Canadian Nationals 2016- Men

Patrick Chan is finally back. For the first time since he returned to competitive skating, we've seen him skate the way we all know he can. Both programs were very strong, and he has upped his technical difficulty so that he stands a chance at a podium finish at Worlds. He actually nailed his quads and his quad combos, which is new for him this season. I do think that he's still very nervous about the quad, which is obvious when we watch the three-turn going in. Each time he does the three into the quad he jumps the turn, which is a sure sign he's nervous, and therefore up in his knees. Overall, his programs are strong, I like both, and if he can just skate like this going forward, we might just see Patrick working his way back up the ranks.

Nam Nguyen was beyond disappointing. It was very obvious just how slow he is watching him here. The spins were not good, and he looked so much slower than anyone else that he couldn't manage to keep up. As a first season senior, some of these issues are forgivable, but at this point he needs to up the ante to keep up, especially with Patrick back. He looked really nervous, which is understandable, seeing as this was the first time he's ever really experienced really pressure. Defending a national title against a former world champion is tough, but it comes down to the problems in the basic skating that are holding Nam back. He's going to need to keep working on skating skills, presentation, and spins all summer to get the assignments he wants next season and the seasons going forward.

Kevin Reynolds is back at nationals, which to be honest, was kind of surprising after the disaster at last year's nationals. But, he did pretty well, especially considering he hasn't really been competing on the big stage this season. Last year's nationals must have been a blow to his ego, but it looks like it gave him a fresh start and a chance to prove himself with less pressure. He has always been a strong competitor in Canada, even if he's not the most consistent, and hopefully going forward we can keep up this kind of skating, and move on from the stuff we saw from him last year.

Nicolas Nadeau was my favourite surprise skater at Canadian nationals. He's still a junior, but he was pretty exceptional. He's a little rough around the edges, but he has good musicality, and commits 100% to every performance. When you hear that his favourite skater is Kurt Browning the reason for the style becomes clear, and he is taking the best of Kurt's skating and applying it to the IJS, creating enjoyable programs to watch with some pretty great skating. The structure of the programs is great, and some of the jumps were good. Especially for a junior, he's got good technical elements and if he continues improving, he'll be a fantastic skater to watch.

Liam Firus is a skater I love, and I really don't understand the people who think his placement wasn't justified. He had very good jumps, though some of them weren't necessarily as difficult as the planned technical elements of the other men, but he did all of his technical content. He also has great spins and step sequences, choreography, transitions, and skating skills. I'm not a huge fan of his freeskate, but if I can learn to love any Moulin Rouge program it might be his. He commits 100% to the program regardless of how the technical elements are going.

Canadian Nationals 2015- Senior Men

The 2015 Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships in Kingston, Ontario proved one thing about men's figure skating in Canada; we're in a sad state. With the exception of Nam Nguyen the senior men were not up to par with the men in the rest of the world.

The expectation at the beginning of the 2014/2015 season was that Kevin Reynolds would be the Canadian man to watch, but his showing at nationals was less than stellar. He only competed the short program, and the program he did compete left him in 12th place. After falling on all three jumping passes, and under-rotating all three, he forgot his choreography, skating aimlessly before finishing with his last spin. Despite the lack of choreography in the end of his program, he still had component scores that were quite high, even when balanced with nationals score inflation. He has claimed boot problems all season, but it is clear that the problem is much larger than that. Boot problems does not explain his forgetting choreography and performing sub-par spins. Despite having multiple pairs of custom boots made, he was still unable to compete to his full potential.

The other men competing in the senior men's event were not extraordinary. Both Jeremy Ten and Liam Firus had fairly respectable skates overall, but in many other countries they would not be anywhere near medal contention, and in some years past in Canada they would not have placed anywhere near the top three. This is why we face the concerns about the future of men's figure skating in Canada. Following so many years of excellence in men's skating, with at least one man in true contention for a world title, the current men, with the exception of Nam are falling a little flat.

Nam Nguyen is the bright spot in men's skating. At 16 years old, he is an excellent skater with amazing potential. He performs well under pressure, but with the lack of other exceptional men in Canada attending the world championships this year, is the pressure to perform going to be too much for Nam? Many of even the most spectacular, experienced skaters crack under that kind of pressure. Nam's performance at worlds will determine the number of men who will get to attend next year, and after so many years of sending at least 2 men every year, the idea that we may only have a single spot to send a man to worlds seems odd. If Nam continues to skate as well as he has in the past, he will likely place high enough to earn us those two spots, but the notion would be much more secure if we had a second man who stood a solid chance to finish in the top ten.

The solution? Bring Patrick Chan back for worlds. He has already expressed his intention to return next season, and participated in an international competition, earning the required technical score for a trip to worlds. As much faith as we all have in Nam, Canadian men's skating would look a whole lot brighter with Patrick Chan back in the mix.