ISU GP 2024/25 Event #2 - Skate Canada International 2024 - Halifax, NS - Oct. 25-27 (+ some early GP news)

[Elizabeth]

It has been confirmed that Grimm/Savitskiy from GER will remain Junior this season and will therefore not compete at SCI in Halifax. They have been replaced with Harris/Chan from Australia (who train in Montreal).

[Elizabeth]

The time schedule (in local time in Halifax) for Skate Canada International 2024 - reminder that Daylight Saving Time ends overnight on Oct. 26th

[Elizabeth]

The entries, by discipline, are now posted: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00120602.htm

Men
No. Name Nation
1 Vladimir LITVINTSEV AZE 1
2 Stephen GOGOLEV CAN 2
3 Aleksa RAKIC CAN 2
4 Roman SADOVSKY CAN 2
5 Luc ECONOMIDES FRA 3
6 Mark GORODNITSKY ISR 4
7 Gabriele FRANGIPANI ITA 5
8 Shun SATO JPN 6
9 Sota YAMAMOTO JPN 6
10 Junhwan CHA KOR 7
11 Jason BROWN USA 8
12 Ilia MALININ USA 8

Women
No. Name Nation
1 Sara-Maude DUPUIS CAN 1
2 Kaiya RUITER CAN 1
3 Madeline SCHIZAS CAN 1
4 Nella PELKONEN FIN 2
5 Rino MATSUIKE JPN 3
6 Kaori SAKAMOTO JPN 3
7 Hana YOSHIDA JPN 3
8 Yelim KIM KOR 4
9 Seoyeong WI KOR 4
10 Ekaterina KURAKOVA POL 5
11 Kimmy REPOND SUI 6
12 Alysa LIU USA 7


Pairs
No. Name Nation
1 Anastasia GOLUBEVA / Hektor GIOTOPOULOS MOORE AUS 1
2 Kelly Ann LAURIN / Loucas ETHIER CAN 2
3 Deanna STELLATO-DUDEK / Maxime DESCHAMPS CAN 2
4 Annika HOCKE / Robert KUNKEL GER 3
5 Lucrezia BECCARI / Matteo GUARISE ITA 4
6 Daria DANILOVA / Michel TSIBA NED 5
7 Emily CHAN / Spencer Akira HOWE USA 6


Ice Dance
No. Name Nation
1 Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN AUS 1
2 Alicia FABBRI / Paul AYER CAN 2
3 Piper GILLES / Paul POIRIER CAN 2
4 Marjorie LAJOIE / Zachary LAGHA CAN 2
5 Natalie TASCHLEROVA / Filip TASCHLER CZE 3
6 Evgeniia LOPAREVA / Geoffrey BRISSAUD FRA 4
7 Hannah LIM / Ye QUAN KOR 5
8 Emily BRATTI / Ian SOMERVILLE USA 6
9 Oona BROWN / Gage BROWN USA 6
10 Emilea ZINGAS / Vadym KOLESNIK USA 6

[Elizabeth]

Skate Canada will not be using the 3rd host spot for Skate Canada International which had been marked as "TBD" - it has been released to be filled by someone on the alternate list.

[Elizabeth]

The Pairs spot given up by Canada at Skate Canada International has been filled by Ekaterina Geynish / Dmitrii Chigirev of UZB.

[Elizabeth]

Just one month away....

[Elizabeth]

An update - October 11th:
Elyce Lin-Gracey replaces Nella Pelkonen at Skate Canada International.
Nella Pelkonen who has been dealing with illness & injury since Worlds but is currently still listed for the GP in Finland.

The current field in the Women's event:

[Elizabeth]

[Elizabeth]

Update - October 18th:
Lucrezia Beccari / Matteo Guarise have withdrawn from Skate Canada

[Elizabeth]

Some trivia about this event which begins next week:

• The Skate Canada International is an annual international figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating.
• The first Skate Canada International was held in 1973 in Calgary.
• The 1987 competition in Calgary was the test event for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.
• SCI was incorporated into the Grand Prix Series in 1995.
• Canadian Men have won gold at SCI 23 times while the Caandian Women have won 12 golds.
• The Pairs were only incorporated into SCI in 1984 (in Victoria, BC). Canadian Pairs have won 13 gold medals since then.
• In Ice Dance Canadians have won 25 gold medals, the last 4 being won by Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier.

These and more details can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skate_Can ... ernational

[Elizabeth]

Some thoughts from Rob Brodie "on the road to Halifax": https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/s ... he-road-to

[Elizabeth]

Breaking news - for those who will be watching Skate Canada International via the ISU YouTube stream, Ted Barton announced today that the commentator will be Chris Howarth.

While it is not "active", this should be the link to the Entries/Start Orders/Results page: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2425/gpca2024/
A link to the page will appear on this page in due course: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00120602.htm

[Elizabeth]

There has been a replacement named to fill the 8th spot in Pairs as of October 21:
Ioulia Chtchetinina / Michal Wozniak have been assigned to Skate Canada

[Elizabeth]

Skate Canada's team for SCI by the pictures




The press release: https://skatecanada.ca/2024/10/figure-s ... rnational/

Figure Skating Elite Descend on Halifax for 2024 Skate Canada International
October 21, 2024/by Skate Canada

OTTAWA, ON (October 21, 2024) – The figure skating elite is set to compete at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia from October 25-27, 2024, for the 50th edition of Skate Canada International (SCI). Canadian fans will be able to cheer for World Championship medallists and 16 Canadian athletes looking to make their mark on the international stage.

Canadian superstars Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps will be kicking off the event on Friday evening. The reigning World Champions and 2023 SCI gold medallists are fresh off a silver medal performance at the Nebelhorn Trophy and will be joined by fellow Canadians Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier who finished fourth at the John Nicks Pairs Competition in September.

