By Dylan Nazareth

It’s been a few weeks since 17-year-old Megan Woodley shot to an impressive fourth-place finish at Skate Canada Nationals. Reflecting on it now that the dust has settled, Woodley shared how proud she is of her performances on the big stage.

“I’m really happy with the programs that I skated. To me, that’s more important than where I’m placed,” Woodley said, speaking in a recent interview. “But of course, being in the top four was, like, I don’t know if I was expecting it. That was very exciting and I was happy with that result. I think it was reflective of how I was training, it was very similar to what you could expect based on how I had been training up to the event.”

Woodley was making her second appearance at senior nationals this year, improving from a seventh-place finish in her debut last season. And after nationals, Woodley was right back at it, training in the lead-up to the 2026 Bavarian Open, where she finished in sixth place in the junior women’s discipline.

The Oro-Medonte native travels a modest few hours on the 400 every training day, from her home near Barrie to Toronto’s Granite Club, all while keeping up with a busy school schedule. Following the Bavarian Open, she’s back on the ice training as an alternate for Junior Worlds, but she’s already got eyes on next season as she looks to keep building.

“I think for next season, I’d like to increase the content in my free,” she shared. “So making the jumps harder. Harder planned content, more triples and combos and jumps like that.”

This season, Woodley’s short program opens with a Triple Lutz-Triple Toe combination, a difficult sequence that few of even the top Canadian women have in their repertoire right now. Able to pull it off at nationals, she’s proud of how far that combo has come this year.

“Over the season, it’s gotten a lot more consistent than it was at the start and I’m feeling much better about it now,” Woodley shared. “I was happy that I was able to get it done at nationals.”

The road to nationals was not an easy one for Woodley this season, starting the year with an injury that impacted her ability to train consistently. Ultimately able to come back, the resilience she found in herself gave a boost of confidence.

“One of my biggest takeaways from the season was that I came back from an injury at the start of the season, and that showed me that I can do that,” Woodley said. “I can come back from something like that. It sort of made me reflect and feel a little bit more mindful. More quality over quantity in the way that I approach my training and my run-throughs.”

Battling her way back from injury, she talked about the support system that helps her on and off the ice.

“I have a wonderful team of coaches with Lee (Barkell) and Jeff (Buttle) and all the coaches that I work with,” Woodley said. “And my parents, my physio, my sports psychologists, all of them. I really rely on them. On the hard days, they’re there to support me, and they’re there to cheer me on on the good days.”

As she looks to take the next step in her skating career, she also takes inspiration from skating alongside some of Canada’s best at the Granite Club.

“I skate with a lot of really high-level skaters, the top in Canada,” she said. “We push each other and it’s inspiring to see other people skating so well and supporting each other. The friends at the rink, you just help each other through all the days.”