It was a busy weekend. Brampton’s Cassie Campbell arena was buzzing with activity as over 700 skaters took the ice for the Skate Ontario provincial Championships. The road to Provincials for these athletes from all of figure skating’s disciplines included a series of qualification events that were, for the first time, sponsored by Elite Jump Performance off-ice training facility.

“The support of our partners and the performances of our skaters made this record-setting weekend a resounding success!” said Skate Ontario Executive Director Lisa Alexander.

Is this just another competition? Kira Wilde, a competitor from the Nepean Skating Club at her third Provincials saw it this way. “Skaters from all over Ontario come and I wouldn’t normally get to see that which makes this event really interesting.”

Skaters and coaches filled every corner as they prepared for their events while parents and other fans packed the stands in both rinks. “Pursuing goals is something that transcends figure skating. When skaters have the tools they need to thrive in the classroom, it contributes to the motivation to the confidence that they need on the ice,” said Maha Sayah, founder and owner of Performance and Education Academy, Skate Ontario’s integrated education partner.

Helping to prepare the skaters are the coaches and the owners of The Richmond Training Center, Danielle and Ken Rose were among those with Provincial athletes. “To make the Provincials is one goal and then to figure out what to do once you get here is another, and an important step in any skater’s journey,” said Ken.

Attending Provincials from Mt. Brydges, the Magic Blades Juvenile Synchro team had had their sights set on Provincials from the beginning of the season. As a developmental tool moving forward “We use our last event of the season as the final step on our training plan for the season obviously and then try and facilitate all of the next steps the kids who are moving to the next level are going to need,” said their coach Chrissy Kernaghan.

In today’s world, technology is as much a part of the sport on the ice as it is off. Skate Ontario was thrilled to be able to bring the event home to the fans by way of our live stream and the provided commentary, which was sponsored by Uplifter, a Skate Ontario partner that offers Club Management Software to clubs in the province that want to simplify skater registration. “Offering commentary ‘Live from the Uplifter Broadcast Booth’ was a great way for us to show our support of the skaters and the clubs they come from,” said Jackie Kwan, Founder and CEO of Uplifter. Live streaming an event is an important way of connecting skaters and skating to an audience. In the case of Provincials, a record-setting audience in the tens of thousands for that event.

While the action was unfolding in Brampton, other members of the Skate Ontario family were competing at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships where Ontario was the only section in the country to have representation in all four disciplines: Here are the results:

Ice Dance: Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier – SILVER (to add their two World Bronze medals)

Men: Roman Sadovsky – 19^th place

Women: Madeline Schizas – 18^th place

Pair: Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud – 8^th place

We are #SkateOntarioProud of all our skaters wherever they competed!

Follow Skate Ontario on social media @SkateOntario on Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook and use the hashtag #SkateOntarioProud in your own posts. Check out our photo album of the event on Facebook and re-live Provincials online on our Daily Motion page.