This is where we discuss figure skating and skating related items. How did you favourite skaters perform, and so on? However we never speculate on the private lives of skaters, like who might be going out with whom, because that is poison and is not tolerated here. A good guideline is that if it's not publicly announced, in the papers etc. then it's probably best to leave it alone. Is it a gray area? Then write to me and ask.
Madeline Schizas 59,70
“I think my performance was fine today. I haven’t seen the protocols yet, so I don't really know why the score was as low as it was. I can't control how, you know, things get called. I will try my best in the free program.”
Sara-Maude Dupuis 62,35 SB
«I feel super happy that I've been able to put out exactly what I was doing training. I fought through the program and I got a good score for it, which I am really satisfied about.
It's my third 4 Continents event, and I am so happy to be back here again. My goal of the year was to qualify to come here, and I had such great experiences the past two times. It’s always a good competition for me.”
Katherine Medland Spence 53,02
“I was very happy with how I put the mistake behind and continued to perform and do the rest of the elements. It's very cool to compete at my first 4 Continents Championship and to get a chance to explore Korea”
Canada Captures Two Medals on Day Two of ISU Four Continents Championships
Seoul, South Korea (February 21, 2025) – Team Canada secured two spots on the podium on Friday following the pairs event at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea.
After placing fourth in yesterday’s short program, Deanna Stellato-Dudek (Chicago, USA) and Maxime Deschamps (Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC) bounced back to win the silver medal. The reigning world champions delivered their best free program of the season, adding 141.26 points to their existing score and bringing their total to 210.92 to finish on the podium for the third consecutive time. They were bested only by Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan, whose final score was 217.32.
“Our short program didn’t go so well, which actually was the best thing that could have happened to us, because it allowed us to skate more freely and just enjoy ourselves. That’s something we hadn’t really done yet this season,” said Deschamps.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps were joined on the podium by Ontarians Lia Pereira (Milton) and Trennt Michaud (Brantford), who finished third in today’s free program, just as they had in yesterday’s short program. Their score of 128.61 today brought their total to 198.40—their best of the season—which was good enough for bronze.
“We’re really happy! We ran into a few challenges on the way here, including an illness and some lost luggage, but our short program yesterday felt good. That being said, you still never know how your long program will go! We’re really proud to have executed our elements well today,” said Pereira.
Kelly Ann Laurin (Saint-Jérôme, QC) and Loucas Éthier (Saint-Alphonse, QC) came out of today’s free program in ninth place, with 107.33 points. They finished ninth overall with a final score of 170.23.
Next on the schedule was the women’s short program, where three Canadians were on the roster. Sara-Maude Dupuis (Montréal, QC), who is skating at her third ISU Four Continents Championships, obtained the country’s top score in the event, placing ninth with 62.35 points. Canadian champion Madeline Schizas (Oakville, ON) followed close behind in eleventh place with 59.70 points, while Katherine Medland Spence (Ottawa, ON) finished 14th with a score of 53.02.
Chaeyeon Kim of South Korea (74.02), Mone Chiba of Japan (71.20), and Sarah Everhardt of the USA (67.36) currently hold the provisional top three spots in the women’s event.
Our skaters may be on the other side of the world but, as Trennt mentioned in his mixed zone comment, at least some of them were following the Canada-USA hockey game in Boston.
Skate Canada posted this today
True Canadian problems: being more stressed watching hockey than about your own competition
McDavid’s goal was the perfect motivation boost before Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps’s free skate at 4CC!
Mikhail Shaidorov, with a groundbreaking performance, becomes the 2nd KAZ skater to take home the 4CC title—10 years after the late Denis Ten’s legendary victory, in the very same rink!
“Was not easy to skate today, because I was skating last. But I am full with emotions, am very pleased with the performance today. I just hope I will be able to do the same at Worlds.”
“This gold means a lot not only for myself, but also for Kazakhstan - the country I grew up in, the country I live in. And for Denis Ten memory.. So, overall this win is very meaningful.” [The podium 10 years ago was Josh Farris USA silver; Denis Ten KAZ gold; Han Yan CHN bronze]
Junhwan Cha delivered a Season’s Best, thrilling the home crowd as he jumped onto the podium! Jimmy Ma earned his first-ever Championship medal, capping off an unforgettable event! Jimmy, who trains at the Skating Club of Boston, and his coach were holding photos of SCB members lost in the Washington, DC aircraft collision as he waited for his scores in the Kiss 'n Cry. Jimmy Ma secured the first men's Four Continents medal for the U.S. since 2020.
