By: Dylan Nazareth

It’s a big year for Roman Sadovsky.

After missing the podium at nationals in back-to-back seasons, the Ontarian was crowned Canadian champion once again earlier this year, half a decade after last doing so in 2020.

Now, things are heating up heading into a critical Olympic season for the 26-year-old skater, who will look to claim Canada’s sole men’s spot in Milan. Having just returned from a trip to Japan, he’s right back at training, and already teasing a new long program he will be debuting this Fall.

“It’s very different from last year,” Sadovsky said. “I guess the most hint I’ll give is it’s a play on a classical piece, and it’s a very happy program. Very pure, nostalgic.”

While he’s still holding his cards close on what he’ll be skating to, he confirmed his long program is complete, and he’s been working with choreographer Mark Pillay on nailing the routine. And while they’re still in the process of locking down the music rights for the short program, he calls it “just a matter of time” before it’s all sorted. Amidst some music rights nightmares for other skaters, he said he’s just happy to be ahead of it this year.

In the meantime, Sadovsky is focusing hard on his strength training to get his body ready for what is sure to be a long season. In doing so, he’s hoping to avoid the injury troubles that plagued him midway through last year so he can focus on putting his best skates out on the ice.

“I think there were a lot of really good lessons from last year,” Sadovsky said. “If I can focus on my training and get consistent, then it reflects itself in the competitions. That really is the biggest focus for me, keeping that longevity, that resilience, that injury prevention. As long as my body stays a-okay, I can really bring in some good performances.”

Part of building that resilience going into an Olympic season means also being vigilant in monitoring his body, and adapting where needed to avoid any issues. Sadovsky jokes that his body is like an iPhone home screen, where when you press and hold on one app all the other ones start shaking. In the same vein, he’s keeping close tabs on his health and the impact it may have on his training in order to avoid a similar setback to last year.

“You have your foundational piece and then you need to make smart decisions throughout the season on how to optimize on recovery,” he said.

A longtime tenant of Richmond Hill’s York Region Skating Centre, off the ice Sadovsky will be turning to his home club’s support through this challenging year to keep himself grounded and maintain his momentum.

“It’s a very cool energy at home here,” Sadovsky said. “I’ve been part of this club since I was like eight years old, it’s a very small and tight community. It’s really cool having sort of a support team of both coaches, parents, and skaters that I teach myself. It’s always really positive, some of them even came out to watch me skate at Worlds last year.”

With momentum on his side, Sadovsky holds the cards heading into this critical year. Now it’s up to him to perfect his new routines and stay healthy, as he looks to stake his claim as one of the best in the World once again.