Skate Canada International

Skate Canada International is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organised and hosted by Skate Canada. The first Skate Canada International was held in 1973 in Calgary, Alberta. When the ISU launched the Champions Series (later renamed the Grand Prix Series) in 1995, Skate Canada International was one of the five qualifying events. It has been a Grand Prix event every year except for 2020, when Skate Canada was forced to cancel the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Skaters earn points based on their results at the qualifying competitions each season, and the top skaters or teams in each discipline are invited to then compete at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

Patrick Chan of Canada currently holds the record for the most wins in men's singles (with six),^[1] while Michelle Kwan of the United States and Joannie Rochette of Canada are tied for the most wins in women's singles (with three each).^[2][3] Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada,^[4] and Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany,^[5] are tied for the most wins in pair skating (with four each). Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada hold the record in ice dance (with seven).^[6]

The 2025 Skate Canada International is scheduled to be held 31 October – 2 November at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.^[7]

Between 1923 and 1971, the Canadian Figure Skating Association and the U.S. Figure Skating Association co-hosted the North American Figure Skating Championships. At this time, medal contenders at the World Figure Skating Championships and the Winter Olympics came from either Europe or North America. The North American Championships allowed Canadian and American skaters the opportunity to compete at a comparable event to the European Figure Skating Championships. The championships were held every other year, with Canada and the United States alternating as hosts, and only skaters from Canada and the United States were eligible to compete.^[8]

At a planning meeting held in April 1972, representatives from the Canadian Figure Skating Association announced Canada's plans to withdraw from the North American Championships. With one of the two participating nations out, this effectively marked the end of the championships. The delegation from the U.S. Figure Skating Association was unaware at the time that the Canadian Figure Skating Association was already in the planning stages of launching their own international skating competition: the Skate Canada International.^[8]

The first edition of the Skate Canada International was held in 1973 in Calgary, Alberta.^[9] Nine countries were invited to participate: Austria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, France, Great Britain, Japan, the Soviet Union, the United States, and West Germany.^[8] Each nation could field one entry in each of three events – men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance – while Canada fielded three entries in each event. Toller Cranston and Lynn Nightingale, both of Canada, won the men's and women's events, respectively, while Hilary Green and Glyn Watts of Great Britain won the ice dance event.^[8]

Skate Canada did not hold the competition in 1979 after reaching an agreement with the U.S. Figure Skating Association to accommodate the Olympic test event at Lake Placid, New York, in anticipation of the 1980 Winter Olympics.^[8] In 1987, Skate Canada hosted their own test event at the Olympic Saddledome in Calgary, site of the 1988 Winter Olympics.^[10]

Beginning with the 1995–96 season, the International Skating Union (ISU) launched the Champions Series – later renamed the Grand Prix Series – which, at its inception, consisted of five qualifying competitions and the Champions Series Final. This allowed skaters to perfect their programs earlier in the season, as well as compete against the skaters with whom they would later compete at the World Championships.^[8] This series also provided the viewing public with additional televised skating, which was in high demand.^[8] The five qualifying competitions during this inaugural season were the 1995 Nations Cup, the 1995 NHK Trophy, the 1995 Skate America, the 1995 Skate Canada International, and the 1995 Trophée de France. Skaters earned points based on their results in their respective competitions and the top skaters or teams in each discipline were invited to compete at the 1995–96 Champions Series Final in Paris.^[11] Skate Canada International has been a qualifying event of the Grand Prix Series every year since, except for 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation.^[12]

The reigning Skate Canada International champions: Ilia Malinin of the United States (men's singles); Kaori Sakamoto of Japan (women's singles); Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada (pair skating); and Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada (ice dance)

