In this edition of Gatineau Gems, we go behind the scenes at the National Figure Skating Championships to share moments you won’t get anywhere else from the event.

Competition is Not for the Weak!

In the Mixed Zone after Practice:

Women Practice

Maddie Schizas …

… is excited to have family and her university roommates on hand to see her skate live. As far as making the Olympic team she is clear that it will be ‘over my dead body’ that she doesn’t get to go.

Katherine Medland Spence…

… is competing with vertigo that has been coming on since before she went to Japan in the Fall. It has been challenging enough that she had to give up spinning for 6 weeks. It’s all about safety and determination.

Gabrielle Daleman….

…pronounced ‘I’m baaaaack’ at the start of her media scrum. She is grateful to be at Nationals and has devoted the past 13 months to recovery after 2 surgeries to. Do results matter to her? “Oh yeah. Did we forget who we are talking to? It’s me.”

Ice Dance Practice

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier…

…it turns out Piper’s beautiful outfit on practice today is inspired by 1990s Versace with a hint of Kendall Jenner. Who knew?

Nathan Lickers and Lily Hanson…

Nathan is a proud member of the Seneca First Nation and is sporting a beaded medallion that his mom made for him. Talk about pride!

Junior Synchro – Free Program

Gold Ice Junior…

… are proud of their dresses because our manager did the beading! Now that’s dedication!

Ice Ignite Junior…

…their dresses have a screened Jekyll on the front and Hyde on the back representing their journey and triumph over evil to light.

NEXXICE Junior…

… their dresses took six hours each to embellish with stones and silk flowers and one person did all of them! Well worth the effort on their way to a new Canadian record in the Free and the Junior title!

Men – Short Program

Jake Ellis …

… the audience clapping to the beat of his music gave him the surge of energy he needed to finish strong.

John Kim…

…the internal conversation in his head told him to calm down and to trust his training and the fact that he has done these elements over and over again. The proof is in the pudding: quad toe, triple Lutz/triple toe, triple Axel.

David Shteyngart …

… turned around from his step sequence and caught sight of Mom, Dad and his 2 sisters in the audience and after performance could hear them (specifically) cheering.

Grayson Long …

…his last piece of advice before starting his program came from coach Brian Orser who said: ‘you know what to do.”

Stephen Gogolev …

…it was the best he has ever skated his short program and he knows it. #SkateOntarioProud. He leads the men’s event by about 10 points.

Roman Sadovsky…

…came back to this SP music from three years ago and loves it because it gives him inner confidence, is kind of passive aggressive and says ‘take that’ to the haters if you will.

From Vendor Row

Jackson Skates…

…is proud of the 91 skaters competing wearing Jackson equipment including 40 Seniors and 51 Juniors. We are #SkateOntarioProud of the 7 Senior and 16 Junior skaters sporting the Jackson brand representing Team Ontario in Gatineau. #SupportingSkaters

Senior Pair – Short

Jazmine Desrochers and Kieran Thrasher…

…said the best advice they got from coach Jeff Langdon before the short program was to go out and enjoy themselves which was good because Jazmine feels that they don’t need to be beaten down by their coaches; just supported.

Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov…

…have a lot going on while training for both Senior and Junior events. What a great Senior debut at Nationals!

Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud …

… said ‘we are a team’ nobody knows from the report card who did what mistake. We could all learn a lot from the kind of support these two give each other!

More to come on Saturday from Gatineau. #SkateOntario is everywhere!