An ISU decision that just doesn't add up

Do the math correctly, and it should be obvious Canada deserved to be elevated to the bronze medal spot in the Team Event at the 2022 Beijing Games. Why that didn't happen is still a mystery.

Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

First off, an admission: This column was largely supposed to be about the Four Continents Championships currently underway in Shanghai, and the ramifications it surely will have on who gets to represent Canada at the upcoming World Championships in Montreal (and yes, we’ll still get to that).

Then Monday happened (finally).

And Tuesday happened … oh, did that head shaker ever happen.

So there was clearly a rather large elephant in the room that needed addressing most importantly of all this week. And we’ll do our best to make a little sense of it all right here and right now. So here goes …

Let’s first rewind the clock to Monday. That’s when the long, long awaited decision came from the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding the doping infraction by Russian skater Kamila Valieva, and how it related to the results of the Team Event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Long story short, Valieva was handed a four-year ban, backdated to December 2021, when the doping infraction occurred. It will end before the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, meaning Valieva would be eligible to compete there — depending on Russia’s status with the International Olympic Committee (its athletes are officially banned from this summer’s Paris Games, though efforts are being made by the IOC to allow some of them to compete there under a neutral flag, as has been done at previous Olympics).

The general consensus (outside of Russia, of course) seems to be the CAS made the right ruling, and the end result should change to reflect Valieva’s disqualification from the Team Event. Which led to headlines like this …

Ah, but then came Tuesday, when the International Skating Union (finally) issued a statement about the CAS ruling. Stunningly, that statement included its re-ordering of the Team Event standings in this way …

The Valieva disqualification is duly noted, and 20 points (10 each for the short and free programs) have been deducted from Russia’s final total. But here’s what didn’t happen: the skaters directly behind Valieva were not properly elevated in the wake of the DQ (as they should have been). Japan’s Wakaba Higuchi (short program) and Kaori Sakamoto (free program) are still sitting with the nine points awarded to a second-place finisher. And crucially, Canada’s Maddie Schizas still has the eight points given to third place in both programs. And this is the part that isn’t sitting right with many skating observers around the globe. Most notably Skate Canada, of course.

“It’s the difference of a medal. Russia still earned two points off a disqualification,” Skate Canada high performance director Michael Slipchuk said in an interview Wednesday with CBC News Network. “With disqualifications, everybody moves up (a spot). For some reason, (the ISU) chose not to do that this time.

“The rules of the rule book trump everything. How did this happen? Why has this happened? Everyone’s a bit mystified how this has occurred. We’re going to fight for what we feel is right.”

The rule being referred to here is the ISU’s Rule 353, which is referenced in this Skate Canada statement about the matter (which also includes the intent to explore an appeal, which one would think will end up happening).

What this comes down to, at least in these eyes, is a basic math problem. If Japan and Canada are elevated into the first and second place positions by the disqualification of Valieva, that should also carry the points that go with those spots (Rule 353 doesn’t specifically define that, but it’s just common sense, right?). Add two points to Canada’s total, and that gives the red maple leaf a bronze medal, which would be shared by Piper Gilles, Paul Poirier, Kirsten Moore-Towers, Michael Marinaro, Vanessa James, Eric Radford, Schizas and Roman Sadovsky, a late fill-in for Keegan Messing.

As we’ve mentioned, Skate Canada is looking into an appeal of the ISU’s ruling (in consultation with the Canadian Olympic Committee). Russia has also said it will “definitely” appeal the verdict. So now that we’ve got lawyers involved, who knows how long this will delay a decision that has been dragged out for two years already.

There were hopes that the long overdue medals could possibly be awarded in a ceremony at the Paris Olympics, but that is all in limbo now. All because of some bad math. The IOC will also weigh in on the matter, but its executive board doesn’t meet again until March 19-21 in Lausanne — the same week Worlds is being held in Montreal. So the stench of the ISU’s ruling will surely linger over its marquee global event. I’m sure everyone involved is thrilled about that prospect. But there’s still some time to re-evaluate this before then.

As the old saying goes … just do the math. And the right way, this time.

The early word from Four Continents

Okay, let’s shift this piece toward some actual skating. Four Continents got underway late Wednesday night in the Eastern time zone, and it produced some expected — and encouraging — results for Canadians.