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will be on the hunt for their fifth consecutive victory in the ice dance competition. The World Championship silver medallists are undefeated at this competition since 2019 and will be making their 2024-2025 season debut in Halifax. Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha won two silver medals on the Grand Prix circuit last year and will be looking to improve on their bronze-medal performance at the 2022 SCI. Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer are also on form this year, capturing a bronze medal at the Denis Ten Memorial Challenge a few weeks ago.

All eyes will be on Ilia Malinin of the USA in the men’s competition. The reigning World Champion is fresh off a first-place finish at Skate America and will no doubt thrill the crowds with his stunning jumping ability. Canadian athletes Stephen Gogolev, Aleksa Rakic, and Roman Sadovsky will be in the mix as well with Rakic and Sadovsky already having competition experience under the belts this season, and Gogolev making his season debut.

Three-time, and current World Champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan will look to defend her women’s title from last year’s SCI, with Canadians Sara-Maude Dupuis, Kaiya Ruiter, and Madeline Schizas also looking to fight for the podium. Two-time Canadian Champion Schizas finished just off the podium in fourth last year.

Competition starts on Friday, October 25th with the pairs and women’s competitors performing their short programs. Saturday, October 26th will feature the rhythm dance and men’s short program, followed by the free programs for the pairs and women’s competition. The competition will wrap-up on Sunday, October 27th with the final performances in ice dance and the men’s competition in lieu of the traditional exhibition gala.

Team Canada
Name | Age | Hometown | Coach

Men
Stephen Gogolev |19 | Toronto, ON | Lee Barkell
Aleksa Rakic | 20 | Burnaby, BC | Joanne McLeod
Roman Sadovsky | 25 | Vaughan, ON | Tracey Wainman

Women
Sara-Maude Dupuis | 19 | Montreal, QC | Stéphane Yvars
Kaiya Ruiter | 18 | Calgary, AB | Tracy Wilson
Madeline Schizas | 21 | Oakville, ON | Nancy Lemaire

Pairs
Kelly Ann Laurin | 19 | St-Jérôme, QC & Loucas Éthier | 24 | St-Alphonse, QC | Stéphanie Valois
Deanna Stellato-Dudek | 41 | Chicago, USA & Maxime Deschamps | 32 | Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC | Josée Picard

Ice Dance
Alicia Fabbri | 21 | Terrebonne, QC & Paul Ayer | 26 | Brossard, QC | Marie-France Dubreuil
Piper Gilles | 32 | Toronto, ON & Paul Poirier | 32 | Unionville, ON | Juris Razgulajevs
Marjorie Lajoie | 23 | Boucherville, QC & Zachary Lagha | 24 | Saint-Hubert, QC | Marie-France Dubreuil

Team Leaders – Manon Perron & Cynthia Ullmark
Medical Team – Tatiana Jevremovic & Agnes Makowski
Officials – Leanna Caron, Lynne Dey, Karen Howard & Deborah Islam

[Elizabeth]

A reminder - the latest entries, by discipline, can be found at this link: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00120602.htm

The link to the Entries/Start Orders/Result will be added on that page in due course.

Download the detailed time and practice schedule here: https://results.isu.org/schedules/gpcan ... hedule.pdf

Practice groups and music rotations link: https://results.isu.org/schedules/gpcan ... ionAll.pdf

[Elizabeth]

For those who will be in Halifax, this is from Skate Canada - their ultimate SCI24 x Meet Halifax to-do list

[Elizabeth]

Skate Canada honouring some highlights as this marks the 50th SCI.
50 Years of Skating: https://skatecanada.ca/2024/10/50-years-of-skating/

[Elizabeth]

You will find links to each of the CBC Sports live stream segments already in place here: https://www.cbc.ca/player/sports/live

For example:
Pairs SP: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6532513
Women SP: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6532517


The Skate Canada DailyMotion channel link for SCI: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/k71o227qs54xyIBFwMC

[Elizabeth]

NOTE - SCI in Halifax is in the Atlantic Time Zone - 1 hour ahead of Eastern Time Zone.

[Elizabeth]

Everything is ready for the practices tomorrow (and I can even pick out my seat )

[Elizabeth]

PJ Kwong's preview of SCI for Skate Ontario: https://skateontario.org/intheloop/a-sk ... onal-2024/

Note:

... I will be in Halifax and if you want to follow along, make sure you follow us on our social media @skateontario on your favourite platform. Let’s all be #SkateOntarioProud!

[Elizabeth]

The Entries/Start Orders/Results link is now live: https://results.isu.org/results/season2425/gpcan2024/

Friday evening




Saturday afternoon

[Elizabeth]

[Elizabeth]

It is possible that the YouTube live streams, with commentary by Chris Howarth, will not be geoblocked in Canada as the links for each part of the competition are showing up for me:

Pairs Short - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r3K4vxjqQ4
Women Short - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAqRrUmctTo
Rhythm Dance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgnH2Bp7a_A
Men Short - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBrso50IyBA
Pairs Free - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V054tYBkCAA
Women Free - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd2eZTDq_nU
Men Free - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsW-JjSKDL4
Free Dance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ8rBxII7g8

By the way, Scotiabank Centre in Halifax in home to the QHL Halifax Mooseheads - you may notice the head of a very large moose suspended over part of the arena and wonder why

[Elizabeth]

Want your own copy of the Program? Download it free from here: https://skatecanada.ca/wp-content/uploa ... rogram.pdf

"A contrast in priorities" - Nam Nguyen & Jackie Wong during practices today


Skaters from St. Margaret's Bay Skating Club performed during the Opening Ceremonies


Up first - the Pairs SP


So - did anyone watch? What did you think?