Kolyada (RUS)
Andrei Lazukin (RUS)
Camden Pulkinen (USA)
Aurora Cotop (CAN)
Gabrielle Daleman (CAN)
TBD (CAN)
Rika Kihira (JPN)
Mai Mihara (JPN)
Yelim Kim (KOR)
Young You (KOR)
Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS)
Serafima Sakhanovich (RUS)
Alexandra Trusova (RUS)
Alexia Paganini (SUI)
Bradie Tennell (USA)
PAIR ICE DANCE
Lubov Ilyushechkina / Charlie Bilodeau (CAN)
Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro (CAN)
TBD(CAN)
Feiyao Tang / Yongchao Yang (CHN)
Aleksandra Boikova / Dmitrii Kozlovskii (RUS)
Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov (RUS)
Jessica Calalang / Brian Johnson (USA)
Alexa Scimeca Knierim / Chris Knierim (USA)
Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier (CAN)
Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha (CAN)
Haley Sales / Nikolas Wamsteeker (CAN)
Lilah Fear / Lewis Gibson (GBR)
Sofia Evdokimova / Egor Bazin (RUS)
Betina Popova / Sergey Mozgov (RUS)
Sara Hurtado / Kirill Khaliavin (ESP)
Caroline Green / Michael Parsons (USA)
Kaitlin Hawayek / Jean-Luc Baker (USA)
Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue (USA)

CANADIAN ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE 2019 ISU GRAND PRIX OF FIGURE SKATING SERIES*

SKATE AMERICA
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA – October 18-20, 2019
MEN: Keegan Messing
WOMEN: Véronik Mallet
PAIR: Camille Ruest/Drew Wolfe
ICE DANCE: Laurence Fournier-Beaudry/Nikolaj Sørensen

SKATE CANADA INTERNATIONAL
Kelowna, British Columbia – October 25-27, 2019
MEN: Nam Nguyen, Roman Sadovsky, Nicolas Nadeau
WOMEN: Gabrielle Daleman, Aurora Cotop, TBD
PAIR: Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro, Lubov Ilyushechkina/Charlie Bilodeau, TBD
ICE DANCE: Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier, Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha, Haley Sales/Nikolas Wamsteeker

INTERNATIONAUX DE FRANCE
Grenoble, France — November 1-3, 2019
MEN: Nicolas Nadeau
ICE DANCE: Carolanne Soucisse/Shane Firus

CUP OF CHINA
Chongqing, China – November 8-10, 2019
MEN: Keegan Messing
WOMEN: Gabriele Daleman
PAIR: Lubov Ilyushechkina/Charlie Bilodeau
ICE DANCE: Laurence Fournier-Beaudry/Nikolaj Sørensen

ROSTELECOM CUP
Moscow, Russia — November 15-17, 2019
MEN: Nam Nguyen
PAIR: Evelyn Walsh/Trennt Michaud
ICE DANCE: Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier, Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha

NHK TROPHY
Sapporo, Japan — November 22-24, 2019
MEN: Roman Sadovsky, Conrad Orzel
PAIR: Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro
ICE DANCE: Carolanne Soucisse/Shane Firus

*Entries are subject to change

Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje stepping away from competition

OTTAWA, ON: Three-time Canadian ice dance champions Kaitlyn Weaver, 30, Toronto, Ont., and Andrew Poje, 32, Waterloo, Ont., have decided to step away from competition for the time being. Weaver and Poje will use their time away from the Grand Prix and Challenger series events to evaluate their future plans and will provide an update on their career later this season. The team has competed internationally for Canada since 2006, attending two Olympic Winter Games (2014, 2018).

Weaver and Poje are three-time world medallists, winning their most recent world medal at the 2018 world championships. The two-time Grand Prix Final champions are coached by Nikolai Morozov, Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Camerlengo and train in Hackensack, NJ, USA.

Ticket Info: 2019 Autumn Classic International

OTTAWA, ON: Tickets for the 2019 Autumn Classic International will go on sale to the general public on Friday June 14, 2019 at 10 a.m. (ET).  The sixth edition of this event will take place from September 12 – 14, 2019, at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex in Oakville, Ont.

All-event tickets are priced at $103.60 ($100 ticket + $3.60 online fee) and day passes are priced as follows: Thursday $31.50 ($30 ticket + $1.50 online fee), Friday $36.65 ($35 ticket + $1.65 online fee) and Saturday $36.65 ($35 ticket + $1.65 online fee). Tickets include entry to view practices on the date(s) of each ticket. All tickets are subject to applicable taxes and service fees. Tickets can be purchased at Eventbrite.ca in advance and online only.

