How Canada's men can soar once again
The 1990s were a golden age for male skaters wearing the red maple leaf. One of those legends offers up some advice for the current generation.
At the end of the day, maybe we all just got spoiled. Got so darned used to seeing the red maple leaf soaring above men’s podiums at the World Figure Skating Championships that perhaps we were lulled into thinking this:
“Isn’t this the way it’s always been?”
Um, well, not exactly.
The history of the World Championships goes all the way back to 1896 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, so it’s an event that’s literally been around for more than a century. And it was more than 60 years from that long ago start before a Canadian man would win a World title. That would have been a teenager from Oshawa, Ont., named Donald Jackson, who stunned the skating world by unleashing the first-ever triple Lutz en route to a history making global crown in 1962 behind the Iron Curtain in Prague.
Darned if another Canadian, Donald McPherson, climbed on top of the podium a year later. But what followed was a 24-year drought that is perhaps instructive when considering the situation that men’s skaters from this country currently find themselves in.
Simply put, it’s not easy to win one of these things. Just ask Brian Orser, who occupied the second step of the podium for three straight years before finally breaking through for his lone World title in 1987 in Cincinnati. Then slipped back to silver medal status one more time a year later, at both Worlds and the Calgary Olympics, before calling an end to his decorated career.
But then along came a pair of Canadians who essentially dominated the sport for the next decade. First it was Kurt Browning, the guy who first made his name at 1988 Worlds in Budapest by landing the first-ever quadruple jump in competition. He followed that up with a run of three straight World championships, matching the total Canadian men had previously earned all by himself in one glorious run of global dominance.
Browning would become a four-time World champion in 1993 in Prague, one year after he was the silver medallist behind Viktor Petrenko in Oakland, Calif. (also a year in which a wonky back cost him a chance to become the first Olympic men’s champion from Canada at the 1992 Albertville Games).
And it’s a this point we get the chance to post a video of (still) one of our favourite free programs ever. And yeah, it was in Prague again (with Jackson on hand in the building to witness the feat).
Just as Browning’s era came to an end, Elvis Stojko was there to carry the torch even longer. The skater once known as “The Terminator” for his profound efficiency with quads and triple Axels in particular took home World gold in 1994 and 1995, had a blip on home soil in Edmonton in ’96, then rose to the top of the podium one more time in 1997 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Two Canadian guys, seven World titles in nine years. Like we said earlier, we kinda got super spoiled by this pair of legends.
Soon enough, though, Canadian skating fans were reminded just how rare that kind of dominance truly was. It took another 11 years before Jeffrey Buttle, now a world-renowned choreographer, snagged a global crown in Gothenburg, Sweden, in what turned out to be his skating swan song.
Ironically, Buttle arrived at those Worlds without a Canadian title that year, having surrendered his crown to Patrick Chan two months earlier in Vancouver. The Ottawa-born Chan had been touted as the next great Canadian men’s skater, and he would deliver on that promise by running off a string of three World titles, beginning in 2011 in Moscow and carrying on through 2013 in London, Ont.
Chan had occupied the silver medal position at the two Worlds between Buttle’s win and his own streak of golden glory, making it six straight years for a Canadian man landing on the World podium.
Again, another one of those streaks of being spoiled.
All of which brings us up to today and another one of those droughts. We’re now at an even dozen years since Chan’s last triumph, with fifth-place efforts by Nam Nguyen in 2015 in Shanghai and Chan the next two years (Boston 2016 and Helsinki 2017) the high-water finishes for Canadian men since then (Keegan Messing also had a trio of top-10 finishes, his best a sixth in 2021 in Stockholm). But still, not a exactly a massive step back from the glory days.
The last two years, however, have been a struggle, although Roman Sadovsky performed admirably in placing 14th at the recent 2025 World Championships in Boston. But the fact remains that Canada is down to one men’s berth at Worlds and that won’t change next year in Prague (yes, that place again) or the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
So yeah, we’re in a bit of a barren time in terms of results at the highest level. But Skate Canada high performance director Mike Slipchuk has stated more than once that he believes in the talent of men’s competitors in this country, both those currently at the senior level or the young talent on the way up.
But the questions remains for those who follow Canadian skating, either closely or casually: what’s it going to take to get men’s skating in this country back in contention for those podium finishes?
Stojko, for one, when presented with that thought by your humble correspondent, admits “that’s a good question.” (we come up with those every now and then). And then he proceeds to offer up this thought.
“Someone has got to take the leadership role in a way that grabs the bull by the horns. It’s not just the talent and the ability, it’s got to be someone who’s willing to push beyond the limits and not be afraid to take on the rest of the world,” he says. “When I went out to do this — and Kurt did the same and Brian went out to win — it’s having that mindset that it can be done. And do what it takes to be able to do that. It’s that mindset.”
Stojko draws a parallel with the winter sport that is most associated with this country, and the mindset that was firmly behind the greatest triumphs that its best athletes were able to achieve on the ice.
“With Canadian hockey, it’s we have to be the best at it because that’s our sport, and that’s the mentality. Americans are like that. They have that mentality of, we’re American and we’re the best,” he says. “Canada needs somebody to step up and (say), yeah, we are the best, and we need to go and do it. And it’s a mentality that needs to be there every day.
“And not have the mentality of, it’s wonderful to go out there and have fun and be a part of the sport and just do what I’ve got to do. But it’s the next level of absolute tenacity, and that leader would have to have that attitude. Then you would have people that would follow, and that creates enthusiasm underneath, that creates that inspiration underneath. That’s what is needed.”
