Wesley Chiu
| Wesley Chiu | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Country represented |  Canada |
| Born | March 20, 2005 Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Home town | Richmond, British Columbia |
| Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) |
| Coach | Keegan Murphy, Eileen Murphy |
| Choreographer | Joey Russell |
| Former choreographer | Keegan Murphy |
| Skating club | Connaught FSC Richmond |
| Training locations | Richmond, British Columbia |
| Began skating | 2009 |
| ISU personal best scores | |
| Combined total | 232.39 2021 CS Warsaw Cup |
| Short program | 81.59 2022 Junior Worlds |
| Free skate | 162.24 2021 CS Warsaw Cup |
Wesley Chiu (born March 20, 2005) is a Canadian figure skater. He is a two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix medalist, including winning gold at the 2021 JGP France II.
Domestically he is the 2022 Canadian national bronze medalist, the 2020 junior silver medalist, and 2019 novice champion.
Career
Early years
Chiu began learning to skate in 2009. In his early years in competitive skating at the national level, he was the 2017 Skate Canada Challenge silver medalist at the pre-novice level. Debuting as a novice the following season, he was the bronze medalist at 2018 Skate Canada Challenge and finished ninth at the 2018 Canadian Novice Championships. In the 2018–19 season he won gold at both Skate Canada Challenge and the 2019 Canadian Novice Championships, and made his international debut at the advanced novice level by winning the Bavarian Open.[1]
2019–20 season: Junior international debut
After his novice results, Chiu was selected to make his Junior Grand Prix debut at the 2019 JGP Italy in Egna-Neumarkt. He finished thirteenth. Returning to the domestic scene, he won the silver medal at both Skate Canada Challenge and the 2020 Canadian Junior Championships.[1]
2020–21 season
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Junior Grand Prix and the rest of the international junior season were cancelled. Chiu competed only domestically, winning bronze at the junior level at a virtually-held Skate Canada Challenge.[2] This would have qualified him to the 2021 Canadian Championships, but these were cancelled due to the pandemic.[3]
2021–22 season: First JGP and national medals
Chiu returned to international competition with the resumption of the Junior Grand Prix, competing at the second installment of the French JGP in Courchevel. Due to pandemic restrictions, skaters from Russia were unable to attend the event.[4] Chiu won the short program by a wide margin, but struggled in the free skate, remaining narrowly in first overall and taking the gold medal. Speaking afterward he said that the short program result caused "a lot of excitement", as a result of which in "the long program I feel like I struggled a bit in the beginning, but I was able to push that aside and really finish the program strong."[5] At his second assignment, the 2021 JGP Russia in Krasnoyarsk, he won the bronze medal. He was one of only two non-Russian competitors to podium at the event in any discipline.[6] He landed a quad toe loop in international competition for the first time, calling it "another great milestone I've achieved."[7] Chiu's gold medal qualified him to the 2021–22 Junior Grand Prix Final, intended to be held in Osaka, but it was cancelled due to restrictions prompted by the Omicron variant.[8]
Following the end of the Junior Grand Prix, Chiu was sent to make his international senior debut at the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup. Only eleventh in the short program after missing his jump combination, he rallied in the free skate, skating cleanly and landing two quads in a program for the first time. He set a new personal best and won that segment of the competition, finishing fourth overall, ten points behind bronze medalist Petr Gumennik.[9]
Chiu next competed at the 2022 Canadian Championships in Ottawa, hoping to qualify for one of the two men's berths on the Canadian team for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Not initially considered among the top contenders, he finished a surprise second in the short program. He was only fifth in the free skate after singling a planned triple Axel, but narrowly finished third overall, 0.54 points head of Joseph Phan. Wearing his first senior national medal, Chiu said his season was "like a rocket ship because it kept going higher and higher and kept getting better."[10] He was named first alternate for the Olympic team, and assigned to attend the 2022 Four Continents Championships in Tallinn, which would have been his ISU championship debut. However, he had to withdraw from Four Continents due to his coach testing positive for COVID-19.[11] Chiu's status as first alternate for the Olympics briefly came into play when national champion Keegan Messing was initially unable to travel to Beijing due to positive COVID tests, as a result of which Chiu was standing by to depart in his stead. However, Messing was ultimately able to leave in time.[12][13]
Chiu was assigned to finish his season at the 2022 World Junior Championships, held in mid-April rather than the traditional early March to accommodate a last-minute move from Sofia to Tallinn.[14] Due to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, all Russian and Belarusian skaters were banned by the ISU.[15] In the short program, Chiu skated cleanly but for an edge call on his triple flip, receiving a new personal best score of 81.59. He finished second in the segment, 0.33 points ahead of Estonia's Mihhail Selevko and 7.40 points behind leader Ilia Malinin of the USA, winning a silver small medal.[16] Errors in the free skate dropped him to fourth place overall, 5 points behind bronze medalist Tatsuya Tsuboi.[17]
2022–23 season
Beginning the season on the Challenger circuit, Chiu finished in tenth place at the 2022 CS U.S. Classic.[18] He then made his senior Grand Prix debut at the 2022 Skate America, alongside American training partner Liam Kapeikis. Chiu said he was eager to participate in events with larger audiences.[19] He finished sixth at the event, 0.40 points and one placement ahead of his friend Kapeikis.[20]
Programs
| Season | Short program | Free skating |
|---|---|---|
| 2022–2023 [21] |
|
|
| 2021–2022 [22] |
|
|
| 2019–2020 [23] |
|
|
Competitive highlights
GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: ISU Junior Grand Prix.
