By: Dylan Nazareth

This is not Roman Sadovsky’s first rodeo.

This weekend, the 25-year-old skater will make his 11th appearance at nationals. With a wealth of experience under his belt, the 2020 Canadian champion is feeling good ahead of Friday’s short program.

“I’m feeling really confident,” said Sadovsky, speaking after practice Thursday morning. “I’m really liking the atmosphere in the rink … it’s my first time doing it here, so just really excited to do another nationals.”

After a string of consecutive podium finishes three years ago, including winning the 2021 Skate Canada Challenge when nationals was cancelled due to COVID-19, Sadovsky finished outside the top 5 the past two years.

Now, with the Olympics on the horizon, he’s more determined than ever to prove himself again on the national stage with eyes already set on the World Championships in Boston later this year.

“My biggest goal is showing that I’m capable of being top 10 in the world,” said the 25-year-old. “That’s basically the biggest mission—trying to get that second spot in the Olympics.”

A top 10 finish in Boston would allow Canada to send two male skaters to the 2026 Olympic Games.

Sadovsky started the season strong with a season’s best score of 225.24 for a fifth place finish at the Nebelhorn Trophy in September, but then faced a setback at the end of October, when he was forced to withdraw from the Skate Canada International due to injury.

“I think I overtrained going into Skate Canada, which kind of came with a slew of injuries along with it,” said Sadovsky. “So that was kind of a hard few months of getting back into shape.”

Luckily for him the issue was minor, and with a modified program he managed a bronze medal at a Challenger Series event in Tallinn weeks later. Since then, he’s been back on track.

“Knock on wood, I’ve had a really good month and a half of straight training,” said the Toronto-based skater. “Consistent training and smart training.”

Now headed into what may turn out to be some of the biggest competitions of his career, the mental game is more important for Sadovksy than ever. For him, that includes lots of rest off the ice, working with a mental strength coach, and most importantly, staying off social media.

“It gets very noisy and distracting,” said Sadovsky. “So that’s a big one: really just focusing on myself, focusing on training.”

But first, he must once again conquer nationals. If all goes according to plan for him, Roman Sadovksy may be a name Canadian figure skating fans will be hearing a lot over the next year in the lead-up to the 2026 Winter Olympics.