Please note that seating is general admission and not reserved. Seats are on a first-come, first-serve basis. Ticket quantities are limited, and all tickets are final sale.

The 2019 Autumn Classic International will feature senior events in men, women and ice dance. The event will host approximately 50 entries from over 15 countries. The senior international figure skating competition is one of 10 events that will form the International Skating Union’s (ISU) Challenger Series. Athletes will have the opportunity to earn world standing points through the series. Competitors are eligible to participate in up to three Challenger Series events.

The 2019 entries will be announced after the close of entries in late August.

Worlds Rewind: Montreal 1932

As the countdown begins to the ISU World Figure Skating Championships ® 2020 in Montreal, Quebec, we look back at previous world championships staged in Canada. We begin the ten-part series with the 1932 world championships – also in Montreal.

Montreal, the wait is over.

Eighty-eight years after hosting the inaugural world figure skating championships on Canadian soil back in 1932, the historic city will once again welcome the world for the ISU World Figure Skating Championships ® 2020 March 16th to 22nd at the Centre Bell.

The top men’s, ladies’ and pairs skaters in the world made the trip to Canada for the world championships from February 17-20, 1932, with figures being held at the Montreal Winter Club and free skating taking place at the iconic Forum.

The 1932 world championships came on the heels of the Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, NY, and many of the athletes that competed at the Olympics boarded trains for the short ride north to Montreal. It turned out to be a worthwhile trip for Olympic gold medallists from Lake Placid – all would win gold again at the world championships.

In the men’s competition, Austria’s Karl Schäfer earned first-place votes from all judges in figures and free skating, cruising to his third of seven consecutive world titles. Toronto’s Montgomery Wilson earned Canada’s first men’s world championship medal with a silver, also a unanimous decision from all judges. Ernst Baier of Germany claimed bronze.

The 1932 world championships also marked the first time Japanese skaters competed in the event, with Kazuyoshi Oimatsu placing seventh and Ryoichi Obitani finishing eighth.

Norway’s Sonja Henie continued her domination of the ladies’ discipline in Montreal, winning her sixth of ten straight world titles. Fritzi Burger of Austria took silver and Canada’s Constance Wilson-Samuel from Toronto, the sister of Montgomery Wilson, won bronze.

Just days after winning gold at the Lake Placid Olympics, the husband/wife team of  Andrée Brunet and Pierre Brunet from France won pairs gold in Montreal, finishing ahead of Hungary’s Emília Rotter and László Szollás and Americans Beatrix Loughran and Sherwin Badger.

The Canadian sibling tandem of Wilson-Samuel and Wilson, who won medals for Canada in the men’s and ladies’ events, teamed up in the pairs event to place sixth.

As the 1932 world championships came to a close in Montreal, the event would not return to Canada for close to three decades, when Vancouver hosted worlds in 1960. Canada has hosted the world championships ten times, the last time in 2013 in London, Ontario.

And next March, Montreal will welcome the world again.

All-event tickets for the ISU World Figure Skating Championships ® 2020  are on sale now and can be purchased online at montreal2020.com, by phone at 1-855-310-2525 or in person at the Centre Bell Box Office.

Election Results – Skate Canada Board of Directors

OTTAWA, ON: Skate Canada’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) concluded on May 25, 2019 in Ottawa, Ontario with the elections of the Board of Directors. Below are the results of the elections:

President (two-year term) – Leanna Caron (acclaimed)
Director Atlantic (two-year term) – Nicole LeBlanc-Richard (acclaimed)
Director Quebec (one-year term) – Pier-Luc Paquet (acclaimed)
Director Ontario (two-year term) – Darlene Joseph
Director at Large (two-year term) – Jacqueline Gauthier
Director at Large (two-year term) – Patty Klein
Director at Large (two-year term) – Patrick Roch
Director at Large (one-year term) – Rock Lemay

Skate Canada’s Board of Directors is made up of 13 elected and appointed volunteers from across Canada. Policy and direction are established by the board of directors and communicated to the National Service Centre for delivery to the sections, clubs and school. The board meets throughout the year and major policy decisions are taken to the wider membership of the association yearly through Skate Canada’s Annual General Meeting.