Canadian Figure Skating Championships 2018: TV Schedule and Top Contenders
The 2018 Canadian Figure Skating Championships get underway on Monday as the country's finest descend upon Vancouver, British Columbia, looking to axel their way into selection for later competitions.
As well as determining the national champions in men's and women's singles, pair skating and ice dancing in several categories, Canada's Figure Skating Championships will also determine the team that heads to the Winter Olympics.
This will be Vancouver's sixth time playing host to the national figure skating championships, although it's been 10 years since the competition last made an appearance in the city.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Patrick Chan will be one of the major stars to watch as he goes in search of a 10th men's singles gold medal, while defending women's champion Kaetlyn Osmond is seeking back-to-back crowns for a second time in the women's singles.
Read on for a more detailed brief of those stars and others vying for silverware at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver starting this week.
TSN and CTV will host live TV coverage of the competition from Friday, January 12, when the senior events get underway. Visit the competition's official website for a look at the schedule in full.
Top Contenders
Chan is once again the man of the moment heading to the national championships in 2018, although he's in a slight state of repair after missing out on a medal at the 2017 Skate Canada International in October.
Since then, the 27-year-old withdrew from an NHK Trophy event in November in order to concentrate his efforts on the Canadian Figure Skating Championships, per a report from CBC.ca.
Chan has also made major changes to his training and coaching in recent times, moving to Vancouver full time after a year or so training in Canton, Michigan, with former Russian figure skate star Marina Zoueva.
His split from Zoueva was fully supported by his former mentor, and Chan recently touched on the benefits he's seen since returning to a more familiar setting, per Lori Ewing of the Canadian Press (h/t CBC):
"'Patrick, whatever makes you happy, I'm happy you've found a place where you could regain that energy,' and kind of the drive, the push.
"They've done so much for me, and I really wanted it to be an open-book policy, I didn't want it to be 'Oh I'm running away,' and not letting them know. So I kept things very open."
The Olympic Channel recently explored the "unfinished business" Chan has here and broke down the potential plaudits awaiting him in Vancouver.
Chan currently sits level with Montgomery Wilson on nine men's singles wins apiece but can become the event's most successful athlete ever if he can clinch a record-breaking 10th this year.
Vying with him for the top spot will be the likes of four-time silver medallist Kevin Reynolds and Nam Nguyen, the 19-year-old ace who ended Chan's spree of seven titles with a shock gold medal in 2015.
Osmond's grip on the women's title isn't so domineering, but she's hoping to defend her title again after Gabrielle Daleman and Alaine Chartrand won in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
She had won successive golds prior to those wins and reclaimed her crown last year, although Osmond recently spoke to CBC and gave the impression her Winter Olympics spot is far from assured:
"Everyone has been competing really well this year and it's still different for me to think that I'm a medal contender, but I can only do what I can do so I'm trying to keep that focus right now.
"I'm feeling really good. Training has been going really well...
"I'm just really excited to go and I'm just feeling more ready than I could possibly be."
Daleman and Chartrand will again be her main competition for the top of the podium, having all moved around the top three spots in recent years. The former shared a piece of figure skating history with Osmond last year at the World Championships, as shown by CBC.
In the pairs, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford are hoping to enhance their record as the most successful duet in the competition's history by clinching an eighth successive doubles gold medal.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
