Skate Canada International continued the 2024-2025 ISU Grand Prix Series, Oct. 25-27. The event, which took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, featured three reigning World champions, all who found themselves at the top of the podium.
Women
After the short program, three-time World champion Kaori Sakamoto, of Japan had a more than 7 point lead over 2022 World bronze medalist Alysa Liu, of the U.S., who is making a return to the Grand Prix Series and competitive skating after retiring following the 2021-2022 season. It was that 7 point lead that helped Sakamoto claim her second straight gold at Skate Canada International.
In her “All That Jazz” from the Chicago free skate, the 24-year-old had two falls. One was on the double Axel-Euler-double salchow combination and the other was on her triple flip late in the program. The double salchow and triple flip were also under-rotated. She also had an under-rotation on her triple toe. She earned a level 3 on her step sequence, and level 4 on her spins. She earned a free skate score of 126.24, which was second in the free skate, but she managed to hold onto the top spot with a score of 201.21.
“I am happy that I was able to win but I am very disappointed with result and with the content of my performance,” Sakamoto said following her skate. “I’ll take this disappointment to heart and hope to do better at my next event.”
Sakamoto will now compete at her home Grand Prix, NHK Trophy, in two weeks.
The winner of the free skate and the highlight of the women’s event was Japan’s Rino Matsuike, who was in 10th place after the short program. In her “Lux Aeterna” free skate, Matsuike, who turned 20 on Oct. 10, completed seven triple jumps. She also earned level 4 on her spins and step sequence. She earned a free skate score of 139.85 and a total score of 192.16 to move up eight spots to claim the silver medal. This is Matsuike’s second Skate Canada International medal. She won the bronze medal in 2023.
“I’m really full of happiness to make the podium,” Matsuike said. “I made some serious mistakes in the short program and my placement was such that I wasn’t expecting to make the podium.”
Matsuike will compete at Finlandia Trophy in three weeks.
It was a Japanese sweep of the women’s podium as Hana Yoshida, who was fourth after the short program, pulled up to claim the bronze medal. In her “S.O.S. d’un Terrien en Détresse” free skate, the 19-year-old attempted the triple Axel, which was under-rotated. She also fell on her triple Lutz. She did, however, earn level 4 on her spins and step sequence. She earned a free skate score of 126.05, which was third in the free skate, and earned a total score of 191.37 to win her second Grand Prix medal of her career.
“I am happy that I get on the podium with two Japanese girls but I am quite disappointed about my skating today,” Yoshida said. “When I finished the free skating, I wasn’t thinking that I made the podium. My disappointment was more about my performance not about not making the podium. When I learned I made the podium, it was more relief than happiness. I have to find a way to handle my nerves.”
The 2023 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist will also compete at Finlandia Trophy.
Finishing just off the podium by 0.20 points was Switzerland’s Kimmy Repond, who was third in the short program. In her Gladiator, Repond, who turned 18 on Oct. 18, fell on her triple Lutz. Her second triple flip in the program and a double toe jump were called under-rotated. In addition to her one-point deduction for the fall, she also received a one-point time violation deduction. She did earn level four on her spins and step sequence. She earned a free skate score of 124.13, which was fifth in the free skate and earned a total score of 191.07. Repond will next compete at Cup of China.
Two-time Canadian National Champion Madeline Schizas finished the event in fifth place. The 21-year-old’s only mistake in her free skate was stepping out of her triple Salchow. Her step sequence was only a level two, but she did her level three and four on her spins. She earned a free skate score of 124.76, which was fourth in the free skate. She earned a total of 190.04. She will also compete at Cup of China.
Liu, who was second after the short program, dropped to sixth overall. The 19-year-old had three under-rotations in the free skate and also only received level three on her spins and step sequence. She earned a free skate score of 120.01, and dropped to sixth overall with a total score of 187.69. Liu will compete at NHK Trophy.
Fellow American Elyce Lin-Gracey, who finished sixth just last week at Skate America, finished behind Liu in 7th place.
Pairs
2024 World champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, of Canada, were looking for their second straight Skate Canada International title. Like in the women’s event, they had to use their more than 8-point lead in the short program to help them achieve that.
In their “The Blue Planet” free skate, the team had a hard time with their side-by-side jumps as Deschamps fell on the triple toe and Stellato-Dudek doubled the Salchow. The 41-year-old also put her hand down on the throw triple Lutz and stepped out of the triple loop. They did earn level four on their triple twist, lifts, forward death spiral and pair spin. They earned a free skate score of 124.10, which was second in the free skate, but they held onto first place with an overall score of 197.33
“I’m not really sure what happened out there today, that’s not indicative of how our training has been going, but hopefully we can learn from it and move forward,” Stellato-Dudek said. “We’re training at home and you’re used to being on your feet on everything and when I saw Max fall at the beginning of the program it shocked me a little bit. Then maybe it takes you out of your normal routine that you have when you’re practicing.”
“You just have to forget about it (a poor performance), move forward, be positive, but learn from it,” Deschamps said. “If you learn from it, it wasn’t a waste or anything. So, move forward with it, and just learn how to be better next time.”
They will compete next at Finlandia Trophy.
