#SCNats25: The dawn of a new Roman empire
Five years after last winning a Canadian men's title, Roman Sadovsky finally struck gold again. And give men's skating in this country some new hope in the process.
LAVAL, Quebec — Maybe Roman Sadovsky can really be the one.
As in, the guy to get Canada back into the top 10 at the World Championships and a second berth at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Yeah, I’m saying it right here and right now — for the first time this season, there is indeed hope that this just might happen.
In the moments after winning his second Canadian senior men’s title on Saturday night at Place Bell (the previous one coming back in 2020), the 25-year-old from Toronto was ready to entertain that thought. But he knows there’s work still to do yet to get where he needs to be to make it happen.
“I think I need to do more than this, honestly. The (triple) Axel needs to happen in the short. Based on the score and based on how I felt, I imagine some of the jumps had some under-rotations (there were actually two),” said Sadovsky. “It’s small things I need to optimize to get another 10-15 points that are floating around in there. Despite the one obvious miss (on a quad Sachow), there’s still other little things that add up overall. And that’s what I need to get that second spot.”
Quite frankly, he’s totally right in that assessment. The 158.91 score Sadovsky posted Saturday night would have ranked 13th in the free skate at the 2024 World Championships, and less than four points out of the top 10 (he was actually 22nd in that segment). There’s where some of that hope lies. Both Sadovsky and coach Tracey Wainman can see a skater whose trajectory is clearly pointing upward as bigger events draw closer.
“I think it’s really a good time (for a second national title),” said Wainman, who also noted Sadovsky had matched her in winning Canadian titles five years apart (hers came in 1981 and 1986). “I feel that he’s growing. I know he’s been around; this is his 11th nationals, he started very young. But the maturity, ability to handle competitions, all of this … over the last four years, he’s a different person. But you don’t stop learning, and he’s going this way (hand pointing upward). So that’s great.
“I’m just happy … he was sitting first after the short, he went out there, he skated smart, did what he needed to, skated really well. And he earned that title.”
The up-and-coming Anthony Paradis, the darling of the home Quebec crowd from nearly Boisbriand, surely made him work for it with an exhilarating skate of his own that had the audience roaring. Sadovsky felt the thunderous cheers and had to gather himself before trying to top his 17-year-old rival had produced.
“I knew Anthony had a great skate. The crowd energy was wild,” he said. “It was so loud I couldn’t even hear the scores, for better or worse. I really had to stay in the game, stay focused. Remembering to breathe is the biggest one and not letting any mistakes get in my way.”
The fall on the quad Salchow was the only significant error, but that wasn’t enough to keep Sadovsky from launching a new Roman empire, so to speak, at the Canadian Championships. It was a strong skate at just the right time. The ability to train consistently and compete this season certainly played a part in this triumph, and it was a far cry from a year ago in Calgary, when he had far too little of the former and absolutely none of the latter.
“I’m on a different floor at this point,” he said. “I remember last season going into Four Continents, I had to regroup after nationals and tone down some of the elements and take it one step at a time after my knee injury. This time, we’re building.”
Sadovsky’s overall total of 240.35 was not quite 15 points better than Paradis, who locked up his second straight senior medal at nationals at 225.36. The bronze medal went to David Li (197.99), who was a national silver medallist as a junior a year ago in Calgary.
While Sadovsky would appear to be the clear frontrunner for the coveted Worlds spot in Boston, nothing will be made official until after Four Continents next month. He’ll head to South Korea to clinch the spot, most likely with Wesley Chiu (who skipped Canadians because of an ankle injury) and Aleksa Rakic, who came to Laval recovering from a bout with RSV and withdrew after the short program.
Paradis, the young man with so much flair, was the people’s choice on this night. The 2022 Canadian junior champion landed seven triples in all in moving up one spot from his bronze-medal finish last season.
“It feels amazing. I’m so happy and proud of myself for achieving this,” he said. “It was really something nerve-wracking for me. To come back like this after a strong short, I can’t even put words to it.”
