Patrick Chan returned to the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships with a bang, delivering two outstanding performances to re-capture the National title (his 8th), with a total score of 295.67 (more than 55 points in front of Liam Firus and Kevin Reynolds who were neck and neck for the silver and bronze medals).

Defending champ, Nam Nguyen, finished 4th with 227.69 points, in a very deep field that saw the top nine men all finish with more than 200 points, including other Ontario skaters, Bennet Toman (207.89) and Roman Sadovsky (204.59).

Anthony Kan (10th, 177.48) and Shaquille Davis (12th, 174.33) were also both very entertaining.

Alaine Chartrand proved consistency is key, capturing the National championship with a total of 201.99 points in one of the most exciting and competitive Women’s competitions in years! Alaine finished second in both the Short Program and the Free Skate, but her nearly perfect Free Skate was enough to hold off defending champion, Gabby Daleman (197.99), who squeaked past Short Program leader, Kaetlyn Osmond (197.87), with a nearly flawless Free Skate of her own.

Michelle Long, at 23 years old, and in only her second Nationals, leapt from 9th after the Short into 5th place with 154.28, securing a spot on the National team in one of the great stories of the event, while Eri Nishimura (8th, 137.76) also finished in the top ten!

Emma Cullen (13th, 121.82) and Veronique Cloutier (14th, 120.80) rounded out team Ontario’s placements in the Senior Women’s event.