#CTNATS20

[bartowskis]

“Look who’s here! We have a Scotty sighting.”

[femmenerd]

I spied on CANADA by using a VPN to watch their National Figuring Skating Championships & it was an emotional journey whoo boy.

Many congrats to Roman Sadovsky for winning gold! ❤️ Better luck next time to Nam & Keegan, who are Friendship Goals. 😭

Photo credit for hugging pic: @gabitab on Instagram.

[artschoolglasses]

Drove in a blizzard to go see the Canadian Nationals men and pairs’ free skate programs. Absolutely worth it.

Congrats to MTM on defending their title and Roman Sadovsky on winning his first!

[fearlessrings]

Not Taylor related but some highlights from my skating weekend 🥺 so sad it’s over 😩

[gogogogolev]

Some Stephen content from 2020 Nationals.

The first: Stephen is in the program book. He has a profile given as a result of being a National Team member. He’s also listed on the team page, but is not in the team photo. That was taken at High Performance Camp in Mississauga, which Stephen missed as it occured concurrently with 2019 JGP Lake Placid. The program itself had to have been published early because Stephen is still listed as a competitor. The list is as of December 17.

The profile is lifted straight from his page on Skate Canada’s site.

The second: Stephen is in the 2020 Skate Canada calendar. A mirrored photo of him from the SP at 2019 JGP Croatia Cup is used for the month of December. With him is a photo of 2019 novice pair champions and 2020 junior National pair bronze medallists Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier. December is a special month for Stephen, with him having won JGPF in December 2018 and his birthday being December 22. His image is used with a promo for 2021 Challenge, which is taking place November 23-29, 2020.

There is also a photo of the NextGen team in this calendar. Stephen did not attend NextGen camp because it took place the same weekend as Stars on Ice Hamilton so he is not part of any Skate Canada team photos this season. Hopefully next season we will get to see him in one. His profile photo is from 2018, so that needs updating as well.

If you would like to have Stephen helping you keep up to date in December 2020 you can purchase this calendar for the low price of $5 CAD at Nationals. :)

[dencan]

Some random Nationals thoughts.

Carolane Soucisse needs to ditch the satin costumes. They look cheap and outdated.

The place is practically empty. Even more empty than usual. The retirement of so many top skaters is going to hurt for a long while.

I wonder if Piper and Paul feel old? The average age of these ice dancers must be like >20 years old.

[secondchancecourtney]

I love getting to watch my best friends following their dreams. @themichellelong has come a long way since I would watch her practice at the hockey rink I worked at in high school. #ctnats20 (at Paramount Fine Foods Centre) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7hkFlXJKup/?igshid=dved8fx00ykg

[virtchandmoir]

edges_of_glory: 8x Canadian ice dance champion @ScottMoir sits with his old coach and mentor, 5x Canadian ice dance champion @Patch_Lauzon, as they take in the senior pairs short program at Canadian Nationals 🇨🇦⛸  #CTNats20 #ScottMoir #PatriceLauzon #VirtueMoir

[paul-islam]

Mariposa Dance: #CTNats20 First Nationals as a coach for @mitchislam 31st consecutive Canadians for @davidsislam

Mariposa Dance: Beautiful FD for Rubie Diemer & @Kotansky1 fantastic Nationals debut. Coaches Kelly Johnson, @jamesfcallan @mitchislam and @davidsislam are so proud of their journey.

[gogogogolev]

IFS Magazine’s 2020 Nationals preview. Excerpt:

The 2020 Canadian Championships take place Jan. 13-19 in Mississauga, Ontario. With berths at Four Continents, the 2020 World Junior Championships, and most importantly, the 2020 World Championships in Montréal, the battle for top honors will be a “take no prisoners” affair at this competition

There is only one spot available for men at 2020 Worlds. With homeland pride on the line, expect a battle between two good friends, Nam Nguyen and Keegan Messing.

Stephen Gogolev, 15, will likely present the biggest challenge for the title, but as he is age ineligible for senior competitions, his main goal will be securing a trip to the World Junior Championships. He will be locked in his own battle to claim one of the two berths available at that competition. As none of the Canadian men fared well at their Junior Grand Prix assignments — and nationals is the deciding factor — the top four will be chasing a podium finish in order to earn one of the two spots Canada has at Junior Worlds.

Good to see that they still believe in him.

The four junior age eligible men they have mentioned appear to be Stephen, Iliya Kovler, Eric Liu, and Joseph Phan.

[virtchandmoir]

gregkolz: On this date in 2018, @tessavirtue & @ScottMoir earned a perfect free dance score to claim their 8th Canadian ice dance title. Who will be crowned National Champions this year? Tune in this week to find out! (@gregkolz / @SkateCanada) #CTNats20 #SkateCanada

[gogogogolev]

We finally have an answer about Stephen's participation in the 2020 Youth Olympic Games. He's not going. Instead, he'll be competing at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in Mississauaga, Ontario. Since he is the reigning national silver medallist, he will skate 17th in the short program, taking place the night of Friday, January 17, 2020.

My initial reaction was to wonder: why did he choose Nationals over YOG? Is he injured, uninterested, or desiring a less stressful return to competition? It's not an issue of citizenship since he's Canadian by birth. Maybe someone will interview him at Nationals and we'll find out why. It appears Aleksa Rakic will be representing Canada instead.

I will be attending 2020 Nationals but was not expecting to see Stephen skate at all this season so I'm going to have to figure a few things out about how to cover this event. I don't think the level of coverage you'll be getting from SGFB for Nationals this time around will be as comprehensive as previous seasons just because I will be in the rink but I will try my best. I’m quite interested in seeing the senior version of his FS - it’s such a great program, and I’m glad we’ll be able to watch that this season.

But most importantly: good luck Stephen!! We're excited to see you finally skate again.

Links

2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships website CTNats20 senior men SP start order Results page Schedule (as of December 17)

Expect another post with more Nationals details later.

[gogogogolev]

Stephen was mentioned as the skater holding the Canadian record prior to the start of the junior men's free skate at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships. His score of 233.58 from 2018/19 Junior Grand Prix Final is the Canadian junior men's record score.

Sorry for the low quality of this video.

[gogogogolev]

Stephen has withdrawn from 2020 Nationals

With less than ten days to go from the start of competition Stephen has withdrawn, without explanation, from the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships.

Some nasty fan takes are already spreading. So if Stephen would like to counter those, he will have to break his silence this time.

Due to a lack of news or expected updates for the foreseeable future SGFB will be going on an indefinite a semi hiatus.

[virtchandmoir]

trifin: Picture with Canadian Royalty ❤️❤️❤️❤️ #ctnats20 #skatecanada @scottmoir14

[gogogogolev]

Senior results (2018-2020)

Stephen competes at the senior level in domestic events. He began his second season skating as a senior within Canada in 2018 (see 2017-2018 results here).

2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships - January 13-19, 2020 WD

2019 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships - January 14-20. 2019 Short program: 88.77, 1st Free program: 164.79, 2nd Total: 253.56, 2nd (first senior Nationals medal)

2019 Skate Ontario Sectionals - November 1-4, 2018 Short program: 87.62, 1st Free program: 154.13, 1st Total: 241.75, 1st