Schizas wins fourth title, Gilles and Poirier capture fifth crown at nationals

GATINEAU – Madeline Schizas came in with a bold message for anyone looking to steal her crown.

On Sunday, she backed it up.

Schizas captured her fourth title at the Canadian figure skating championships, strengthening her grip on the country’s only women’s singles entry for the Milan Cortina Olympic Games.

The victory followed a fiery remark two days ago, when Schizas — knowing two-time Olympian Gabrielle Daleman, among others, hoped to unseat her — declared: “Over my dead body is someone else going to the Olympics.”

“I meant it. I wasn’t going down without a fight, and I think I proved that today,” she said in the mixed zone Sunday at Centre Slush Puppie. “It wasn’t meant in a bad faith sort of way, it was about myself and the fact that I was prepared to fight for what I wanted.”

The 22-year-old from Oakville, Ont., scored 135.94 points in her free skate to “Butterfly Lovers Concerto,” posting a winning total of 200.86 to climb from fourth to first.

Daleman claimed silver with 195.35 points in her return to nationals for the first time since 2022 due to a series of severe back and ankle injuries.

“At the end of the day, it took a lot of guts and a lot of courage for me to come back,” she said. “Was that the skate I wanted? No. Was it a bad skate? Also, no.

“I fought through the entire program. I’m not going to lie, there was a hell of a lot of pressure. It was great competition. She killed it. She knocked it out of the park — well-deserved.”

Daleman, days away from turning 28, was motivated to become the first Canadian women’s singles skater to reach three Olympics.

The moment she finished her program — a routine with some missed jumps and under rotations — she broke down in tears.

“I’m very hard on myself, I wanted this spot, didn’t get it,” she said. “The tears at the end was not just heartbreak. (I) was extremely proud. I was not able to get out of bed a year ago. I wasn’t walking a year, and now I’m again on the national podium after being told I wouldn’t skate or walk again.

“I have to give myself that grace. It’s going to take probably a few days, but I’m going to give it to myself.”

Other than popping out of a double axel, Schizas skated a near-perfect free program after missing a crucial element in the short.

She explained that she was at the arena until 10:30 p.m. Saturday for doping testing, making for a short night’s sleep before practice at 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

“I didn’t get back to the hotel until 11 last night,” she said. “That was much more-so on my mind that I was looking at six hours of sleep last night because I got doping than my bad performance.

“I knew I was coming from behind, but I really didn’t dwell on it.”

Minsol Kwon, a 16-year-old from South Korea, took bronze (193.18). Kwon was released by her home country to skate in Canada domestically, but she cannot yet represent Canada internationally.

Kwon led after Saturday’s short program, but only 1.59 points separated the top four of her, Daleman, Sara-Maude Dupuis and Schizas.

Schizas arrived in Gatineau as the front-runner to claim Canada’s only women’s spot for the Olympics after representing the country at the past five world championships, and secured her place at a second Winter Games on Sunday.

“I’m so excited,” she said. “The first one was obviously COVID. I’m really excited. I’ll have my family there. My aunt and uncle are coming. My parents are coming, so I’m really, really excited that they’re all going to be there to support me.”

In ice dance, Gilles and Poirier claimed their fifth Canadian title after scoring 137.94 points in their “Vincent” free dance later Sunday.

The two-time world silver medallists pushed their total to 231.05 — breaking their own Canadian record — after leading comfortably with 93.11 points following Saturday’s rhythm dance.

Gilles and Poirier, who stood up and thanked the crowd in the kiss and cry after receiving their score, will both be 34 when they compete at their third Olympics in Milan. They acknowledged this could have been their last national championships.

“Life, sport, you just can’t take that for granted, right? Going out, skating your best, leaving it all on the table as it could be your last is so important,” Gilles said. “That’s kind of what we did today. If it is our last, if it’s not, who knows. But for us, it was a special moment and we’d be happy to leave the Canadian championships like that.”

Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha repeated as silver medallists at the Canadian championships, scoring 217.32.

Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac took bronze with 200.93, beating Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer by 4.81 points in a battle for Canada’s final Olympic spot. Lauriault and Le Gac led Fabbri and Ayer by only 0.59 after the rhythm dance.

“Lots of emotion,” Lauriault said. “We’re just really grateful to be able to perform like this. It’s to our training, to our coaches, the team behind us. We’re just really grateful right now, I think that’s the main energy we have.

“It’s a mix of emotion, we’re happy, sad, and sad for the people who worked hard. You want everyone to achieve their goal, but that’s sport, you can’t get it every day.”

Toronto’s Stephen Gogolev captured his first senior men’s singles title Saturday, while Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud claimed gold over 2024 world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps in pairs.

Skate Canada announced its full Olympic team Sunday evening. Canada has seven entries — three ice dance teams, two pairs and one each in men’s and women’s singles — and will compete in the team event.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2026.