#SCNats25: 'It means a little bit more regaining the title'
Maddie Schizas is back on top of the Canadian women's skating world. It's one of three great stories that emerged from the free skate final at Place Bell in Laval.
LAVAL, Quebec — Regain her Canadian women’s title? Check.
Break a Canadian record along the way? Double check.
Celebrate by firing T-shirts into the crowd? Um, triple check?
“Honestly, I wanted to do it yesterday but decided not to, and today it was just so tempting,” newly minted three-time Canadian champion Maddie Schizas said after regaining her crown in emphatic fashion Sunday at Place Bell. “I didn’t get either one of them into the crowd.
“But you know, at least I’m good at skating.”
That she certainly showed on a most redemptive afternoon of free skating at the 2025 national championships. Breaking out her new “Butterfly Lovers” long program for the first time — it’s a violin concerto that is among the most famous pieces of Chinese orchestral music — the 21-year-old from Oakville, Ontario, looked eminently comfortable with the new routine, in which she landed seven triple jumps. The music clearly suits her, and Sunday’s mostly solid skate was validation of her choice to make the move away from the more dramatic “Danse Macabre” free program.
“I was definitely, last night, feeling nervous about it, because you're always guessing ‘did I make the right choice, did I make the right choice,’” she said. “But the way I skated it today, it clearly was the right choice for me.”
Even if it was a lengthy wait to get it out there. Not that skating last in the final group is anything new to her, a “fun fact” she pointed out afterward.
“I was quite nervous. I was just like, ‘Man, I want this to be over,’” she said. “Every Canadian senior nationals I've skated at, I've skated last in the free skate … every year it rolls around, and it never gets easier.”
Eventually, she would wash away whatever remnants might have remained of the disastrous free skate a year ago in Calgary that cost her a third straight Canadian title. Schizas is clearly back on top of Canadian women’s skating, with her 21.26-point margin of victory her largest since taking her first national title in 2022 in Ottawa, when she won by more than 27 points.
She also broke her own Canadian record with a 203.87-point overall total. She shared the podium with two skaters who earned their first national championship medals, Sara-Maude Dupuis (silver) and Katherine Medland Spence (bronze). Schizas was thrilled for all of it.
“It feels so good. I’m happy that not only not only was I able to win, but I was able to put out skates I was proud of … I stepped up to the pressure,” said Schizas. “I’m also I’m so happy for the other medallists. Sara-Maude never medalled at Canadians and it’s been her goal for a long time. So I’m really happy for her and I’m happy for Katherine overcoming adversity to land on the podium here. I think three really good stories coming out of this Canadian championships.”
Schizas considers this title her favourite of the three, if only because it’s the first time she didn’t come in as the prohibitive favourite for gold.
“This one is better. The first two times it was just a whirlwind and both times the free skate was not super good,” she said. “Every time (previously) I’ve been going for a title, I’ve gone in as the favourite, but this time I was coming in not as Canadian champion, so it was definitely a different situation. And I think it means a little bit more regaining the title.”
We wrote back in October, after she delivered back-to-back relatively clean programs at Skate Canada International in Halifax, that Schizas showed she had the goods to bring home a top-10 finish from the World Championships in Boston (which would give Canada two entries at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy). Now armed with two programs she absolutely loves, she has her sights firmly pointed at getting that done at TD Garden in March.
“My goal is top 10 at Worlds and I’m just going to keep training the way I have been,” she said. “I’m kind of happy I didn’t skate two perfect programs today because it means I still have room to grow. If it had been two perfect programs (this weekend), who knows how I would have felt going in (to Worlds). But I still feel like I have things to work on, so I'm looking forward to taking a couple days off and then getting right back at it.”
Dupuis had come to this event thinking this competition arena would be just the right place to finally pick up the Canadian championships medal that has eluded her for so long. She spoke Friday about a rink she has skated in many times over the years, but never so well as she did with so much on the line Sunday. It was an exhilarating moment for the 19-year-old Montrealer, who felt waves of support from every corner of the arena. She didn’t let them down, producing an inspired skate that, outside of a flubbed triple lutz, was an absolute dream.
“If it was ever going to happen, it had to be here. I had so many people who came (to watch me) and everywhere I looked, I could see somebody I knew,” said an exultant Dupuis, who topped her previous personal best total by roughly 10 points with a 182.61-point total. “It was like I had a friend holding my hand all the way through my program because everywhere I looked, I had somebody like this. So that was really great. I can’t wait to go see them all and thank them for their support, because they really pushed me through.