In the women’s event, Maddie Schizas produced the kind of result that both she and Skate Canada wanted to see in Shanghai. After sitting in ninth spot after a short program that wasn’t as sharp as she probably would have liked, the 20-year-old from Oakville, Ontario, produced one of her top free skates of the season overnight Thursday to move up to sixth place in the final standings. Her scores for the free skate (124.12) and overall (185.69) were both among the best numbers she’s recorded for the season, and exactly the kind of rebound she needed after the Canadian Championships in Calgary, where she surrendered her national crown in disappointing fashion.

“I’m happy with my skate, I’m happy with my score, and it’s a big step up from Canadian Nationals. I’m hoping to add a few more points at World Championships if I get that nomination,” Schizas said via Skate Canada, adding she also changed her costume for her “Summertime” program to put Calgary behind her. “I wanted a new one anyway, and I had a bad nationals, so I decided that I needed new vibes.”

There’s only one women’s ticket to Worlds and it’s likely going to Schizas, in the hopes she can pull off a top 10 finish and open up a second spot for a Canadian woman for 2025 Worlds in Boston. While Kaiya Ruiter upset Schizas in Calgary to win her first Canadian title, the fact she’s been assigned to the Winter Youth Olympic Games (more on that below) and World Junior Championships surely means it isn’t in the plans to send her to Montreal. Which might be the right thing for her long-term development.

It’s in the men’s event where the most intrigue lies when it comes to Worlds. Canada has two berths in Montreal and, given what he showed overnight in the short program at Four Continents (he’s sixth in the standings right now), Canadian champion Wesley Chiu seems well on his way to earning one of those tickets. That likely means it’s a battle between Roman Sadovsky and Conrad Orzel for the second one, and right now the former stands 11th in Shanghai, six places higher than Orzel. Let’s just say the long program there is going to be a very big one for these two.

Meanwhile, Canadian skaters continued some of the season-long success they’ve enjoyed in both pairs and ice dance. In the pairs event, two-time national champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps eased into the lead in Shanghai after the short program, finishing nearly four points in front of reigning World champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan (who have missed the majority of the season to this point due to injury). These are two of the teams that figure to be front and centre in the chase for gold in Montreal, so consider this a bit of a warmup for that showdown.

Canada’s other two entries in pairs landed in sixth (Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud) and eighth (Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier), respectively. Canada can send three pair teams to Worlds, but don’t forget Brooke McIntosh and Benjamin Mimar, who missed nationals because of injury, will no doubt be part of this discussion.

In ice dance, Canadian teams comfortably held down the top two positions in the standings after the rhythm dance portion of the event. National champions Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier took the opening step toward their first-ever gold medal at Four Continents (they took the silver in 2020, the last time they competed in the event) by posting an 85.49 score for the rhythm dance, which was more than three points better than Canadian compatriots Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen (82.02).

The free dance closes out the competition on Sunday, after the free skates for both pairs and men are held on Saturday in Shanghai.

Making history in Gangwon

Oh, those Canadian pair skaters … one more time.

If you’ve been regular readers of this space, you know a lot has been written here about the wild level of success Canadian figure skaters have enjoyed in the pairs discipline this season. It’s truly unprecedented in so many ways, as this post summed up back in November.

Now we’ve got another chapter to add to this story.

Way across the pond in Gangwon, South Korea, the Canadian duo of Annika Behnke and Cole Sauve, who hail from Alberta, became the first figure skaters from this country ever to earn a gold medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games. Behnke, from Peace River, and Sauve, of Grande Prairie, won both the short and programs en route to a convincing victory.

The news got even better for Behnke and Sauve when they learned they would be the Canadian flag-bearers at the closing ceremony in Gangwon.

“When we heard we were going to be the flag-bearers for Canada, it was crazy,” Behnke told CBC Sports. “This was a very nice opportunity and I feel very honoured to carry the flag for Canada and I’m grateful for it.”

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” added Sauve.

In other Canadian results at the Youth Olympics, national junior men’s silver medallist David Li of Richmond, British Columbia, placed 10th in the men’s event, while new Canadian women’s champion Kaiya Ruiter of Calgary, Alberta, wound up 11th in the women’s competition.

Canada has two top-10 finishes in ice dance. Audra Gans and Michael Boutsan of Prevost, Quebec, turned in a huge personal best score in the free dance to finish fifth in the final standings, while Caroline Kravets and Jacob Stark of Kitchener, Ontario, wound up in ninth place.

The figure skating competition at the Youth Olympics finished with a team event, and all the Canadian skaters listed above combined to earn the bronze medal, behind host South Korea and the United States — another history making moment for the sport in Gangwon.