The winners of the free skate were Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitrii Chigirev, who were competing in only their second competition for Uzbekistan. In fourth after the short program, Geynish and Chigirev’s “Teatro” free skate included side-by-side triple toe-double Axel sequence and side-by-side triple loops. Their only mistake was that Geynish two-footed the throw triple loop. They earned a level three for their death spiral and triple twist and level four for their pair spin and lifts. They earned a free skate score of 126.12 and a total score of 189.65, which were both personal best scores. They moved up from fourth to claim the silver medal.
“The performance was quite good,” Chigirev said. “If you’re looking at our stage of our preparation, it was the maximum at this point that we could have done, but obviously we want to improve, we want to do better, so we will work for that and work for the next Grand Prix. It’s very nice that for the first time in a long time, we seeing the Uzbek flag on the podium.”
Geynish and Chigirev are the first pair team representing Uzbekistan to win a Grand Prix medal. They also achieved the best result for the country since Tatiana Malinina in 2001.
They will compete next week at Grand Prix de France.
Sitting in third place after the short program was Australia’s Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulous Moore, who were looking for their first Grand Prix medal. In their The Umbrellas of Cherbourg free skate, they had some mistakes on the side-by-side jumps, where Giotopoulous Moore put a foot down in the triple-toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence and turned out of the triple Salchow. Golubeva also fell on throw triple loop. They earned level two for their triple twist, level three for their death spiral, pair spin and Group 5 reverse lasso lift. Their other lifts were level four. They earned a free skate score of 121.33, which was third in the free skate. They earned a total score of 186.14 to claim the bronze, which is Australia’s first ever senior Grand Prix medal.
“For me, it (the first medal) is a big deal,” Giotopoulos Moore said. “I feel it really shows that Australia can produce good figure skaters and figure skaters who can compete at the top of our disciplines. I’m very, very proud and grateful that we can say we won the first medal of Grand Prix medal for Australia.”
They will compete next at Finlandia Trophy.
Last year’s Skate America champions Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel, of Germany, who were in second after the short program, had some mistakes in the free skate. Hocke doubled the side-by-side triple Salchows and Kunkel fell on the side-by-side double Axel-single Axel-double Axel sequence. Hocke also two-footed the landing on the throw triple flip. They earned a free skate score of 119.48, which fourth in the free skate, and a total score of 184.30, to finish off the podium. They will compete next at NHK Trophy.
Team USA’s Emily Chan and Spencer Howe, who missed last season’s Grand Prix while Howe recovered from shoulder surgery, finished in 5th place. They will compete next at Finlandia Trophy.
Men
After the short program, World champion Ilia Malinin of the U.S., had an almost 10 point lead over Shun Sato of Japan. And for the second week in a row, the 19-year-old widened that margin in the free skate to claim his second straight Grand Prix gold.
In his “I’m Not a Vampire” free skate, Malinin’s quad flip was called on the quarter and he also struggled with his loop jump. He earned level 4 on his spins and step sequence. He earned a free skate score of 195.60, which was first in the free skate, and a total score of 301.82 to win the gold medal and punch his ticket to the Grand Prix Final. He won the event by 40 points.
“I’m always challenging myself. My main competitor is just being able to fight through a program start to finish,” Malinin said. “Of course, my goal was to go for that quad loop here as well, but it didn’t happen. I have a little more time for the Final to really make sure I can do it under pressure or when I’m doing the run-throughs so that it becomes pretty easy to do it.”
Sato, who was second in the short program, struggled in the free skate. In his “Nostos” free skate, he fell on his quad Lutz and triple Axel. His quadruple toe was also under-rotated. He earned a free skate score of 164.64, which was fourth in the free skate, but he still managed to claim the silver medal with a total score of 261.16.
“I made some mistakes in my jumps which was disappointing,” Sato said. “I am glad I was able to land the quad flip. For the short program, I was able to skate clean, which was my goal. In the free skate, my goal would have been to land the quad flip and quad Lutz and I couldn’t do that. Hopefully, I’ll do it at my next competition.”
Sato will compete next at Cup of China.
Korea’s Junhwan Cha, who finished in ninth place at last season’s Skate Canada International, was sitting in fourth place after the short program in Halifax. His Balada “para un Loco” free skate contained two clean quadruple jumps and level four spins and step sequence. His only mistakes were his triple lutz was called on the quarter and his triple Axel was under-rotated. He earned a free skate score of 171.93, which was second in the free skate. He earned a total score of 260.31 to claim the bronze medal.
“I fought until the finish, this was a good start for my first Grand Prix,” Cha said. “I didn’t have good memory of Skate Canada last year and I wanted to create good memory this time. As for my mistakes, I can improve that until the next event, so I’m not worried about it.”
Cha will compete at Finlandia Trophy.
Japan’s Sota Yamamoto, who sat in third after the short program, dropped to fourth overall, Vladimir Litvintsev of Azerbaijan finished in fifth place. Italy’s Gabriele Frangipani jumped from 10th and finished in sixth place overall.
Team USA’s Jason Brown, who is returning to the Grand Prix for the first time since the 2021-2022 season, finished in 8th place. Canada’s Romain Sadovsky withdrew after the short program for medical reasons.
Dance
The only event were the reigning World champions weren’t competing was ice dance. Reigning world silver medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada claimed their fifth Skate Canada title, winning the title over fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha. France’s Evgenia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud claimed the bronze.
Read more about the ice dance event at Ice-Dance.com.