Men's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1973	Calgary	Toller Cranston	Ron Shaver	Minoru Sano	[13]
1974	Kitchener	Ron Shaver	Minoru Sano	Charles Tickner
1975	Edmonton	Toller Cranston	Ron Shaver	Terry Kubicka
1976	Ottawa	Ron Shaver	Robin Cousins	David Santee
1977	Moncton	Robin Cousins	Charles Tickner	Scott Cramer
1978	Vancouver	Fumio Igarashi	Charles Tickner	Brian Pockar
1979	No competition held
1980	Calgary	Scott Hamilton	Brian Pockar	David Santee
1981	Ottawa	Norbert Schramm	Brian Orser	Jozef Sabovčík
1982	Kitchener	Brian Boitano	Brian Orser	Heiko Fischer
1983	Halifax	Brian Orser	Grzegorz Filipowski	Masaru Ogawa
1984	Victoria	Brian Orser	Grzegorz Filipowski	Masaru Ogawa
1985	London	Jozef Sabovčík	Scott Williams	Grzegorz Filipowski
1986	Regina	Vitali Egorov	Christopher Bowman	Grzegorz Filipowski
1987	Calgary	Brian Orser	Brian Boitano	Viktor Petrenko
1988	Thunder Bay	Kurt Browning	Viktor Petrenko	Angelo D'Agostino
1989	Cornwall	Petr Barna	Paul Wylie	Daniel Weiss
1990	Lethbridge	Kurt Browning	Grzegorz Filipowski	Mark Mitchell
1991	London	Elvis Stojko	Vasili Eremenko	Paul Wylie
1992	Victoria	Elvis Stojko	Scott Davis	Éric Millot
1993	Ottawa	Kurt Browning	Mark Mitchell	Steven Cousins
1994	Red Deer	Elvis Stojko	Michael Shmerkin	Sébastien Britten
1995	Saint John	Alexei Urmanov	Michael Shmerkin	Éric Millot	[14]
1996	Kitchener	Elvis Stojko	Ilia Kulik	Scott Davis	[15]
1997	Halifax	Elvis Stojko	Ilia Kulik	Michael Tyllesen	[16]
1998	Kamloops	Evgeni Plushenko	Elvis Stojko	Szabolcs Vidrai	[17]
1999	Saint John	Alexei Yagudin	Elvis Stojko	Takeshi Honda	[18]
2000	Mississauga	Alexei Yagudin	Todd Eldredge	Matthew Savoie	[19]
2001	Saskatoon	Alexei Yagudin	Elvis Stojko	Todd Eldredge	[20]
2002	Quebec City	Takeshi Honda	Emanuel Sandhu	Stanislav Timchenko	[21]
2003	Mississauga	Evgeni Plushenko	Jeffrey Buttle	Takeshi Honda	[22]
2004	Halifax	Emanuel Sandhu	Ben Ferreira	Jeffrey Buttle	[23]
2005	St. John's	Emanuel Sandhu	Jeffrey Buttle	Nobunari Oda	[24]
2006	Victoria	Stéphane Lambiel	Daisuke Takahashi	Johnny Weir	[25]
2007	Quebec City	Brian Joubert	Kevin van der Perren	Jeffrey Buttle	[26]
2008	Ottawa	Patrick Chan	Ryan Bradley	Evan Lysacek	[27]
2009	Kitchener	Jeremy Abbott	Daisuke Takahashi	Alban Préaubert	[28]
2010	Kingston	Patrick Chan	Nobunari Oda	Adam Rippon	[29]
2011	Mississauga	Patrick Chan	Javier Fernández	Daisuke Takahashi	[30]
2012	Windsor	Javier Fernández	Patrick Chan	Nobunari Oda	[31]
2013	Saint John	Patrick Chan	Yuzuru Hanyu	Nobunari Oda	[32]
2014	Kelowna	Takahito Mura	Javier Fernández	Max Aaron	[33]
2015	Lethbridge	Patrick Chan	Yuzuru Hanyu	Daisuke Murakami	[34]
2016	Mississauga	Patrick Chan	Yuzuru Hanyu	Kevin Reynolds	[35]
2017	Regina	Shoma Uno	Jason Brown	Alexander Samarin	[36]
2018	Laval	Shoma Uno	Keegan Messing	Cha Jun-hwan	[37]
2019	Kelowna	Yuzuru Hanyu	Nam Nguyen	Keiji Tanaka	[38]
2020	Ottawa	Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			[12]
2021	Vancouver	Nathan Chen	Jason Brown	Evgeni Semenenko	[39]
2022	Mississauga	Shoma Uno	Kao Miura	Matteo Rizzo	[40]
2023	Vancouver	Sōta Yamamoto	Kao Miura	Matteo Rizzo	[41]
2024	Halifax	Ilia Malinin	Shun Sato	Cha Jun-hwan	[42]

