By Canadian Press

Madeline Schizas holds off 16-year-old Ruiter to win Canadian figure skating title

Jan 14, 2023 | 12:46 PM

OSHAWA, Ont. — Madeline Schizas admitted to feeling some pressure this week as the defending Canadian champion.

The 19-year-old from Oakville, Ont., who was the last woman to skate Saturday at the Tribute Communities Centre, held off the hard-charging Kaiya Ruiter to win her second national figure skating title.

“I knew that the skaters ahead of me had put pressure on me to put out a skate that maybe didn’t need to be perfect but did need to be a fight from start to finish. And that was difficult,” Schizas said. “I was standing backstage and I was like, ‘Oh gosh, this is not going to be a walk in the park.’ 

“I’m just happy that it was a fight from start to finish. The end of that program wasn’t easy but I pushed right to the end and I’m happy with that.”

Dressed in coral colours and skating to music from “West Side Story,” Schizas landed six triple jumps to score 128.15 points in her free program, for 196.47 overall.

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Ruiter, a 16-year-old from Calgary, vaulted from sixth after the short program to the silver medal with the highest free-skate score of 129.82.

“Oh my gosh, it feels absolutely incredible,” Ruiter said. “It was so unexpected and just to skate my best skate and win a medal on top of that . . . oh my gosh, I still can’t believe it.”

Fiona Bombardier, the 17-year-old daughter of two-time Olympian Josee Chouinard, claimed bronze with 180.54 points.

Schizas won a legion of fans with her impressive Olympic debut last year in Beijing, where her short program in the team event propelled Canada into the final and eventually to a fourth-place finish. 

She called her second consecutive Canadian title “surreal.”

“I don’t think if you told me as a kid or if you told me in 2020 I was going to be a two-time Canadian champion, I would’ve have bought into it – now here I am,” Schizas said.

Ruiter was the 2020 Canadian junior champion at just 13, trouncing a field of skaters who were in most cases at least a couple of years older. 

She would have been just old enough to compete in Beijing’s Olympics, but a gruesome injury sidelined her for the season.

“I landed on my skate blade, and it went through and cut two of my calf muscles,” Ruiter said. “It was really rough, and then coming back from that . . . I had some scar tissue issues and nerve damage all throughout the summer. 

“So, I only really started training again in September.”

The national event determines Canada’s team for the world championships March 20-26 in Saitama, Japan. 

Canada has just one berth in women’s singles. 

While Schizas will earn that spot when the team is named Sunday, Ruiter looked forward to the world junior championship on home ice at Calgary’s WinSport Event Centre.

The ice dance, pairs and men’s singles free programs were later Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2022.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press