{"id":953910,"date":"2026-11-01T03:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T03:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/953910\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T03:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T03:56:14","slug":"sci26-a-ray-of-light-for-canadian-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/953910\/","title":{"rendered":"#SCI26: A ray of light for Canadian women"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Sara-Maude Dupuis was beaming from the moment she completed her short program after turning in the top Canadian performance in the women\u2019s short program at Skate Canada International in Kelowna, B.C. (All photos by Danielle Earl\/Skate Canada).<\/p>\n

KELOWNA, B.C. \u2014 There is a growing sentiment among Canada\u2019s top women that there\u2019s a national title for the taking this season, that the battle for the gold medal in Mississauga is a wide open affair \u2014 maybe as open as it\u2019s been in recent memory.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re still more than two months away from seeing whether that\u2019s true but the women\u2019s short program at Skate Canada International certainly offered some fodder for that argument. One thing is absolutely for certain \u2014 nobody is going to back into a Canadian title. It\u2019s going to take a great skate, and probably two, to get it done.<\/p>\n

Perennial contender Sara-Maude Dupuis lit up Prospera Place with a joyous, relatively clean skate and she\u2019s the top Canadian here at the moment, posting a 64.58 score that is her highest ever in a short program at a Grand Prix event (it\u2019s a few points shy of a personal best).<\/p>\n

The other two Canadian women in the field, four-time Canadian champion Maddie Schizas (57.95) and Grand Prix newcomer Fee Ann Landry (57.27), made significant errors and sit ninth and 10th, respectively. It was Landry, the 21-year-old from Gatineau, Que., who repeated a sentiment that she shared with us<\/a> during the off-season \u2014 that she\u2019s targeting a podium finish at 2027 nationals. And her rationale for that thought hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe field is open right now,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we\u2019re a good mix of women in the field, the Canadian field anyway, and I think that\u2019s something that I can work for and that\u2019s achievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

We presented that thought to the ever-cheerful Dupuis, and the 21-year-old Montrealer didn\u2019t hesitate to agree with that sentiment. Then again, this was probably exactly the right day to ask for her opinion on that \u2014 she delivered the kind of short program that will put you right in the hunt at nationals, even if she likely deserved a little more credit for it on the program components area of the scoresheet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely, I agree with Fee Ann that it\u2019s wide open. I also think we\u2019ve never had, since I\u2019ve been around, (a situation) where there\u2019s so much talent, and it\u2019s really exciting,\u201d she said. \u201cBut also, I think I have experience and I have the technical arsenal as well as really good programs this year to make a good case for myself. And yes, I want to be national champion this year. I want to go to Worlds and World Team Trophy. That\u2019s the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dupuis will reveal more of that arsenal on Sunday, when she opens her free program with a triple Axel \u2014 she\u2019s the first and only Canadian women to ever land it in competition \u2014 and has a triple-triple combination to follow it up, and more strong technical content beyond that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, you get to see much more than (a triple Axel),\u201d Dupuis said of the program, which will be skated to \u201cThe Thrill is Gone,\u201d by Raye. \u201cOf course, there\u2019s a personal goal of mine to land a triple Axel with positive GOE tomorrow because I\u2019ve been doing it for a whole season now, but never in the positives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one goal, but it\u2019s also just one jump. And whatever happens on this jump, my goal is to perform the rest of the program, get at least four out of the six jumps really good. I have a triple-triple planned after the triple Axel, so I want to do that.\u201d <\/p>\n

She\u2019d no doubt like to channel some more of her inner Madonna, which is one way she described how she felt during the short program (Dupuis is a huge Madonna fan and the music for it is the mega-star\u2019s \u201cRay of Light\u201d). But it was the audience that went along for the ride with her that truly made the day for Dupuis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese programs are really what I live for as an athlete, from the first crosscuts taking speed for my first jump, people were clapping to the music, and then it just got louder and louder and louder,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd this is literally what I do this for. There\u2019s no better feeling on earth, in my opinion. And so yeah, you can\u2019t help but smile and enjoy it. It was a good performance, but the reaction from the crowd made it even more special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A flubbed combination kept Canada\u2019s Maddie Schizas from landing among the top echelon of skaters in the women\u2019s short program at Prospera Place.<\/p>\n