While Paradis racks up the component scores, his technical arsenal doesn’t yet include a triple Axel or quad. He had a go at the Axel on Saturday night but ended up popping it into a single.
“It wasn’t really consistent. We were just putting in the program to one day achieve it,” he explained. “Some people might say it’s a waste of energy, but if I want to land it someday, I have to practise it in competition before (then). I think it’s just a learning experience.”
That aside, it was a skate to remember, one that had him pounding the ice with glee when he was done. It’s probably a safe bet that there is plenty more to come from a skater who brings a unique style to the ice. He revelled in the support he received on this particular night.
“It’s such a joy to have everyone around me cheering for me,” he said. “This is self-affirming that what I am is beautiful and special, and the fact that everyone can see it and appreciate it, I feel so grateful and so proud of what I achieved, and what I’ve become as an athlete and as a person. It feels amazing.”
Next up for Paradis should be the World Junior Championships, which run Feb. 25-March 2 in Debrecen, Hungary. He finished 15th at that event last season.
Third time isn’t really a charm
The thought of being a Canadian pairs champion for the first time as a Canadian citizen brought a smile to Deanna Stellato-Dudek’s face. But the moment was brief and it didn’t last long. An error-riddled free skate on Saturday night was nothing to be happy about in the minds of her and partner Maxime Deschamps.
“Yes, we won, but it’s not just about winning, it’s about what we put out on the ice,’’ he said about the couple’s third straight national title during a rather sombre mixed sound afterward. “We want to do better, obviously.”
Stellato-Dudek steamed while standing beside him, clearly frustrated by their inability to turn practice perfection into similar performances on the ice. They had problems on side-by-side triple jumps, and she just couldn’t hold on to the landing of a throw-triple loop late in the program.
“I don’t really know what’s happening this year,” she said. “I don’t know how many more clean run-throughs I have to do at home to do it in competition.”
The scores that came up after the performance did little to soothe their feelings. Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps finished second in the free skate with a 130.75 score — they’ve not scored better than 133.82 with the program this season, well below their personal best of 144.08 at the 2024 World Championships — and barely held on for the gold medal by just 2.10 points.
Meanwhile, Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud couldn’t hide their glee when seeing the final result. “Oh, my God … wow!” she exclaimed in the middle of a quote before hugging her partner.
“It’s pretty awesome. Like we said coming into this, we’re pushing for this,” said Michaud. “What we want to do is be pushing them and we can do that … this shows a little bit more that we’re in the right place. It’s good for both of us. We push them, they push us. To have two strong Canadian teams near the top in events is huge.”
Especially when you’re trying to maintain three pair spots for the 2026 Winter Olympics, which will be these teams’ chore at the World Championships in Boston in March. While Pereira and Michaud didn’t get back to the Grand Prix Final this season, they have felt momentum building since earning a bronze medal at a Grand Prix event in China in November.
They saw more evidence of that upward trajectory this weekend.
“To hit another PB in the free (134.53), and 200 overall (204.96 to be exact) was a huge goal this season, so to accomplish that here is a real confidence boost pushing into the second half of the season,” said Pereira. “We’re really proud of how all the elements went; overall, there were some really good things. Would really love to land the throw triple loop in the free, but we’re really proud of how we recovered from that.”
With Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier recording a second straight bronze medal finish in the event, the podium at Canadians stayed the same for another season. It’s a lock that all three medallists here will be named to Canada’s team for 2025 Worlds in Boston.
What’s up on Sunday
The Canadian Championships conclude on Sunday at Place Bell with finals in senior women and dance, preceded by the Hall of Fame induction of six-time national champion and Olympic bronze medallist Joannie Rochette and her coach, Manon Perron. For those not in the building, the event is being streamed live on skatecanada.ca and CBC Gem.
11:45 a.m. — Senior women’s free program
3:05 p.m. — Senior free dance