Canadian Olympic figure skating team unveiled for Beijing 2022

Vanessa James and Eric Radford sat successful the virtually bare TD Place Arena stands connected Saturday, watching arsenic their rivals competed successful the pairs escaped skate astatine the Canadian fig skating championships.

A time later, James and Radford recovered themselves having to support their berth connected Canada's squad for the Beijing Olympics.

The seasoned skaters, who contracted COVID-19 conscionable earlier Christmas, were awarded 1 of the 2 berths successful pairs connected Sunday, contempt withdrawing from the championships successful Ottawa aft the abbreviated program. The determination drew the ire of immoderate skating fans.

"The criteria was stated astatine the opening of the season. And so, from the opening until now, we each person the aforesaid opportunities to execute and score, and Vanessa and I posted the highest abbreviated and escaped programme scores internationally, we had the highest placements," Radford said from Ottawa. "Sport is astir what you bash connected the tract of play wrong the acceptable requirements for the season."

James and Radford, who teamed up past spring, pulled retired of the contention Saturday aft their fourth-place decorativeness successful Friday's abbreviated program. They said they weren't afloat recovered to execute astatine their best.

"We deliberation we made the champion determination for us, truthful that we tin beryllium the champion successful a period erstwhile it's the astir important," Radford said Sunday.

WATCH l That Figure Skating Show goes through Canada's Olympic squad:

The Canadian championships are part, but not all, of Skate Canada's Olympic qualifying criteria.

The enactment criteria, written earlier the play started, besides includes scores and results from planetary events this season, the placement astatine past year's satellite championships, and the imaginable for the champion decorativeness successful Beijing based connected the full season.

"Unfortunately, with each sports, successful an Olympic twelvemonth erstwhile you person a nationalist championship, a batch of radical presume that is the end-all and be-all successful the last determining factor," said Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada's high-performance director. "A nationalist title is ever important and it's important for athletes to beryllium a nationalist champion, to beryllium a medallist. But erstwhile we did the appraisal with our committee, we looked astatine each those factors … and not 1 is weighted higher than the other.

"If you look astatine the planetary season, Vanessa and Eric retired of each our pairs teams had the strongest scores. Unfortunately, with a concern mostly retired of one's control, with Omicron and COVID, they conscionable weren't capable to implicit the event. But we look astatine the assemblage of enactment of each athletes and we privation to marque the champion appraisal for the strongest squad we consciousness has the champion quality for america astatine the Games."

'These Games volition beryllium highly different'

The remainder of the Canadian squad enactment was much chopped and dried. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro secured the different berth with their fantabulous skates successful some the abbreviated and agelong programs that earned them gold.

"Obviously with the clime of the satellite close present these Games volition beryllium highly antithetic … I conscionable heard Paul [Poirier] say it's antithetic to not beryllium capable to hug your teammates and amusement them however excited you are for them. But it's been a bully time for america and we're ace arrogant and excited."

Keegan Messing and Roman Sadovsky are Canada's men's singles entries and Madeline Schizas earned the 1 berth successful women's singles.

WATCH l That Figure Skating Show recaps Messing's 1st Canadian title:

"Going to the Olympic Winter Games is conscionable specified a dream," Schizas said. "I watched the 2010 Games successful Vancouver. I watched Joannie Rochette determination and since past it's conscionable been specified a imagination of mine."

World bronze medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier were a fastener for an crystal creation berth, portion Saturday's metallic medallists Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen, and bronze medallists Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha filled retired the 3 spots.

When it came to the contentious pairs berths, immoderate skating fans argued that metallic medallists Evelyn Walsh and Trennt Michaud were robbed.

Meagan Duhamel, who won 2 satellite titles with Radford, tweeted, with a breached bosom emoji: "I americium disappointed successful my athletics today."

"The Canadian pairs each sucked each season," Duhamel told The Canadian Press. "The lone teams to bash a beardown abbreviated and beardown agelong successful the aforesaid contention is Evelyn and Trent and Kirsten and Mike astatine Canadians. And since nary [pairs] team is simply a medal contender, we don't request to prime based connected potential."

Radford, who won Olympic bronze with Duhamel successful 2018 and golden successful the squad event, came retired of status astatine property 36 to vie with James. The 34-year-old James is simply a Toronto autochthonal but competed for France, winning satellite bronze successful 2018 with Morgan Cipres.

COVID-19 casts pall implicit Olympics

"[The season] has been up and down, but it's ever been progressive, we've showed improvement, our scores person been consistently rather precocious for Canadian skating, and we are inactive looking guardant to reaching higher points and levels and positions successful our skating, comparing ourselves to the champion successful the world," James said.

"We're saddened that we couldn't vie astatine this contention … we wanted to amusement up and effort our best, amusement sportsmanship and springiness it our all, and it conscionable didn't hap for america for the abbreviated program. It conscionable solidified the information that we are not prepared to bash a large programme that we request to amusement earlier going into the Olympics."

The fig of berths allotted to each state successful each of the 4 disciplines depends connected placing astatine the satellite championships the erstwhile year.

COVID-19 has formed a pall implicit the Games little than a period earlier they open, with athletes specified arsenic Canadian men's skaters Nam Nguyen and Stephen Gogolev contracting the microorganism recently.

Gilles and Poirier, who person their sights acceptable connected climbing the podium successful Beijing, said they're focusing connected their skating mentation alternatively than fixating connected the microorganism threat.

"You tin conscionable get wrapped up successful it, truthful we conscionable take to beryllium positive, this is simply a precise breathtaking clip for truthful galore people," Gilles said. "I deliberation this is thing that radical truly request successful a clip similar this. We request to amusement the satellite that we tin determination guardant and observe things that we emotion to do. So, we request to beryllium affirmative astir successful each the things that we're going into, and it's going to beryllium thing to celebrate, not look astatine the negative."

WATCH | Ice dancers Gilles, Poirier unafraid Canadian title:

Radford said portion being successful quarantine for 10 days starring into the nationalist championships was frustrating, he's thankful the accidental of catching COVID-19 won't perpetually beryllium connected his mind.

"It simultaneously was a truly annoying and atrocious happening to hap due to the fact that it didn't let america to hole for this competition, but present compared to athletes that haven't gotten it yet, we tin beryllium a small spot much astatine ease," helium said. "We'll beryllium precise vigilant still. But I tin archer you, from talking to different athletes [who haven't had the virus], I cognize I'm much relaxed than they are astatine this point.

"We're some feeling a tiny consciousness of alleviation that we've got that implicit with, and present we person a small spot much of a clearer and little stressful way arsenic we bid for Beijing."

The Olympic fig skating contention begins Feb. 4 with the squad lawsuit astatine the Capitol Indoor Stadium.