Starting today the best and brightest of the Canadian figure skating world are sharpening their skates for the 2018 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships.
The Championships return to Vancouver for the first time since 2008, when Patrick Chan scored the first of his 9 Senior Men’s titles, will he secure #10 as he returns to the Vancouver ice?
The 2017 champions in senior disciplines, Kaetlyn Osmond (Women), Patrick Chan (Men), Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford (Pairs), Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (Dance) hope to remain atop the podium in the lead up to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
As they hit the ice at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre the defending gold medalists will face tough competition from returning 2017 silver and bronze medalists; Gabrielle Daleman, Alaine Chartrand, Kevin Reynolds, Nam Nguyen, Lubov Ilyushechkina & Dylan Moscovitch, Kirsten Moore-Towers & Michael Marinaro, Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje, Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier as well as dozens of others hoping to step up to the podium. With Canada having qualified the most entries (17) of any country for the 2018 Winter Olympics, everyone will be hoping to make a mark to gain one of those coveted spots.
In addition to the senior categories, competitors in Novice and Junior disciplines will complete in the week-long figure skating competition. All are hoping to make their name in the field and secure a place in respective national teams for International competitions.
The 2018 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships take place January 8 – 14, 2018 at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre at UBC, Vancouver. For schedule, ticket information, stats and live stream visit skatecanada.ca