Preview: 2022 Skate Canada
The 2022 Skate Canada International (SCI) will be held at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. 10 teams will compete in this event, the second of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series.
About SCI: Skate Canada International has been held annually since 1973. It was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event has been part of the Grand Prix since the series’ creation in 1995. Mississauga has hosted the event five times (2000, 2003, 2011, 2016).
Grand Prix 2022: This year, the Grand Prix has a different look for several reasons. First, the top two teams from the 2021-22 season are not in the mix. World and Olympic champions Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron choosing to take this season off and World silver medalists Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue retired from competitive skating at the end of last season. Also, the ISU maintained the ban on figure skaters from Russia due to the country’s war with neighboring Ukraine. Skaters from Belarus are also not allowed to compete due to their country’s support of the ongoing war.
The medal hunt: The senior international season started in late summer, with all but one of the teams on the SCI roster competing at least once at a prior event.
Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier of Canada have a full set of medals after competing at Skate Canada numerous times and will be debuting their new programs in Mississauga. The 2019 and 2021 SCI champions have released little information on them programs for this season, so all will be unveiled later this week. Gilles & Poirier finished fifth at the 2022 World Championships.
Great Britain’s Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson have won all of their international outings this season, including the U.S. Classic, Nebelhorn Trophy and Brittania Cup. Their free dance to “Born this Way” by Lady Gaga has entertained fans, while setting new personal best scores of 120.80. Fear & Gibson were sixth at the 2022 World Championships.
Training mates Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha have also been on a victorious run, taking gold at both the Budapest Trophy and Nepela Memorial Challenger Series events. Lajoie & Lagha’s rhythm dance to “Cha Cha Slide” showcases a fun side to their personalities, while their ethereal free dance to Ilan Eshkeri’s “Nureyev” has been captivating. The team’s total score is right in line with Fear & Gibson’s. The Canadians were 11th at last year’s Worlds.
2022 Four Continents Champions Caroline Green & Michael Parsons of the United States made a splash last season with their avant garde free dance. The team changed coaches in the off season and are now training at the Michigan Ice Dance Academy (MIDA) under coaches Charlie White, Tanith White and Greg Zuerlein. They are going a more classical route with a free dance set to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Canada’s Marie-Jade Lauriault & Roman Le Gac, fresh off their bronze medal win at Skate America, are last minute replacements for Miku Makita & Tyler Gunara who withdrew due to injury.
Event info: Teams have official practices on Thursday, October 27. The rhythm dance kicks off at 3:50pm (ET) on Friday, October 28, with the free dance occurring on Saturday, October 29 at 3:25pm (ET).