The X-factor in all of this, of course, is Schizas, the four-time national champion, who had a good program of her own going until she completely flubbed her planned triple Lutz-triple toe combination. It\u2019s now situated in the back half of her program, as in bonus points territory, and when it\u2019s done very well, Schizas says it\u2019s an element potentially worth 15 points to her. On this day, it counted just 1.16.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old from Oakville, Ont., did some quick mathematics for us afterward and said it was the difference between what she scored and a 70-plus point program. The top five here were all above that number, with rising Japanese star Mao Shimada, the four-time Junior World champion, pushing it even higher to 82.11.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the neighbourhood where Schizas wants to reside, and she has upped the ante technically this season to get there. It is a motivation to keep going in this sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a score above 70 (with a clean skate). That\u2019s the gamble you take,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re walking away with a 65, or you\u2019re playing for the 70. And today I just had to play for the 70, and it didn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see any point in skating and going for a 65. I\u2019ve done that for four years. If I\u2019m going to bother doing this, it\u2019s going to be because I want to be one of the best in the world, and I want to be pushing a 75.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her \u201cSing, Sing, Sing\u201d program has the potential to be a high-quality one and, jumps aside, it scored very well for Schizas here on Saturday. That was a positive point to lean on, given her \u201cdisappointment\u201d in what happened with the combo.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the first time I got Level 4s across the board on the non-jumping elements in international competition,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever had that happen, and truly I have worked very hard on that. However, I\u2019ve also worked hard on the jumps, and I think that showed in the practice, that showed in the warm-up, that showed in the one minute before I skated, and it did not show in the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Canada\u2019s Fee Ann Landry placed 10th in the women\u2019s short program in her Grand Prix debut, but has bigger ambitions later this season.<\/p>\n

And now she\u2019ll turn to Edith Piaf, and \u201cHymne a l\u2019amour\u201d and \u201cLa Foule,\u201d to bring her sixth Skate Canada International home on a much higher note, and show some of the work she\u2019s done to push her technical game to a higher level.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fresh day. I have nothing to lose. I\u2019m just going to give it my best shot,\u201d she said of Sunday\u2019s free skate. \u201cI expect to be better than (this short program), but at the same time, I pushed myself to do more this year. I pushed the technical in both programs. I was going to continue pushing the technical because, as I said, there\u2019s no reason to do this if I\u2019m not going to do that \u2026 If I\u2019m going to do this, it\u2019s because I feel I have more to give and to do that I need to push my technical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landry, for her part, felt the bigness of a Grand Prix for the first time. Even though she\u2019s been here for a few days now, the realization truly hit her when she the ice for the short program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think I realized I was competing in a Grand Prix until I got on the ice for the short program,\u201d she said. \u201cPractices were good. I think I was expecting a bit better, but it\u2019s the first Grand Prix (for me), and I didn\u2019t expect the nerves to be this like this. So I think that\u2019s something. It\u2019s experience, and I don\u2019t have it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Canada\u2019s Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac brought the laughs and a quality performance to the rhythm dance at Skate Canada International in Kelowna.<\/p>\n

Sometime during their off-the-wall rhythm dance performance, Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac heard some hearty guffaws from the audience at Prospera Place. And yes, this was a very good thing.<\/p>\n

