Latest news with #SkateCanada
CBC
28-04-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Fournier Beaudry maintains 'spark' and 'passion' ahead of new challenge with Olympic champion Cizeron
Social Sharing Canadian figure skater Laurence Fournier Beaudry is starting a new chapter on the ice alongside 30-year-old Olympic and world ice dance champion Guillaume Cizeron. After more than a decade of competing, the 32-year-old isn't quite ready to hang up her skates. So, she's teamed up with Cizeron for another go on the ice. The pair trains out of the Ice Academy of Montreal, but are hoping to compete for Cizeron's home country of France in the upcoming season. "I introduced the idea to Laurence a few months ago, I think we were both at a crossroads," Cizeron told CBC Sports. "We were getting close to the end, but had the feeling of maybe some unfinished business … and thought it would be a good opportunity to have a new, last chapter together." WATCH | Fournier Beaudry still has desire to compete, opens new chapter Cizeron: The partnership marks the Frenchman's official return to the sport after not competing for nearly three years. He was previously partnered up with Gabriella Papadakis, whom he won the 2022 Olympic gold medal with, and five world titles. Cizeron and Papadakis officially retired their partnership in December 2024. Turning the page Fournier Beaudry, a Montreal native, competed for Canada at the Beijing 2022 Olympics where she placed ninth with her former partner Nikolaj Soerensen. Skate Canada issued the ban for Soerensen in October 2024 following an investigation by the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner into an allegation that he sexually assaulted an American figure skating coach and former skater in Hartford, Conn., in 2012. He has been barred from sport for a minimum of six years for "sexual maltreatment." Soerensen has denied the allegation, which has not been tested in court. As Fournier Beaudry embarks on a new team partnership, she says she still has a "spark" and "passion" for the sport. "We love challenges. And I think we saw that as an opportunity to evolve towards something new and create something new together and discover each other through this new partnership," Fournier Beaudry told CBC Sports. Cizeron says the two still have more to give despite their respective lengthy and successful careers on the ice. "I think we were both at that place where we could have retired happily," he said. "But we're still young, and I think the passion to perform and the will to get better … that little fire inside that you need to train every day." Each athlete brings well over a decade of experience and knowledge, something they hope to use to their advantage. "On the ice, off the ice, the partnership component, everything that goes into the preparation of an Olympic athlete, I think we have a lot of knowledge and experience," Cizeron said. "We can combine that experience that we have separately and use each other's strength to get better and compete against a team that's strong." Fournier Beaudry says the pair is preparing to begin competing together in August of 2024. "We have nothing to lose, we have everything to gain," Fournier Beaudry said. "We're still discovering and still creating and it's just been a beautiful surprise."
CBC
28-04-2025
- Sport
- CBC
A new chapter for Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron
Laurence Fournier Beaudry, formerly of Skate Canada, has found a new partner in Beijing 2022 ice dance champion Guillaume Cizeron, who is coming out of retirement. The new duo is looking forward to creating something unique to them and have ambitions of competing for France come Milano Cortina 2026.
CBC
01-04-2025
- CBC
Figure skating coach Matthew Power sentenced to 6 years for sex crimes against young skaters
A former St. John's-area figure skating coach who preyed on two of his teenage skaters has been sentenced to six years in prison. In Supreme Court on Tuesday, Matthew Power, now in his 30s, learned how much time he'd spend behind bars for several charges related to the sexual relationships he forced onto minors while employed as a Skate Canada coach. Power was a head figure skating coach at the time he sexually abused the two victims between 2016 and 2020. Justice Valerie Marshall heard from one of the complainants herself — and the other complainant's mother — in February, as the justice weighed her sentencing decision. Both told the court they were left traumatized and housebound after Power's years of predatory behaviour. Power was convicted in November of crimes including sexual assault and sexual interference, for the multiple instances of sexual contact with his first victim. She was between the ages of 14 and 16 when he abused her in various locations, including the rink where he trained her. He was also convicted of several charges related to luring after the other complainant saved Snapchat messages that Power had sent to her, some of which contained lewd messages referring to oral sex. That victim was under 16 at the time, while Power was in his late 20s. He was suspended as a Skate Canada coach in January 2021, just before one of the victim's mothers reported Power to police. For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.
CBC
18-02-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Virtue, Moir, Chan among Skate Canada Hall of Fame's elite 2025 class
Skate Canada announced an elite class of 2025 to its Hall of Fame on Tuesday led by two-time Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and three-time men's world champion Patrick Chan. Kaetlyn Osmond, a women's world champion in 2018, and two-time pairs world champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford were also among the inductees. Virtue, of London, Ont., and Moir, of Ilderton, Ont., won ice dance gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and 2018 Pyeongchang Games in South Korea. They also combined for eight Canadian titles and seven world championship medals (three gold, three silver, one bronze). Chan, from Ottawa, was the men's world champion for three consecutive years from 2011-13. He also won silver in 2009 and 2010. The 10-time Canadian champion took silver in the men's event at the 2014 Sochi Games. WATCH | Virtue, Moir reflect on iconic career: Tessa and Scott reflect on their partnership 5 years after retirement 1 year ago Duration 0:57 Canada's greatest figure-skating duo is now enshrined together forever into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. We spoke to Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir about the honour. Osmond, a three-time Canadian champion from Marystown, N.L., also won an Olympic bronze in women's competition in 2018 and added a world championship silver in 2017. Duhamel, of Sudbury, Ont., and Radford, of Red Lake, Ont., combined to win seven national titles, two world titles and three Olympic medals spanning two Games. Chan, Osmond, Duhamel, Radford, Virtue and Moir were all members of Canada's team that won gold in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Lyndon Johnston of Hamiota, Man., a pairs silver medallist at the 1989 world championships in Paris, was also named to the class of 2025. Longtime coaches Cynthia and Jan Ullmark and team doctor and chief medical officer Jane Moran were also named to the class.
Reuters
06-02-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Papadakis, Hubbell to skate together to promote same-sex pairs in competition
ZURICH, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Retired Olympic champions Madison Hubbell and Gabriella Papadakis plan to skate together at events in a bid to help pave the way for same-sex pairs to compete officially. France's Papadakis won gold at the 2022 Beijing Games with male partner Guillaume Cizeron in ice dancing, while American Hubbell won the team event after Russia were stripped of their title in the wake of the Kamila Valieva doping scandal. Papadakis and Hubbell, who have retired from competitive figure skating, will perform together during the Art on Ice Gala in several cities in Switzerland this month, and hope to help break down a gender stereotype in the sport. "I see a lot of young women who want to pursue ice dance in a certain way and there's not that many young boys or men who are competing, so there's a limit to how many people right now are participating," Hubbell told Reuters on Wednesday after her rehearsal with Papadakis in Zurich. The pair, who have been training together in Montreal and have become friends, decided after the Beijing Games that it was time to try something new. "Until recently it was only men and women that could skate together for ice dance," Papadakis told Reuters. In October 2022, Skate Canada became the sport's first governing body to allow same-gender pairs to compete at the national level. "But it's not yet allowed worldwide, and so I think it's just a change that is happening and people want to see it. It's just not a lot of people are ready I guess," Papadakis said. The pair said it was a slow process but they wanted to use their status in the skating world to allow athletes to perform with a same-gender partner. "I'm hoping that some very brave individuals are willing to take the leap soon," Hubbell told Reuters. The pair will perform for the first time on Thursday at the Hallenstadion Arena in Zurich. The show will then move on to Freiburg and Davos.