Some Mixed Zone comments from the CDN men
Roman Sadovsky 141,05 / 213,90
“Pretty good first half, but I was a little bit shaky around the edges, a little tighter than I would have liked to be. Also, I had a little bit of an emergency situation before I stepped on the ice. I noticed one of my hooks was extremely loose but thanks to Tomoki, I could use his tape to tape up my skates.”
“Of course, I would have liked to have something more similar to what I did at nationals or at Nebelhorn this year. I was trying to channel in for today, but I'll have to bring it in for the next event then.
I am very excited about the Olympic season, have lots of energy going into this next season. But the biggest challenge is gonna be finding music with all the new music rules. Nobody really knows what's going on and it's not even something that I would usually think about, but now it's a whole new obstacle that we will need to think about.“
Matthew Newnham 131,35 / 205,34
“I'm really proud of everything that I did here.
I found out very last minute that I was doing this event, so I am proud I have been able to finish two programs and be somewhat satisfied with it. I've been injured quite a bit these past two years, so my health is a big priority now, and then I would also want to get my quads back, so I can compete with everyone else at a higher standard.”
He told us that when choosing this music for his long program, he was inspired by Shoma Uno’s 2017 program: “It was a big inspiration for me back when I was younger and I really wanted to skate to that music. And finally my coach allowed me to skate to it this year.“
Aleksa Rakic 128,56 / 197,91
“I'm not very happy with my skate, but I'm proud of the way I fought through everything.
There wasn't a moment where I gave up, which was good, because sometimes I've had that happen.”
“Going forward, I will try not to overthink, but just try getting in that free mindset. I feel I've improved my speed a lot, but sometimes I slow down on the jumps and on the landings, so I plan working on that and not letting messy things happen because they are usually quite costly.”
Those are great interview comments! It's so nice to see that sportsmanship still exists between athletes despite the political situation right now.
What are these new music rules mentioned? I looked for a thread that might explain so I figure I was just not looking in the right place.
Thanks for all the great info.
"At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.” (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis)
Alicia FABBRI / Paul AYER 106,43 / 166,49
Alicia: “We're really happy, we really wanted to perform our free dancer well like we did in practice.
Paul: “We had an unfortunate mistake in the Rhythm dance. But as we have seen the whole year it happens even to the best of us. This is the beauty of the sport, you can never predict what's gonna happen.”
Alicia: “We changed one of the lifts the week before, so we definitely wanna work more on it, just to get better. This was a really great experience to compete here before Worlds, and we wanna be at the top of our game there.”
Marjorie LAJOIE / Zachary LAGHA 118,18 / 201,04 and medal
Zachary: “It's was not too bad today. There was a mistake, so I will have to check the video later, but it felt okay, a bit like a fight today. But then I was more or less satisfied with the short, so that's a good thing.”
Marjorie: “I didn’t do my best today, but Zachary was great. We came very prepared for this event, so it’s a pity we didn’t show our best. Though, we had a great RD at least.”
Piper GILLES / Paul POIRIER and winners at #4ContsFigure
Piper: “I think we're really proud of what we did today, we really took our time from the moment we started. We felt really prepared coming into this competition, so it was kind of nice not having to force anything. There were some things that could have gone a little bit better, but we didn't let it derail the rest for our program. We are really proud of what we did today and we are looking forward to going to the World Championship in a few weeks.”
kittykins wrote: Sat Feb 22, 2025 10:46 am
Those are great interview comments! It's so nice to see that sportsmanship still exists between athletes despite the political situation right now.
What are these new music rules mentioned? I looked for a thread that might explain so I figure I was just not looking in the right place.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier Defend Their Title at ISU Four Continents Championships
Seoul, South Korea (February 22, 2025) – Canada occupied two of the three spots on the ice dance podium on Saturday at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea.
Ontarians Piper Gilles (Toronto) and Paul Poirier (Unionville), who led the standings following Thursday’s rhythm dance, held on to their lead with a score of 131.24, successfully defending their ISU Four Continents Championships title with a season’s best total score of 218.46 points. They were accompanied on the podium by fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie (Boucherville, QC) and Zachary Lagha (Saint-Hubert, QC), who captured the second Four Continents bronze medal of their career, with 201.04 points.
Gilles and Poirier edged out the reigning world champions, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA (217.93), who finished the event in second place.
“We’re very proud of ourselves! It was a long day, and our skate was late in the evening. We were completely exhausted afterwards, but that’s because we gave it our all. We’re proud of what we accomplished here. When we arrived, we felt confident about the training we had done, and we felt prepared to skate our very best. Now we want to carry this over to the World Championships!” said Poirier, following the competition.
Bronze medallist Zachary Lagha also had to dig deep to reach the podium with his partner Marjorie Lajoie.
