The 2019 Canadian Championships take place Jan. 14-20 in Saint John, New Brunswick. All four disciplines will have a very different look this season following the retirement of all but one of the 2018 gold medalists.
New pairs champions will be crowned following the retirement of Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford who dominated the discipline for seven consecutive seasons. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro are now the top team in Canada and should easily capture the title. Canada can field two teams to the 2019 World Championships.
There are two spots available for Canadian men at Worlds, and with the retirement of Kevin Reynolds the veterans in the field — Keegan Messing, Nam Nguyen, Nicolas Nadeau, and Roman Sadovsky — will battle it out for a trip to Saitama, Japan. They will have their work cut out for them with some talented teenagers looming on the horizon.
Stephen Gogolev, the newly crowned Junior Grand Prix Final champion, will likely present the biggest challenge. Gogolev, Conrad Orzel and Joseph Phan will be in their own battle to earn one of the two spots Canada has at the World Junior Championships.
Gabrielle Daleman, the only returning champion from the 2018 campaign, took a time out in the fall to deal with personal issues and has not competed since Skate America. Daleman, along with her Olympic teammate Larkyn Austyman and 2016 national champion Alaine Chartrand are the frontrunners for the ladies podium and the three berths open at the World Championships in March.
The ice dance competition could be the most hotly contested at these Championships. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (silver medalists in 2018) have had their best international season to date and will be strong challengers to claim the top step of the podium. Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, who competed only once this season (Autumn Classic), will be looking to capture a third national crown. Former Danish competitors Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensen will make their debut as a Canadian team in Saint John and are strong contenders to earn one of the three berths available at the 2019 World Championships.
Elvis Stojko has been appointed as the Athlete Ambassador for this competition.
LIVE STREAM
Once again, the novice, junior and first two flights of the senior events will be live streamed globally. Ted Barton will host the competitions Mon., Jan. 14, through Sat., Jan. 19. ″Debbi Wilkes with work with me on the live coverage and Dylan Moscovitch will do the interviews and work with me for the pairs,″ Barton said. ″Myriane Samson will cover the events for the French live stream along with Patrick Roch.
″We want to interact with as many viewers as possible from around the world. We will take questions (via email) about skating in Canada and will have coaches and officials come by during the week for interviews and to also answer viewers questions.″
To ask questions or leave comments, email Ted Barton @ or text him @ 1-604-418-3157.
(Worldwide – Novice, Junior, Senior TBA)
(Videos posted at end of each event)