While skaters like himself, Browning and Orser were exceptional talents — let’s face it, it’s difficult to become a World champion in any sport without a certain level of ability — Stojko doesn’t believe that’s exactly the real issue among the current crop of Canadian men.
He sees talent across our land, but it’s that something extra on top of it that is lacking in his eyes.
“There’s been talent, but something’s happened. (Stephen) Gogolev was great and then he grew and it changed and his life changed, and that’s tough,” he said. “But someone else can step up and say ‘here’s my opportunity to do it,’ and not shy away from it. It’s a big thing and a responsibility … it’s interesting, some athletes have talent, but they’ll self-sabotage because either they’re afraid of failure or they’re afraid of success, because having success means responsibility.
“That can happen and that definitely happened. I’m not saying that any of the skaters or the people in it now have that (issue), but I’m saying that as a general thing, that can happen. As you go through, you’ve got to accept what’s important. Do you want to go after your goal? Yeah, you’ll get all the stuff that comes along with it, which is great, but yeah, there’s responsibility and all those things.
“Again, (it’s about) that leadership role and we’ve always had those leaders. I looked up to Kurt, I looked up to Brian, I looked up to Herb (Lloyd Eisler) and Isabelle (Brasseur), and Tracy (Wilson) and Rob (McCall). All these names that, they had this leadership role and that’s what needs to be done.”
It’s at this point that we shared a story that came out of an interview several weeks back with Kaetlyn Osmond, a member of Canada’s “golden generation” that came together to win Team Event gold at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. It was the most talented group ever assembled in this country, but it had more than that, as Osmond related.
She referenced a meeting at Skate Canada’s high performance camp in August 2017, six months before the Olympics. And it was a tone setter for everyone.
“Scott (Moir) pulled us together at the 2017 summer national camp going into the 2018 season and said ‘we’re going to get gold (at the Olympics) this year,’” said Osmond. “And I was like, I had never thought that before in my life, but sure, let’s go for it.”
Stojko hears all of this and you know he’s nodding in agreement.
“That’s a leadership role. We’re not going there just to have fun. You know what’s fun? Winning. So the fun comes with that. But you set a precedent. We’re going for gold and we’re going to win this thing,” he said. “That’s what I loved about it and that’s why (that team) was successful. You have someone stand up like that, you inspire … that’s what the inspiration was, and Scott was a massive, massive part of that.”
If we’re being truthful here, Canadian skating in general has been fighting to escape the shadow of that “dream team” since they all retired en masse following their triumph in PyeongChang. And it’s a long shadow, indeed. But we’ve seen continued success in ice dance, with Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier carving out their own level of greatness in the years that have followed.
Canada ended a nine-year World title drought in pairs in 2024 in Montreal, thanks to Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps. It’s a duo that came from humble beginnings to achieve their historic triumph, and maybe that’s something to build on for Canada’s men.
Again, Stojko comes back to the catalyst for what happened on the Olympic stage in 2018, and what happened during his era. He was always known for having a steely mindset as a competitor and it was at the centre of all the success he achieved.
“Scott Moir was the team captain (in 2018) and he took the leadership role. He was like that. Patrick did the leadership role for the men, but Scott took the leadership role for the team. That’s what made it. And then you have leaders or chiefs underneath that were there,” he said. “Even for me, for many years, I took the leadership role for the team after Kurt. Then you had Meagan (Duhamel) and Eric (Radford) there, and they were the ones for the pairs.
“Then everyone goes, I know what I need to do. I see what needs to be done and how to be (successful) and the particular responsibility of it. And when you have that responsibility and you have the mindset, it affects the way that you train and it affects the way you compete. It affects results, it does affect it. That is what’s needed.
“But there was a time when there was no leader, and it happens. It happens in sport and we’ve seen it in all realms of sport, all countries. There’s these droughts where they have to rediscover it again, and that’s just part of it.”
Like we said earlier, winning a World title isn’t easy. Only seven Canadian men have ever done it — and none have ever won the Olympics. So we’re going to have droughts and periods of time where it’s easy to wonder if it’ll happen again. And then along comes a Brian Orser in 1987 or a Jeffrey Buttle in 2008. And at the end of the day, that’s the exciting part. Wondering just who might be next in line.
Because if history tells us anything, there’s gonna be someone who comes along to do exactly that again someday. It’s just a matter of when.
Men’s world champions from Canada
Donald Jackson (1962)
Donald McPherson (1963)
Brian Orser (1987)
Kurt Browning (1989-91, 1993)
Elvis Stojko (1994-95, 1997)
Jeffrey Buttle (2008)
Patrick Chan (2011-13)
Men’s world medallists from Canada
Gold: Donald Jackson (1962), Donald McPherson (1963), Brian Orser (1987), Kurt Browning (1989-91, 1993), Elvis Stojko (1994-95, 1997), Jeffrey Buttle (2008), Patrick Chan (2011-13)
Silver: Montgomery Wilson (1932), Donald Jackson (1959-60), Brian Orser (1984-86, 1988), Kurt Browning (1992), Elvis Stojko (1993, 2000), Jeffrey Buttle (2005), Patrick Chan (2009-10)
Bronze: Donald Knight (1965), Toller Cranston (1974), Brian Pockar (1982), Brian Orser (1983)