| International: Senior[1] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 16–17 | 17–18 | 18–19 | 19–20 | 20–21 | 21–22 | 22–23 |
| GP France | TBD | ||||||
| GP Skate America | 6th | ||||||
| CS U.S. Classic | 10th | ||||||
| CS Warsaw Cup | 4th | ||||||
| International: Junior[1] | |||||||
| Junior Worlds | 4th | ||||||
| JGP Final | C | ||||||
| JGP France | 1st | ||||||
| JGP Italy | 13th | ||||||
| JGP Russia | 3rd | ||||||
| International: Novice[1] | |||||||
| Bavarian Open | 1st | ||||||
| National[1] | |||||||
| Canadian Champ. | 9th N | 1st N | 2nd J | C | 3rd | ||
| SC Challenge | 2nd P | 3rd N | 1st N | 2nd J | 3rd J | ||
| TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Event cancelled Levels: J = Junior; N = Novice; P = Pre-Novice | |||||||
Detailed results
Current ISU personal bests in bold.
Senior
| 2022–23 season | |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 4–6, 2022 | 2022 Grand Prix de France | TBD |
TBD |
TBD | |
| October 21–23, 2022 | 2022 Skate America | 9 71.58 |
6 148.32 |
6 219.90 | |
| September 12–16, 2022 | 2022 CS U.S. Classic | 10 55.14 |
9 116.55 |
10 171.69 | |
| 2021–22 season | |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |
| January 6–12, 2022 | 2022 Canadian Championships | 2 81.47 |
5 150.57 |
3 232.04 | |
| November 17–20, 2021 | 2021 CS Warsaw Cup | 11 70.15 |
1 162.24 |
4 232.39 | |
Junior
| 2021–22 season | |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 13–17, 2022 | 2022 World Junior Championships | 2 81.59 |
4 146.70 |
4 228.29 | |
| September 15–18, 2021 | 2021 JGP Russia | 4 76.63 |
3 140.96 |
3 217.59 | |
| August 25–28, 2021 | 2021 JGP France II | 1 76.26 |
2 123.63 |
1 199.89 | |
| 2020–21 season | |||||
| January 8–17, 2021 | 2021 Skate Canada Junior Challenge | 5 57.47 |
2 121.83 |
3 179.30 | |
| 2019–20 season | |||||
| January 13–19, 2020 | 2020 Canadian Junior Championships | 1 76.12 |
4 122.32 |
2 198.44 | |
| Nov. 27 – Dec. 1, 2019 | 2020 Skate Canada Junior Challenge | 5 59.11 |
1 120.53 |
2 179.64 | |
| October 2–5, 2019 | 2019 JGP Italy | 14 55.51 |
13 111.78 |
13 167.29 | |
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Wesley CHIU: Competitive Results". International Skating Union.
- ^ "2021 Skate Canada Challenge – Results". Skate Canada.
- ^ Ewing, Lori (January 16, 2021). "Madeline Schizas moves up 3 spots to win virtual Skate Canada Challenge". CBC Sports.
- ^ "Russian junior skaters out of French events". International Figure Skating. 10 August 2021.
- ^ "USA and Canada strike gold as ISU Junior Grand Prix continues in Courchevel". International Skating Union. August 31, 2021.
- ^ "Russia dominates ISU Junior Grand Prix on home ice". International Skating Union. September 20, 2021.
- ^ "Canada's Wesley Chiu lands first international event quad, wins bronze medal at ISU Junior Grand Prix". Skate Canada. September 17, 2021.
- ^ "Figure skating Grand Prix Final cancelled over travel rules". CBC Sports. December 2, 2021.
- ^ "Wesley Chou wins free skate, nears podium in personal best performance at Warsaw Cup". Skate Canada. November 19, 2021.
- ^ Flett, Ted (January 9, 2022). "Messing finally triumphant!". Golden Skate.
- ^ Anything GOEs [@anythinggoe] (January 19, 2022). "🇨🇦 We have received notification from Skate Canada that Wesley Chiu withdrew from #4ContsFigure due to a member of his coaching team testing positive for coronavirus" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Jacqueline Doorey [@jackydoorey] (February 3, 2022). "The alternate is Wesley Chiu - 16 years old from Richmond, B.C. They've been quiet on when they'd make that decision - From what I understand the hope is to keep testing Keegan until the last minute, then they'll get either him or Chiu on a plane" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Ewing, Lori (February 6, 2022). "Canadian figure skater Keegan Messing finally touches down in Beijing". CBC Sports.
- ^ "ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 allotted to Tallinn (EST)". International Skating Union. March 4, 2022.
- ^ "ISU Statement on the Ukrainian crisis – Participation in international competitions of Skaters and Officials from Russia and Belarus". International Skating Union. March 1, 2022.
- ^ Slater, Paula (April 14, 2022). "USA's Ilia Malinin sets record at Junior Worlds". Golden Skate.
- ^ Slater, Paula (April 16, 2022). "USA's Ilia Malinin takes gold in Tallinn". Golden Skate.
- ^ "Canadians Lauriault and Le Gac edged for bronze at US International Figure Skating Classic". Skate Canada. September 16, 2022.
- ^ Leung, Valerie (October 19, 2022). "Richmond skaters vying for podium spot at U.S. skating competition". Richmond News.
- ^ "Canada opens ISU Grand Prix season with two medals in pairs". Skate Canada. October 23, 2022.
- ^ "Wesley CHIU: 2022/2023". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on October 21, 2022.
- ^ "Wesley CHIU: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on August 9, 2021.
- ^ "Wesley CHIU: 2019/2020". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on November 16, 2019.