There's a little extra on the line at the figure skating nationals

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The Canadian figure skating championships began today in Laval, Que., with the opening rounds of the junior competitions. The main senior-level events start Friday evening and continue through Sunday.

The senior nationals will help decide who gets picked to represent Canada at the Four Continents championships in Seoul next month and the world championships in Boston at the end of March. The worlds are extra-important this year because the results there will determine how many Olympic entries each country receives for the 2026 Winter Games in Italy. Canada will award its spots to specific athletes following next year's national championships.

This week's nationals will also give us a look at Canada's Olympic medal contenders. Our two best hopes are pretty clear: the pairs team of Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps and the ice dance duo of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps have the best chance of winning Olympic gold. Last March in Montreal, they captured Canada's first figure skating world title in any discipline since 2018. They've looked great this season too, winning both of their regular Grand Prix events in the fall before an illness forced them out of the prestigious Grand Prix Final in France, where no Canadians reached the podium.

Now they're back in good health to go for their third straight national title and Stellato-Dudek's first as a Canadian citizen. The Chicago native, who has lived and trained around Montreal since teaming up with Deschamps in 2019, took the oath in December. That makes her eligible to compete for Canada at the Olympics, which have stricter nationality rules than most of international figure skating.

Gilles and Poirier took silver in the ice dance at last year's world championships in Montreal — their third medal in four years at the worlds, following a pair of bronze. They won gold at the Grand Prix Final last season but dropped to fifth this time after Poirier tripped on the boards. The defending Canadian champs are trying for their fourth national title and should make a better run at the Olympic podium after finishing eighth in 2018 and seventh in 2022.

Others to watch in the doubles events this week include ice dancers Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha (fourth at this season's Grand Prix Final, fifth at last year's worlds) and the pairs tandem of Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud (eighth at last year's worlds). Eighteen-year-old Jazmine Desrochers and 20-year-old Kieran Thrasher are moving up to senior pairs after taking bronze at the Junior Grand Prix Final for the second straight year.

At the moment, it seems highly unlikely that Canada will have any serious medal contenders in the singles events at next year's Olympics. No Canadian has reached a major solo podium since Kaetlyn Osmond won the women's gold at the 2018 world championships. At last year's worlds, Canada's three individual skaters — Wesley Chiu, Madeline Schizas and Roman Sadovsky — finished 17th, 18th and 19th.

Chiu, the 19-year-old reigning Canadian men's champ, is sidelined with an ankle injury. Stephen Gogolev, 20, is also out. That opens the door for 20-year-old Aleksa Rakic (last year's runner-up) or the veteran Sadovsky (the 2020 winner) to grab the title and stake their claim for Canada's lone men's entry at the world championships.

Schizas, a two-time national champion, will try to reclaim the women's title from Kaiya Ruiter, who won it as a 17-year-old last year. Ruiter went on to finish 21st at the junior world championships. Canada will also have just one spot in the women's event at this year's senior worlds.

How to watch:

You can catch every skate in the junior and senior events live on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. Here's the full streaming schedule including start times for each event.