“I’ve done many great things in my career, and the one thing that was always missing was a medal at nationals. Challenge (the qualifying event for nationals), I’ve medalled four times, but I could never put it together at nationals.”
For Dupuis, this indeed felt like a ‘finally’ moment. She recalled 2024 Canadians in Calgary, when she also found herself third after the short program. The ending that day wasn’t nearly as happy for her.
“I ended up sixth, which was one of the worst days of my life,” said Dupuis. “And yesterday, I was like, this cannot happen again. So I was a little nervous, but I knew I had done the training and could do every single thing in my program.”
It was also the happiest of days for Medland Spence, who went from near oblivion a year ago to the bronze medal spot in Laval. She finished just 1.06 points behind Dupuis — a slow-motion fall near the end of her program may have made the difference — but this little piece of math speaks volumes about her growth in a year. In Calgary, an injured Medland Spence posted a 135.74 total and placed 13th. This time, that number this weekend in Laval rocketed up to 181.55 — an astonishing gain of nearly 47 points.
No wonder, then, she was at a loss for words when asked about the medal.
“There’s not many words. I don’t know. Speechless. Yeah, shocked,” said the 24-year-old from Ottawa. “It took me a moment (in the kiss and cry) to realize that it was second (with only Schizas left to skate) and … yeah, crazy.
“I’ve always known I had the ability, but I’ve never been able to put it out there, and to have put down two great skates like that — they weren’t perfect, but that were good quality and I’m happy with — I can go home and take good and bad away from it. I can’t ask for much more.”
We talked here yesterday about Medland Spence’s journey over the past year, which has been, for my money, one of the best stories in Canadian skating this season. She inserted herself into the medal conversation by placing second in the short program, and did enough Sunday to grab a podium spot.
“I knew (winning a medal) was a possibility and of course, my mind is going to go there. But it’s also going to go to the other option of potentially dropping a whole bunch,” said Medland Spence. “But again, I can’t control how the other skaters skate, I can’t control what the judges do. So I just have to go out there and put my best out there and whatever happens, happens.”
Needless to say, she’s filled with motivation for the season to come. And if Schizas does indeed come home from Boston with that cherished top-10 finish … let’s just say a whole bunch of bigger things could be on the table.
“There’s still room to improve, so it’s still more just taking lessons from here and moving forward from what I learned worked and what we might need to change going forward,” she said. “But the one thing is to stick to the plan. Just trust in the plan, keep working, and keep improving one day at a time.”
Defending champion Kaiya Ruiter’s run of medals at Canadians ended on Sunday, but not for lack of trying. The 18-year-old Ottawa native was disappointed with her eighth-place finish in the short program, but brought a determined attitude to the arena. Her 179.41 total stayed in the medal picture until Dupuis and Medland Spence both edged past her. She missed the podium by a mere 2.41 points, but went home with a smile on her face.
“I was in the mood to fight, and I’m glad that that happened out there,” she said while clutching a pillow emblazoned with the logo of her beloved Edmonton Oilers. “I wanted to enjoy my last skate as the reigning national champion of 2024 and that’s just what I wanted to do. Take any pressure off and make it special.”
‘A great moment that we shared’
In all honesty, you couldn’t honour one without the other. Joannie Rochette has the six Canadian titles, the Olympic bronze medal, the world silver medal … and so much more. But none of this happens without the guidance of her long-time coach Manon Perron, who became almost like a second mother over the years to the figure skater from tiny Ile-Dupas, Quebec.
So it was that Skate Canada chose to recognize skater and coach in a special way on the same day, officially inducting the duo into their Hall of Fame on Sunday at the 2025 Canadian championships in Laval.
It was an emotional moment for both, with a tribute video reminiscing on many of the moments the two shared over the years, from the day Perron first took on Rochette as a student in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, when she was 12 years old. Rochette would soon win national novice and junior titles en route to her most triumphant moments.
So indeed, it was only right that the Hall honour happened in the way it did.
“It’s so beautiful that they did it and they put us in at the same time,” said Perron, who knew almost immediately that Rochette was headed for greatness. “It would never be the same, me just being inducted without Jo. It’s such a great moment that we shared together. It’s beautiful.”
Taking in all the memories — especially the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when Rochette skated to a bronze medal just days after her beloved mother, Therese, died of a heart attack — was emotional for the now-doctor in Montreal, who had to stop to compose herself during her acceptance speech.
“We shared so many years working together. I think it only makes sense that we’re being recognized together because we worked as a team all those years,” said Rochette. “It makes it even more special. I think that’s why I teared up at the video. It brought back so many memories of Vancouver and all of our work we did together from the beginning to the end. It was even more emotional for me today.”