Skate Canada names teams for 2019 ISU Championships

[Elizabeth]

From https://skatecanada.ca/2019/01/skate-ca ... pionships/

After completion of the 2019 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships, Skate Canada has named the teams for the three upcoming ISU Championships. The week-long championships were held in Saint John, N.B., at the Harbour Station from January 14-20, 2019.

2019 ISU WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
SAITAMA, JAPAN – MARCH 18-24, 2019
MEN - Nam Nguyen; Keegan Messing
WOMEN - Alaine Chartrand; TBD*; TBD*
PAIR - Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro; Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud
ICE DANCE - Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje; Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier; Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sørensen

*To be determined after the 2019 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships

2019 ISU FOUR CONTINENTS FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
ANAHEIM, CA, USA – FEBRUARY 4-10, 2019
MEN - Nam Nguyen; Keegan Messing; Nicolas Nadeau
WOMEN - Alaine Chartrand; Véronik Mallet; Larkyn Austman
PAIR - Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro; Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud; Camille Ruest / Andrew Wolfe
ICE DANCE - Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje;Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier;Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sørensen

2019 ISU JUNIOR WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
ZAGREB, CROATIA – MARCH 4-10, 2019
MEN - Stephen Gogolev; Joseph Phan
WOMEN - Alison Schumacher
PAIR - Brooke McIntosh / Brandon Toste; Gabrielle Levesque / Pier-Alexandre Hudon
ICE DANCE - Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha; Alicia Fabbri / Paul Ayer

[Elizabeth]

One of the issues Skate Canada had to deal with is that many of the skaters don't (yet) have the minimum technical scores (TES) required to compete at ISU championships. They require lower minimums for 4CC than for Worlds, for the seniors. Some may have one but not both. Some don't have either.

[kittykins]

One of the issues Skate Canada had to deal with is that many of the skaters don't (yet) have the minimum technical scores (TES) required to compete at ISU championships. They require lower minimums for 4CC than for Worlds, for the seniors. Some may have one but not both. Some don't have either.

I think you said Gabby is one of those that did meet the qualifying score? This is why I was wondering if they'd let her compete at 4CC and see afterwards, but that would be unfair to the other women of course if they are only allowed to send 3 to 4CC. Wow, that was SO hard to see with her sobbing in the Kiss & Cry. I really feel for her. After that I had some errands to do and just had to leave the house. Totally depressing! I lived with a family member with clinical depression for 18 years so I fully sympathize with her struggles in this area. My father is doing extremely well now, and has been for about 34 years, and so there is always hope for individuals suffering from this medical condition. What a wonderful support Brian Orser was being to her. I'm thinking Gracie needs him as a coach too...wow, I was really impressed.

[Elizabeth]

Yes, Gabby has the TES needed, based on last year's results.

She skated in the Gala today (1st one out). Here's hoping this has not set her back too much and she will have time now to get stronger for next season.

[kittykins]

Yes, Gabby has the TES needed, based on last year's results.

She skated in the Gala today (1st one out). Here's hoping this has not set her back too much and she will have time now to get stronger for next season.

Agreed!! Praying for her full recovery! Depression is so debilitating which I know first hand.

[Elizabeth]

From Gabby via Twitter this afternoon:

The fact that I had the strength and courage to not just to tell my story but actually compete and not give up is what I’m most proud of myself for! 4 months ago I could barely get out of bed and now I’m back and getting stronger everyday

[Elizabeth]

More on the team selection, particularly the women: https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/ ... ps-277358/

SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Patrick Chan texted Mike Slipchuk during the men's free program at the Canadian figure skating championships on Saturday night. Canada's three-time world champion wanted Slipchuk to pass along a message to young Stephen Gogolev.

"He just said he admired how poised he was and that there's something special there," Slipchuk said. "And there is."

Skate Canada's high performance director can't recall a season that had seen so much turnover in Canada's figure skating team. Chan and two-time Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are among a decorated group of 17 skaters the national squad is missing this season.

"When you look at the level of athletes we lost, that were always at a Grand Prix fighting for medals, it was a big change," Slipchuk said. "But the team this year really stepped forward, you could see them really take hold of the path moving forward. (Saturday) night in the men, we saw the present and future all in one flight, which is exciting."

The future is in good hands. If not for a popped quadruple Lutz, Gogolev would have become the youngest skater in history to win a Canadian men's title.

"This has been a great season for him, and now he goes into world juniors as one of the favourites," Slipchuk said. "And we're going to see more of Stephen, and we're going to need him there to push all our guys."

Nam Nguyen and Alaine Chartrand headline the Canadian team named Sunday for the world figure skating championships in Japan in March. Nguyen, a 20-year-old from Toronto, edged Gogolev for gold at the Canadian championships Saturday night. Gogolev is still two years too young to compete internationally as a senior.

Three of the top five finishers in the men's event are still juniors: Gogolev, Joseph Phan, who was fourth, and Conrad Orzel (fifth).

"That makes us feel really good moving forward," Slipchuk said.

Chartrand, a 22-year-old from Prescott, Ont., climbed from fifth place after the short program to win the women's title.

Skate Canada is leaving two spots on the women's side open until after the ISU Four Continents event. One of them could go to Gabrielle Daleman, the world bronze medallist who dropped to fifth place after a shaky free program Saturday. Daleman, who suffers from depression and anxiety, took the fall competitive season off to focus on her mental health.

"We're going to see over the next couple of weeks how Gabby is progressing, both personally and mentally and also condition-wise, because she hasn't had a lot of training time, and that was a bit evident here in the long program, you could see the mileage wasn't there," Slipchuk said. "To compete at a world championships, you've got to be at the top of your game.

"So we want to give her some time to see how she's doing and we'll work alongside (her coaches) and just keep gauging how she's doing."

The other spot could go to Aurora Cotop, who won silver on Saturday evening, but doesn't have the technical score needed to qualify for the world championships. Skate Canada will send her to an international event in Germany next month in an effort to get the score needed.

Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, who are world silver and bronze medallists, clinched their spot by winning the ice dance title in their first competition since spending the fall performing on the Thank You Canada Tour.

Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro won the pairs event to earn an automatic spot.

Keegan Messing joins Nguyen on the men's side. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier and Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen, who used to compete for Denmark but just received approval to compete for Canada, round out the ice dance contingent. And Evelyn Walsh and Trennt Michaud are the other pairs team representing Canada.

The world championships are March 18-24 in Saitama, Japan.