But hey, when you\u2019re watching Mr. Bean, isn\u2019t that the way it\u2019s supposed to be?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best privilege is having people laughing while we skate,\u201d said the 29-year-old Lauriault, grinning as she shared this thought. \u201cIt\u2019s something really special that we don\u2019t get every time. So it\u2019s truly a privilege to hear that and witness that when we came (here).\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, if you were among those laughing along and just thought it was a super fun thing to watch \u2026 well, imagine being the ones getting to do it. Mr. Bean has been a joy for Lauriault and Le Gac since they began to develop the concept, and it continues to be that way for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really fun to create it, to skate it every day at home, and that\u2019s why we created this program. We wanted to have fun,\u201d said Le Gac, 31. \u201cWe wanted to bring something lighter. Sometimes, we don\u2019t see much comedy on the ice, and we like this feeling. We like to play those characters, but we still want to keep the class in it. It was really fun today to perform in front in front of the crowd here in Kelowna.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The class part of it, of course, comes from the Golden Waltz, the pattern dance that was mandated for the rhythm dance this season. Marrying their comedic aims with the waltz took some work but then again, that was the theme of this all \u2026 the bumbling Mr. Bean trying to learn how to dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came, I feel, later in the process because we knew the swing was going to be the dance of Mr. Bean,\u201d said Lauriault. \u201cIt\u2019s weird in its own way, and it\u2019s different movement. That\u2019s why we put it at the end because it felt like he knew how to dance this, and he\u2019s getting better as the program goes on. Cha cha, he\u2019s really not good at it. Like he\u2019s learning, falling. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo the waltz was in the middle, and it was in the composition. That\u2019s why we brought the fly in<\/a> because we felt like we wanted more character within the waltz. So the fly is part of the clumsiness of Mr. Bean, and you think he\u2019s great at doing the waltz, but then he gets distracted by everything that runs, like the fly. So it was really fun to grow this process as the choreography went on.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we noted yesterday, Lauriault and Le Gac aren\u2019t just here for some laughs, although that was surely part of the plan. The Canadian duo hasn\u2019t brought home a Grand Prix medal since 2022 Skate America, and they\u2019d like to take a run at that this weekend. They\u2019re currently in fifth place, but their 72.10 score leaves Lauriault and Le Gac just 2.14 points shy of the bronze medal position currently held by Americans Caroline Green and Michael Parsons.<\/p>\n

The medals will be decided in Sunday\u2019s free dance, which closes out the competition here at Prospera Place, after the women\u2019s free skate.<\/p>\n

For the other two Canadian entries here in Kelowna \u2014 both of whom, like Lauriault and Le Gac, train at the Ice Academy of Montreal\u2019s Ontario campus in the London area \u2014 this has been a learning weekend. It\u2019s a new Grand Prix experience for both Alyssa Robinson and Jacob Portz, who currently stand ninth, and Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys, who sit 10th.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Canada\u2019s Alyssa Robinson and Jacob Portz say they\u2019re soaking up every bit of the experience during their Grand Prix debut in Kelowna.<\/p>\n

Robinson and Portz, who placed 10th at the Trialeti Trophy, a Challenger Series event in Batumi, Georgia, at the beginning of October, were the late additions to the Canadian entry list here. They\u2019re soaking up the opportunity to rub shoulders with the likes of Britain\u2019s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, the favourites coming in, who seized the lead at SCI after the rhythm dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited about being here. It\u2019s our first Grand Prix, so the energy is amazing,\u201d said Robinson, 23. \u201cAnd being among some of the best teams is a really cool experience that we\u2019ll take forward. Really proud of what we put out there. Definitely some mistakes and things to improve, so we\u2019ll go back to work after this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veillon and Brandys experienced their share of big events last season in the junior ranks, placing fifth at the Junior Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan, and fourth at the season-ending Junior World Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. They\u2019ve stepped up to senior internationally this season, and it\u2019s a whole new world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t too score driven or result driven here,\u201d said Veillon, 20, after their rhythm dance. \u201cWe\u2019re just here for the experience to learn and grow. It\u2019s our first year (as seniors), so as everyone says, just take every bit of knowledge you can. So I feel like we\u2019re really happy with how we did (the rhythm dance). It was a fun skate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Canada\u2019s Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys see Skate Canada International as an opportunity for learning in their first season as seniors internationally.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re back to a two-event day to close out the proceedings in Kelowna. Here\u2019s the schedule for Sunday at Prospera Place (all times Pacific):<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sara-Maude Dupuis was beaming from the moment she completed her short program after turning in the top Canadian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":953911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-953910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}