Madeline Schizas from Ontario performs during the senior women’s short program at the National Skating Championships in Oshawa, Ont., on Friday January 13, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
OSHAWA, Ont. – Fiona Bombardier’s grace and wide smile are reminiscent of her famous mom – even as Bombardier has worked to develop her own figure skating identity.
And Bombardier only discovered by accident, well into her skating career, that her mom Josée Chouinard was once Canada’s best and a two-time Olympian.
“She didn’t even tell me until I was maybe like over 10 years old, I had no idea,” Bombardier said at the Canadian figure skating championships on Friday. “I was already skating, competing. I didn’t even hear it from her. I heard it from other skaters. And then I came home and it was, like, ‘What?! Why didn’t you ever tell me?'”
Bombardier, a 17-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., was third in the women’s short program on Friday, despite still being a junior competitor.
Madeline Schizas, an Olympian from Oakville, Ont., heads into Saturday’s free program in the lead, scoring 68.52 for her “Black Swan” program, despite a bobble on her triple loop.
Lia Pereira, who’s also competing in pairs at the national championships with Trennt Michaud, had 61.21 points, while Bombardier, scored 60.52.
Montreal’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen scored 87.06 points to lead the short dance, which was missing world bronze medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. Gilles and Poirier captured their first Grand Prix Final title last month, but Gilles underwent an appendectomy recently.
Bombardier’s dad, Jean-Michel Bombardier, was a pairs skater for Canada. He and Chouinard were both in the audience Friday at Tribute Communities Centre. Fiona’s twin brother Noah skated until he grew out of a pair of skates when he was 12.
“That was the end of it,” Bombardier said of her brother. “He didn’t want to keep going.”
Bombardier said she’s barely even seen video of her mom competing. She recalled watching a YouTube clip of Chouinard at an Olympics – either Albertville (1992) or Lillehammer (’94), she didn’t know which.
Chouinard was a three-time Canadian champion, and finished fifth at two world championships. While Bombardier said her mom is an inspiration, she is carving her own career.
“She does not pressure me into skating. She just allows me to do what I love to do and she’s just there on the sidelines supporting me no matter what,” said Bombardier, who hopes to be a vet after she’s done skating.
“I created my own look. As I said, I didn’t watch many videos of her skating. And she doesn’t show me.”
The Canadian championships determine the team for the world championships in March in Saitama, Japan. Canada has one entry in women’s singles at worlds, which is Schizas’s to lose.
Schizas, who was excellent in Canada’s fourth-place finish in the team event at the Beijing Olympics, said she was thrown off a bit Friday with having to skate last.
“Sometimes I struggle with that, just the wait,” Schizas said.
Schizas marvelled at how Pereira competes in two events, saying she’d also wanted to be a pairs skater when she started out. But Schizas jumps clockwise, which is rare in skating, and there were no clockwise male skaters to team up with.
“I thought it would be super fun but my parents thought that watching me get tossed around would be far less fun. So when they couldn’t find me a partner I think they were a little relieved,” Schizas said.
The pairs and men’s singles short programs were later Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2023.
