Strong Competitive Line-up announced for 2009 HomeSense Skate Canada International

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Strong Competitive Line-up announced for 2009 HomeSense Skate Canada International

Source: Skate Canada

A strong competitive field in all four disciplines will take to the ice at the 2009 HomeSense Skate Canada International. The figure skating competition will take place November 19-22, 2009 at The Aud in Kitchener, Ontario.

The 2009 HomeSense Skate Canada International will be the sixth and final event of the International Skating Union (ISU) Senior Grand Prix of Figure Skating before the ISU Grand Prix Final in Tokyo, Japan. Entries for all six events were announced by the ISU over the weekend.

Skate Canada’s CEO William Thompson was pleased with the strength of the field drawn for this event. “This exciting competition will give people a strong preview of many programs that will be competed just a few months later at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Each of the four events, the men’s, ladies, pair and ice dance, will feature competitors with either World Championships titles or medals, competing against new up and coming stars from the junior ranks. It’s going to be a terrific three days of competition.”

The men’s event will feature current World silver medalist and two-time Canadian Champion Patrick Chan taking on a strong international field. He will face competition from Jeremy Abbott, the 2008-2009 ISU Grand Prix Final Champion and current USA Champion, along with Italy’s Samuel Contesti, fifth at this year’s ISU World Figure Skating Championships. The reigning silver medalist from this year’s ISU Junior World Championships, Michal Brezina from the Czech Republic will be looking to establish himself on the senior circuit. Canada’s Jeremy Ten will hope to build on his strong international debut in 2008-2009 at this event, and another Canadian men’s entry is still to be announced.

Newly crowned 2009 World silver medalist and Canada’s five-time ladies champion, Joannie Rochette leads a strong contingent vying for the ladies title. She will face two other women with top-10 World Championship placements, Finland’s Laura Lepisto who finished sixth in the world in 2009 and Sarah Meier from Switzerland who was ninth. The USA team features their 2009 National Champion, Alissa Czisny and their 2008 National Champion Mirai Nagasu. Caroline Zhang, who won gold in 2007 and silver in 2009 at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships, rounds out the USA team. Joining Rochette are the reigning Canadian silver medalist, Cynthia Phaneuf and bronze medalist Amélie Lacoste.

In ice dance two-time World medalists and Canadian Champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir will be looking to regain their HomeSense Skate Canada title after missing last year’s event due to injury. They will face challenges from the 2008 World Ice Dance Champions, Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder from France, as well as two teams who finished in the top ten at this year’s worlds, Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France and the always entertaining Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali of Italy. Looking to make the jump from the junior ranks is the fourth-ranked junior team of Madison Hubbell and Keiffer Hubbell of the USA. Canada’s bronze medalists, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje will compete in their hometown and Andrea Chong and Guillaume Gfeller round out the Canadian entries.

Canada’s two-time pair champions and 2008 World bronze medalists, Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison will face the two-time World Champions from Germany, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy. Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay, Canadian Champions in 2008, will be looking to regain their international form after losing last season to injury and challenge for a medal. Also in the medal hunt will be Russia’s Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov who were fifth in the world this year. Another Canadian pair team will also be named to compete in this event.

All-event ticket packages for the 2009 HomeSense Skate Canada International in Kitchener, Ontario are on sale now for $145, plus applicable surcharges. Tickets are available online at www.centre-square.com, by phone at 519.578.1570 or 1.800.265.8977, and in-person at The Aud or at the Centre Square Box Office.