Mathieu competing at the 2007 Canadian Championships

North Bay Figure Skating Club
Media Release

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Chad Mathieu is competing at the 2007 BMO Financial Group Skate Canada Canadian Championships being held in Halifax, NS January 15-22. He is competing in the Junior Men’s event. The top twenty junior skaters in the country compete in the junior disciplines, while all the top senior skaters compete in the senior events. He is a member of the North Bay Figure Skating Club and the 2007 Skate Canada Northern Ontario Junior Men’s Champion.

He qualified for the Canadian Championships by placing in the top ten at the 2007 Skate Canada Western Challenge held in Moncton, NB in December. Qualifying for the national championships from the Challenge (the qualifying event leading up the Canadian Championships) was certainly a challenge for him. Moncton airport was closed due to freezing rain, flights were cancelled and delayed and was eventually was re-routed to Halifax, with a mid-night drive to Moncton but his luggage did not arrive which included his skates as airline rules do not allow skates in carry on luggage. This was a problem for several skaters. He therefore was unable to attend his practice the day of his short program competition and was notified only two hours before his event that his skates would arrive during the time he was to compete. His skates arrived five minutes before his group was scheduled to be on the ice for warm up. He made the warm up and skated his short program and managed to place in the top ten going into the Freeskate the next day. His overall 8th place finish after the Freeskate qualified him for the Canadian Championships a little short of his top five goal but he did manage a personal best score overall after all the extenuating circumstances.

He has also been dealing with a nagging back injury since early September but it is much improved after modifying his training and physiotherapy and is hoping for a new personal best score at the Canadian Championships and to improve on his 16th place finish from last year which was his first trip to the Canadian Championships. He has added a triple lutz combination jump and a triple flip to his repertoire of jumps this year in both the Short and Freeskate programs. Eighteen-year-old Mathieu is planning on moving up to the senior ranks next season although he is still age eligible for the junior’s for another season.

He is a graduate of St. Joseph’s-Scollard Hall and is now attending York University in Toronto balancing school and skating and is currently training in Richmond Hill at the Richmond Training Centre, coached this season by Neil Carpenter, Bob Emerson and choreographer Mary-Angela Larmer. He has been a long time member of the North Bay FSC and was coached for many years by NBFSC coaches Debbie Cottrill-Olivier, Sharon Lajeunesse and Tim White.

Cottrill-Olivier coached him right through to his first experience at the Canadian Championships last year. He continues to keep in contact with strength and conditioning coach Larry Sheppard here in North Bay and was working out here at the YMCA over the holidays and was also busy over the holidays helping teach young skaters by assisting his coach with a skating seminar at the New Liskeard Figure Skating Club. Mathieu is one of eight skaters in junior and senior events who qualified and will be representing Skate Canada Northern Ontario at the Canadian Championships. Fellow Northern Ontario team member Jeff Buttle will look to defend his national title in the Senior Men’s event.

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