“Today felt like a battle. It’s always difficult to skate late in the day in Asia because of the jet lag. But although we made a few errors, we’ve improved since the Canadian Championships, and that’s what matters most. It’s not the first time we [share the podium with Gilles and Poirier]. In that sense, it feels just like a regular day at the office,” laughed Lagha.
Alicia Fabbri (Terrebonne, QC) and Paul Ayer (Brossard, QC) concluded the ice dance event in ninth place (166.49).
In the men’s event, Roman Sadovsky (Vaughan, ON) finished tenth with 213.90 points. Matthew Newnham (Saint-Albert, AB) followed closely behind in twelfth place (205.34), while Aleksa Rakic (Burnaby, BC) wrapped up the event in sixteenth place (197.91). Mikhaiul Shaidorov of Kazakhstan captured the men’s gold medal with 285.10 points.
Last edited by Elizabeth on Sat Feb 22, 2025 4:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Mixed zone comments from two of the CDN team members
Sara Maude Dupuis 116,04 / 178,36
“I'm pinching myself a little with the mistakes but I'm happy with the score I got for what I did and the quality of the elements that I did. I'm happy I meantained good presentation all through the program, that was a big goal of mine coming into here - to be a little less focused and to try being faster on the ice and a bit more present.
I am an alternate for the Worlds, so I'm definitely gonna keep training. I will get a new short, and maybe I will keep the free, but I am not sure given the new music rules.”
Madeline Schizas 116,77 / 176,47
”I'm happy that I pushed through the performance today. I got a stomach flu this morning after practice, so I'm happy I was able to skate today. I want to thank the Canadian medical stuff for helping me compete today.”
“Yes, I intend to keep this program for the Olympic year. I think it really plays to some of my strengths. Even today, when I wasn't feeling my best, but I was still able to put out a performance. I've known this music for a long time. We considered it for the last Olympics, but decided not to use it. But now is a good time to come back to it. It's a very mature piece of music, and I think now I can do it justice.”
Press conference photo
Last edited by Elizabeth on Sun Feb 23, 2025 1:13 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Word was spreading during the final day of competition about a wave of "stomach flu" hitting the athletes. Maddie Schizas mentioned it in her comments after her free skate. The "bug" was responsible for taking several skaters out of the Exhibition Gala according to this media advisory
Sara-Maude Dupuis Concludes ISU Four Continents Championships with Two Personal Bests
Seoul, South Korea (February 23, 2025) – Sara-Maude Dupuis achieved two personal bests this weekend at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea.
The athlete from Montréal, QC, who gave Canada its best finish in the women’s event on Sunday by placing tenth, set a new record for herself in the short program on Friday with a score of 62.35. She hoped to set another one in Sunday’s free skate—and she did. The Canadian Championships silver medallist added 116.01 points to her total, finishing with 178.36—the highest overall score of her career.
South Korea’s Chaeyeon Kim claimed the crown with 222.38 points, followed by Americans Bradie Tennell (204.38) and Sarah Everhardt (200.03) in second and third place, respectively.
“I feel pretty good. I’m a bit annoyed at myself because I made two errors, but I’m satisfied with the score I received for the performance I delivered and the quality of my elements. My presence was good throughout the program, and that was one of the objectives I had set for myself coming here, to avoid being overly focused and to be faster and more comfortable on the ice. I think I achieved that today,” said Dupuis.
Her countrymate Madeline Schizas (Oakville, ON), who was feeling under the weather, received a score of 116.77 for her free program and finished the event in twelfth place, with 176.47 points.
“There’s a virus that’s been going around the Canadian team for the past few days, so I’m happy that I was at least able to skate today. I managed to get some sleep, and I pushed myself to compete. I’d like to thank the Canadian team staff, who helped me be able to skate today. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it,” said the reigning Canadian champion.
Katherine Medland Spence (Ottawa, ON) finished fourteenth with 156.95 points, after receiving 103.93 for her free program.
59,70
59,70
free skate at 4CC!
Mikhail Shaidorov, with a groundbreaking performance, becomes the 2nd KAZ skater to take home the 4CC title—10 years after the late Denis Ten’s legendary victory, in the very same rink! 
was Josh Farris USA silver; Denis Ten KAZ gold; Han Yan CHN bronze] 
Junhwan Cha delivered a Season’s Best, thrilling the home crowd as he jumped onto the podium!
Jimmy Ma earned his first-ever Championship medal, capping off an unforgettable event! Jimmy, who trains at the Skating Club of Boston, and his coach were holding photos of SCB members lost in the Washington, DC aircraft collision as he waited for his scores in the Kiss 'n Cry. Jimmy Ma secured the first men's Four Continents medal for the U.S. since 2020. 
medal
winners at #4ContsFigure 
