Ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada practice ahead of the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal on March 6. Competition begins on March 18.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
After a four-year delay, the world figure skating championships are coming to the Bell Centre in Montreal this week.
This is the 11th time Canada has held the world championships – with the last being in London, Ont., in 2013 – and the first for Montreal since 1932.
Montreal was scheduled to hold the 2020 event, however, it was cancelled just five days before it was slated to begin because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Skate Canada then had to reapply to be host and was awarded the championships in June of 2021.
The worlds run from March 18 to 24 with competitions in men’s and women’s singles, pairs and ice dance.
Wesley Chiu, the 2024 Canadian men’s singles champion, views the chance to make his debut on home ice as “really special.”
“It doesn’t happen very often that the world championships come to Canada,” Chiu said. “It would likely be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m just hoping to soak it all in and enjoy every opportunity I get out there.”
Canadian ice dance duo Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are looking to add another gold medal to their cabinet after claiming the top prize at the 2024 Four Continents figure skating championships in Shanghai earlier this year.
The pair is also coming off a bronze-medal win at last year’s worlds, in which Gilles was recovering from being treated for Stage 1 ovarian cancer two months before the event began.
“That was probably one of the hardest competitions I’ve ever had to do in my life, just because I had to face people again, they wanted to know how I was doing, and I had lovely messages online,” Gilles told The Globe and Mail in May, 2023. “I didn’t feel like myself. … People didn’t understand what that medal meant to us.”
The world championships won’t be the first in Canada for the duo. Gilles and Poirer made their world-championships debut as a partnership at the 2013 edition in London.
Gilles recalled that experience as a “fun environment” and expects this year to be “on another level” for the Canadian skaters.
“I’m so excited for the other Canadian athletes to get to experience that because it’s really like nothing else,” she said last week.
Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps are the second-ranked pair in the world behind Italian duo Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii.
Stellato-Dudek – an American who has competed for Canada alongside Deschamps since 2019 – got a taste of the energy a full crowd at the Bell Centre can provide during a Montreal Canadiens game last month.
“Max was like ‘there’s going to be this many people to watch us.’ And I was like, “I don’t even want to think about it.’ It’s just so many people,’” she said. “I just want to think about what my job is when I’m there and what I have to do.”
Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps perform their pairs routine during practice at the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, Tuesday, March 19, 2024.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Women’s singles skater Madeline Schizas is seeking further improvement at this year’s worlds. She finished second at the 2024 Canadian championships after being considered the heavy favourite to win, then placed sixth at the Four Continents less than a month later – a four-spot jump from her placement in 2023.
Schizas has never won a world-championship medal, finishing no higher than 12th in her three appearances.
“This is the most prepared I’ve ever felt for a world championships, and I’m excited to show everybody that – especially with worlds being in Canada,” she said.
Both of her parents are from Montreal, making the event feel extra special for her.
“It’s not just my home country, but in a way it’s my family’s hometown, and it’s really exciting for everybody. I have, I think, 15-plus members of [my] family coming for the short program, including some of my little cousins who have never seen figure skating before,” she added. “I’m so excited that they’re going to be able to watch me in a world championships. That’s not an opportunity that comes along very often.”
Madeline Schizas skates during her practice session at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2024 at Centre Bell in Montreal, Canada, on March 19, 2024.GEOFF ROBINS/Getty Images
Despite the excitement from the Canadian skaters, this year’s worlds are also clouded with controversy.
In January, it was reported that Canadian ice dancer Nikolaj Sorensen was under investigation by Canada’s Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner for alleged sexual assault of a former American figure skater in 2012.
Sorensen – who skates with Laurence Fournier Beaudry in ice dance – withdrew from the 2024 Canadian championships shortly afterward and posted a statement to his Instagram.
“These allegations are false, and I intend to strongly defend myself and my reputation,” the statement read.
Two weeks ago, the Danish-Canadian athlete told The Canadian Press about competing at the worlds, “We’re here today because we feel like we deserve to be here.”
Skate Canada chief executive officer Debra Armstrong said the federation did not consider leaving the duo off the Canadian team for the worlds.
“We have selection criteria, which [has been] published for a long period of time,” she said. “We choose athletes to attend events on the basis of selection criteria, and that’s what we did.”
Sorensen and Fournier Beaudry placed fifth at last year’s worlds and currently rank fifth in the International Skating Union’s ice-dance standings.
Sorensen said he is fully co-operating with OSIC’s investigation, but added he could not comment on its details. The allegations have not been proved in court.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the time frame of the alleged sexual assault for which Nikolaj Sorensen is under investigation.
With a report from The Canadian Press