Ruiter halts Schizas's 3-peat bid in women's program at Canadian figure skating championships
Gilles reclaims ice dance title with Poirier after withdrawing last year due to cancer surgery
The moment wasn't too big for Kaiya Ruiter.
The 17-year-old Calgarian won Saturday's free skate in her hometown to claim the Canadian women's figure skating championship.
Trailing two-time champ Madeline Schizas after Friday's short program, Ruiter laid down her best free-skate score this season to take the crown at WinSport Arena.
"Just having that skate out there, that just felt like magic to me," Ruiter said. "That was one of the most special performances I've ever had in my life and just to get to share that with my family and friends and everyone that I love, it's just surreal."
The teenager, who will compete for Canada at the Youth Olympic Games starting Friday in Gangwon, South Korea, posted a total score of 180.86 points.
After her free skate that scored 122.61, Ruiter watched on a television screen behind the kiss-and-cry area as 20-year-old Schizas of Oakville, Ont., struggled to cleanly land jumps.
"I just, like, walked my way through the program making mistakes one after another after another," Schizas said. "I cannot pinpoint one good thing that happened in that program. It was a waste of everyone's time including mine."
Schizas was denied the first women's three-peat since Joannie Rochette capped a run of six straight titles in 2010, and fell well short of her goal of 200 points in Calgary.
Canada's 2023 junior women's champion Hetty Shi of Mississauga, Ont., was third with a score of 162.51.
Ruiter finished second to Schizas in last year's nationals in Oshawa, Ont.
"I look up to her very much," Ruiter said. "I've known Madeline for a very long time and she's such an incredible competitor and we support each other."
Ruiter's parents, a grandmother, three sisters and a passel of friends were among the spectators loudly cheering the hometown athlete, who skated to Florian Christl's "Inspiration" on Saturday.
"Hard work pays off and it'll pay off at some point even if you don't know when," Ruiter said. "I just always want to go out to every competition and just enjoy it. You never know how many you're going to get and I just want to soak in every moment I have."
Chiu wins his 1st national men's title
Vancouver's Wesley Chiu claimed his first national men's singles title on Saturday.
Chiu carried a sizable lead from the men's short program into Saturday's free skate, in which he was unable to land a quadruple jump or a triple axel.
The 18-year-old did enough to win after two straight years of bronze, however. Chiu threw in an unplanned triple-triple combination toward the end of his free skate.
"I just tried to scratch out every single point that I could," he said. "After hearing the long program score, I still wasn't quite sure just because I wasn't paying attention to the scores, really. When the final results came out, it was a big stress relief for sure.
"Having Canadian champion on my back, definitely I can skate with more pride now. It also comes with responsibility. Really motivating to go back and train hard."
Silver medallist Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., won the free skate to finish with 225.39 points behind Chiu's 232.15. Anthony Paradis of Boisbriand, Que., was the bronze medallist at 209.98.
Stellato-Dudek, Deschamps repeat as pairs champs
Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps successfully defended their pairs title with Stellato-Dudek claiming a national title at age 40.
The Montreal-based pair led by less than a point after the short program, in which Stellato-Dudek face-planted while landing a throw jump.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps executed two throws in Saturday's free skate to go just over 10 points clear of Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud for a total of 205.79.
"We're happy that we were able to come back from that really bad performance yesterday and show the work we've been doing on those throws," Stellato-Dudek said.
"Those were two very smoothly landed throws and I was not going to back down on those after what happened yesterday."
Pereira of Milton, Ont., and Michaud of Brantford, Ont., upgraded from their bronze medal of 2023 with 193.14 points. Kelly Ann Laurin of St-Jerome, Que., and Loucas Ethier of St-Alphonse, Que., were third with a 187.40 tally.
Gilles, Poirier reclaim ice dance title
"Paul and I really skated like champions today," Gilles said. "We stepped out onto the ice and just remembered who we were and why we're here. And using this as a stepping-stones for worlds, you know, we want to be on the top of that podium, so we've got to start acting like those champions."
Toronto's Gilles and Poirier of Unionville, Ont., swept the short and long programs for a score of 222.95.
Silver medallists Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac of Ste-Anne-Des-Plaines, Que., totalled 200.50. Alicia Fabbri of Terrebone, Que., and Paul Ayer of Brossard, Que., ranked third with 195.61.
Soerensen allegations put cloud over nationals
Canada's 2023 ice dance champions Nikolaj Soerensen and Laurence Fournier Beaudry withdrew from this year's championship.
USA Today reported an American figure skating coach and former skater accused Sorensen of raping her in Hartford, Conn., in 2012, and that a complaint has been filed with both Canada's Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner and the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
The allegations have not been proven in court. Sorensen called the allegations false in an Instagram post.
Results at nationals factor into selection for the Four Continents championship Jan. 30 to Feb. 4 in Shanghai, as well as the world championship March 18-24 in Montreal, but are not the only criteria.
Scores and results from previous world championships and this season's Grand Prix circuit are also considered.
Canada will send a full complement of three ice dance teams, three pairs, three men and three women to Shanghai.
Live coverage of the Canadian figure skating championships continues Sunday with the gala exhibition at 4:00 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
With files from CBC Sports
