Schizas leads after women's short program at Canadian figure skating championships
Messing sits 1st after men's short program in final appearance at nationals
Madeline Schizas, an Olympian from Oakville, Ont., heads into Saturday's free program in the lead, scoring 68.52 for her "Black Swan" program, despite a bobble on her triple loop.
Lia Pereira, who's also competing in pairs at the national championships with Trennt Michaud, had 61.21 points, while Fiona Bombardier, scored 60.52.
Schizas, who was excellent in Canada's fourth-place finish in the team event at the Beijing Olympics, said she was thrown off a bit Friday with having to skate last.
"Sometimes I struggle with that, just the wait," Schizas said.
WATCH | Schizas jumps to lead in women's event:
Should Pereira win a medal in both singles and pairs, she would be the first Canadian since Cynthia Coull in 1985 to do so.
Schizas trains with Pereira at the Milton Skating Club, and Schizas marvelled at how she competes in two events. Schizas also wanted to be a pairs skater when she started out, but she jumps clockwise, which is rare in skating, and there were no clockwise male skaters to team up with.
Canada's next great skater?
Newmarket, Ont., native Fiona Bombardier, was third in the women's short program on Friday in Oshawa, Ont., despite still being a junior competitor.
The 17-year-old's grace and wide smile are reminiscent of her famous mom — even as she has worked to develop her own figure skating identity.
And Bombardier only discovered by accident, well into her skating career, that her mom Josée Chouinard was once Canada's best and a two-time Olympian.
Messing leads after men's short program
Keegan Messing was the class of a sloppy men's singles field, scoring 94.40 points to win the short program by more than eight points.
Skating a day before the due date of his second child, and in his final national championships — he plans to retire this off-season — the 30-year-old from Girdwood, Ak., was a bundle of emotions.
"This whole week has been a struggle," Messing said. "The more the realization hits that 'oh no, this is my final competition on Canadian soil' . . . I've always tried to skate for the crowd and put on the best performance to entertain, and then to be trying to use this season to say goodbye, to have [the fans] right here and to be showing me this much love, there's no words. I'm overjoyed."
WATCH | Messing leads men's event:
Deanna Stellato-Dudek, who's been fighting a virus for nine weeks, and partner Maxime Deschamps, won the pairs short program (73.20).
A Canadian title would be a first for Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps, who won bronze in their first national appearance together last year.
"I want it for Max so much, because . . . this is his 10th Canadian championship and last year I was so proud, I was the first partner he got a medal with in senior," Stellato-Dudek said. "So, to be the partner that brings him the gold would be really special to me."
The 39-year-old Stellato-Dudek said she'd tried everything to get rid of her virus — ginger, tea, garlic, oregano — but her voice was still squeaky on Friday.
WATCH | Stellato-Dudek, Deschamps lead pairs event:
Montreal's Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen scored 87.06 points to lead the rhythm dance, which was missing world bronze medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. Gilles and Poirier captured their first Grand Prix Final title last month, but Gilles underwent an appendectomy recently.
WATCH | Fournier Beaudry, Sorensen 1st after rhythm dance:
Bombardier's dad, Jean-Michel Bombardier, was a pairs skater for Canada. He and Chouinard were both in the audience Friday at Tribute Communities Centre. Fiona's twin brother Noah skated until he grew out of a pair of skates when he was 12.
"That was the end of it," Bombardier said of her brother. "He didn't want to keep going."
Bombardier said she's barely even seen video of her mom competing. She recalled watching a YouTube clip of Chouinard at an Olympics — either Albertville (1992) or Lillehammer ('94), she didn't know which.
Chouinard was a three-time Canadian champion, and finished fifth at two world championships. While Bombardier said her mom is an inspiration, she is carving her own career.
"She does not pressure me into skating. She just allows me to do what I love to do and she's just there on the sidelines supporting me no matter what," said Bombardier, who hopes to be a vet after she's done skating.
The Canadian championships determine the team for the world championships in March in Saitama, Japan. Canada has one entry in women's singles at worlds, which is Schizas's to lose.
Watch the rest of the competition live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and on CBC Gem. You can also watch broadcast coverage on CBC Sports Presents on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET and Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