Women's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1973	Calgary	Lynn Nightingale	Barbara Terpenning	Jean Scott	[13]
1974	Kitchener	Lynn Nightingale	Anett Pötzsch	Wendy Burge
1975	Edmonton	Susanna Driano	Kath Malmberg	Emi Watanabe
1976	Ottawa	Kim Alletson	Karena Richardson	Garnet Ostermeier
1977	Moncton	Linda Fratianne	Lisa-Marie Allen	Heather Kemkaran
1978	Vancouver	Lisa-Marie Allen	Claudia Kristofics-Binder	Kristiina Wegelius
1979	No competition held
1980	Calgary	Elaine Zayak	Tracey Wainman	Claudia Kristofics-Binder
1981	Ottawa	Tracey Wainman	Rosalynn Sumners	Kira Ivanova
1982	Kitchener	Vikki De Vries	Kristiina Wegelius	Rosalynn Sumners
1983	Halifax	Katarina Witt	Kay Thomson	Tiffany Chin
1984	Victoria	Midori Ito	Tiffany Chin	Natalia Lebedeva
1985	London	Caryn Kadavy	Elizabeth Manley	Patricia Neske
1986	Regina	Elizabeth Manley	Claudia Leistner	Joanne Conway
1987	Calgary	Debi Thomas	Elizabeth Manley	Joanne Conway
1988	Thunder Bay	Natalia Lebedeva	Jill Trenary	Patricia Neske
1989	Cornwall	Kristi Yamaguchi	Simone Lang	Natalia Lebedeva
1990	Lethbridge	Josée Chouinard	Lisa Sargeant	Holly Cook
1991	London	Surya Bonaly	Marina Kielmann	Karen Preston
1992	Victoria	Maria Butyrskaya	Alice Sue Claeys	Josée Chouinard
1993	Ottawa	Chen Lu	Olga Markova	Karen Preston
1994	Red Deer	Krisztina Czakó	Laëtitia Hubert	Jessica Mills
1995	Saint John	Michelle Kwan	Hanae Yokoya	Josée Chouinard	[14]
1996	Kitchener	Irina Slutskaya	Tara Lipinski	Lucinda Ruh	[15]
1997	Halifax	Michelle Kwan	Maria Butyrskaya	Surya Bonaly	[16]
1998	Kamloops	Elena Liashenko	Fumie Suguri	Irina Slutskaya	[17]
1999	Saint John	Michelle Kwan	Julia Soldatova	Jennifer Robinson	[18]
2000	Mississauga	Irina Slutskaya	Michelle Kwan	Fumie Suguri	[19]
2001	Saskatoon	Sarah Hughes	Irina Slutskaya	Michelle Kwan	[20]
2002	Quebec City	Sasha Cohen	Fumie Suguri	Viktoria Volchkova	[21]
2003	Mississauga	Sasha Cohen	Shizuka Arakawa	Júlia Sebestyén	[22]
2004	Halifax	Cynthia Phaneuf	Yoshie Onda	Susanna Pöykiö	[23]
2005	St. John's	Alissa Czisny	Joannie Rochette	Yukari Nakano	[24]
2006	Victoria	Joannie Rochette	Fumie Suguri	Yuna Kim	[25]
2007	Quebec City	Mao Asada	Yukari Nakano	Joannie Rochette	[26]
2008	Ottawa	Joannie Rochette	Fumie Suguri	Alissa Czisny	[27]
2009	Kitchener	Joannie Rochette	Alissa Czisny	Laura Lepistö	[28]
2010	Kingston	Alissa Czisny	Ksenia Makarova	Amélie Lacoste	[29]
2011	Mississauga	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Akiko Suzuki	Ashley Wagner	[30]
2012	Windsor	Kaetlyn Osmond	Akiko Suzuki	Kanako Murakami	[31]
2013	Saint John	Yulia Lipnitskaya	Akiko Suzuki	Gracie Gold	[32]
2014	Kelowna	Anna Pogorilaya	Ashley Wagner	Satoko Miyahara	[33]
2015	Lethbridge	Ashley Wagner	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Yuka Nagai	[34]
2016	Mississauga	Evgenia Medvedeva	Kaetlyn Osmond	Satoko Miyahara	[35]
2017	Regina	Kaetlyn Osmond	Maria Sotskova	Ashley Wagner	[36]
2018	Laval	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Mako Yamashita	Evgenia Medvedeva	[37]
2019	Kelowna	Alexandra Trusova	Rika Kihira	You Young	[38]
2020	Ottawa	Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			[12]
2021	Vancouver	Kamila Valieva	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Alena Kostornaia	[39]
2022	Mississauga	Rinka Watanabe	Starr Andrews	You Young	[40]
2023	Vancouver	Kaori Sakamoto	Kim Chae-yeon	Rino Matsuike	[41]
2024	Halifax	Kaori Sakamoto	Rino Matsuike	Hana Yoshida	[42]