This Friday, February 4, 2022, will see the start of the Winter Olympics in Bejing. Many Canadian athletes will be representing our great nation at the games, and five athletes from Oakville will be representing our Town. They include figure skater Madeline Schizas, hockey player Brianne Jenner, skier Evan McEachran, snowboarder Kaylie Buck and hockey player Sarah Fillier.
Madeline Schizas - Figure Skater
First on our list is figure skater Madeline Schizas. Madeline first started skating at the young age of 3 and competing at 6. Her first time on ice was when she and her family vacationed in San Francisco.
What inspired Madeline to compete in skating was when she went to the 2010 winter games in Vancouver as a fan. She watched Joannie Rochette capture the bronze medal in figure skating after Rochette lost her mother the day before.
Madeline made a big impression in her debut at the ISU World Championship in 2021. She placed ninth in the short program and second in the last performance in the free skate. Madeline finished 13th in the program and secured an Olympic spot for Canada at Bejing 2022.
Follow Madeline on Instagram @maddieschizas and Twitter @MaddieSchizas
Brianne Jenner - Hockey Player
Next, we have Brianne Jenner from the woman’s hockey team. This will be Brianne’s third Olympic games after competing for Canada in the 2014 Sochi games and the 2018 Pyeongchang games.
Brianne started playing hockey at the age of 3 when she began skating at an outdoor pond. Her father and uncle arranged the first organized league that she played in, and she had dreams of playing the Olympics when she watched the 2002 Winter games in Salt Lake City.
Brianne attended Cornell University and was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2010-11 and was second in NCAA freshman scoring. She attended Cornell until 2014 and led Cornell to the NCAA frozen four two years in a row.
Brianne also played in the former CWHL for Burlington and Mississauga in 2009 and 2010. She joined the Calgary Inferno in 2015 after attending Cornell, where she captained the team to a Clarkson cup.
Follow Brianne on Instagram @bjenner19 and Twitter @briannejenner
Evan McEachran - Skier
Lastly, we have Freestyle Skier Evan McEachran. Evan started competing in slopestyle skiing at the age of 8.
He would build his terrain parks in his backyard during the winter months. He started as a ski racer but then moved to freestyle skiing because he consistently hit rails and made his jumps.
Evan first stood on a podium in 2014 when he won the gold medal in Whistler at the AFP World Championships.
Over the last few years, Evan has become a consistent finalist in his competitions.
He made his X Games debut in 2015, and he finished seventh at the Drew Tour in December 2016.
In 2017, he finished second at his first World Cup in Stubai, Austria. In January 2018, he received a bronze medal at Mammoth Mountain, California and made his Olympic debut at the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
Follow Evan on Instagram @evanmceachran and Twitter @evanmceachran
Kaylie Buck - Snowboarder
Kaylie Buck found out on Sunday, Jan. 23, that she qualified to go to the Beijing Olympic games and the first time she will compete at the Olympics.
This Oakville Trafalgar High School graduate started snowboarding at the age of 8 at Hollymont Ski Club in Ellicottville, NY. Each year she would compete with other club members and by the age of ten she competed in Colorado against 60 other snowboarders from across the US. It was her first taste of real competition.
She joined the Ontario circuit in 2013 where she placed third, and this is the first time she made it to the podium.
In 2019 she was competing on the North American and Junior World circuits, when she was named North American tour champion. Kaylie was the youngest to compete in the Junior Worlds. There wasn't much opportunity to compete in 2020, but in 2021 she place third in the Junior Worlds and was the first Canadian female to make the podium.
Follow Kaylie on Instagram @Kailie.Buck.
Sarah Fillier - Hockey Player
Sarah Fillier also on the woman’s hockey team though she grew up in Georgetown, we've included her because she played for the Oakville Hornets from 2014 to 2018. Her best year with the Hornets was 2017 when she scored 50 points in 34 games.
Sarah first started skating at the age of two and started playing hockey at the age of three. Sarah has wanted to represent Canada since she saw some of her Canadian teammates play when she was much younger.
Sarah has a rare record in Hockey Canada as she played at the U18 World Championships, the U22 World Championships, and the National Team in a single calendar year.
In 2018, she and her teammates won the bronze medal at her second U18 IIHF World Championship and she was named one of the top three players by the coaches.
She joined the U22 team for a summer series against the United States before moving to the senior squad for the Four Nations Cup. She scored her first goal in a 6-1 win over Team Sweden and with that goal she became the first player born in the 2000s to score for the National Women’s Team.
Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahfillier16 and Twitter @SarahFillier91