On Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, Oakville's own Madeline Schizas captured the women's title at the Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships in Ottawa.
At the short program day on Friday, Jan. 7, she wowed the judges as her performance included a triple Lutz-triple toe combo, a solo triple loop and the required double Axel.
Judges awarded her perfect fours on her three spins, scoring 72.05, 12.70 points higher than the second-place skater.
The eighteen-year-old skated to Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" and did not have a perfect skate on Saturday. However, with her 12 point lead from Friday's skate, her performance was strong enough to secure Madeline the number one spot and the gold medal.
After winning the championship, Schizas was asked what her goals were for Beijing 2022, and she replied, "My biggest goal is to avoid catching COVID," Schizas said. "That's my biggest goal; for the next three weeks, I'm going to do everything in my power to stay healthy."
Schizas didn't even believe that she could go to the Olympics until she performed in the world championships last spring and finished 13th.
"I am a very logical person," she said. "Realistically, one person is going to the Olympics, and the chances it was going to be me were very slim. Obviously, now that I've won a Canadian title, the Olympics are on my radar, but I never like to get too far ahead of myself. I think one moment at a time, and I think that makes it even better qualifying."
Canada had one spot left in the woman's Olympic figure skating team going into the Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships, and Madeline Schizas has just filled the position.
Some thoughts and thank you’s from this weekend. Still can’t believe that I did “the thing”, and qualified for #TeamCanada . See you soon, #Beijing2022 ! pic.twitter.com/fEUMtpeAk3
— Madeline Schizas (@MaddieSchizas) January 10, 2022