Wikipedia

Conrad Orzel

Conrad Orzel (born July 11, 2000) is a retired Canadian figure skater and model. He is the 2019 Bavarian Open silver medalist and 2023 Canadian national silver medalist. Earlier in his career, he won two medals on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series and placed 13th at the 2017 and 2018 World Junior Championships.

Conrad Orzel
Orzel at the 2019 Cup of China
Born (2000-07-11) July 11, 2000 (age 24)
Toronto, Ontario
HometownWoodbridge, Ontario
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Figure skating career
Country Canada
DisciplineMen's singles
Began skating2006
RetiredMay 1, 2024
Canadian Championships
Silver medal – second place 2023 Oshawa Singles

Personal life

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Orzel was born on July 11, 2000, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is of Polish ancestry and speaks English, French, and Polish.[1]

Orzel graduated from York University in May 2024. He also announced his retirement from competitive skating in order to pursue a career in public venture capital.

Career

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Orzel began learning to skate in 2003.[2] Eva Najarro became his coach when he was five years old.[3] He trained at the York Region Skating Academy in Richmond Hill, Ontario until 2018 and also worked with Joanne McLeod in Vancouver, British Columbia.[4][5]

2014–2015 season

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Orzel sustained a torn ligament in his left leg before the Skate Canada Challenge in December 2014.[4] The following month, he won bronze in the novice men's event at the 2015 Canadian Championships.[6]

2015–2016 season

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Competing on the junior level, Orzel ranked fourth in the short program, sixth in the free skate, and fifth overall at the 2016 Canadian Championships. He hit his head on the ice during the free skate after attempting a triple Axel. He continued with his program and was examined afterwards by a medical team, which found no concussion.[7] Making his international debut, he won the junior bronze medal at the Coupe du Printemps in March 2016.[6]

2016–2017 season

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In August 2016, Orzel placed tenth at his first Junior Grand Prix (JGP) assignment in Saint Gervais-les-Bains, France, before winning silver at a JGP event in Dresden, Germany, in October. He received the junior silver medal at the 2017 Canadian Championships and was named in Canada's team to the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. He placed eighteenth in the short program, twelfth in the free skate, and thirteenth overall.[6]

2017–2018 season

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Orzel placed seventh at his first Junior Grand Prix assignment in Linz, Austria. In his second event in Poland, he won the bronze medal. Orzel moved to the senior level domestically, placing eleventh at the 2018 national championships. He ended the season at the 2018 World Junior Championships, where he placed thirteenth again.[6]

2018–2019 season

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Orzel decided to leave his longtime coach Eva Najarro, transferring to the Toronto Cricket, Skating & Curling Club under the tutelage of Lee Barkell.[8] He was again named to Skate Canada's NextGen team.[9] Orzel placed fourth at both of his JGP assignments, coming only 0.01 points away from a bronze medal at 2018 JGP Slovenia after setting new personal bests in both the free skate and in total score.[10]

At the 2019 Canadian Championships, Orzel placed fourth in the short program. He had a difficult free skate, dropping to fifth place overall. Because Orzel finished behind both Stephen Gogolev and Joseph Phan, he was not named to Canada's team for the World Junior Championships.[11] He was instead assigned to the 2019 Bavarian Open, making his senior international debut, where he won the silver medal.[12]

2019–2020 season

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Orzel moved to compete fully at the senior level, beginning the season at the 2019 CS Autumn Classic International, where he placed sixth.[13] Making his Grand Prix debut at the 2019 Cup of China, he placed eleventh.[14] Orzel was twelfth at the 2019 NHK Trophy and concluded his season with a sixth-place finish at the 2020 Canadian Championships.[6]

2020–2021 season

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Orzel was assigned to compete at the 2020 Skate Canada International, but the event was cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[15]

With the pandemic continuing to make it difficult to hold in-person events, the 2021 Skate Canada Challenge was held virtually, and Orzel placed fifth at the event, notably placing third in the short program and landing two quadruple jumps. The 2021 Canadian Championships were subsequently cancelled.[16][17]

2021–2022 season

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Orzel was assigned to begin the season at the 2021 CS Autumn Classic International, whose men's competition lost its Challenger status due to insufficient competitors and countries. Orzel won the gold medal over the two other Canadian men who competed.[18] On the Grand Prix at 2021 Skate Canada International, Orzel placed ninth. After the free skate, he said, "even though there were some mistakes, I was still happy with the performance in general."[19]

At the 2022 Canadian Championships, Orzel had a difficult short program, making mistakes on all his jumping passes to place fourteenth overall in the segment. He was sixth in the free skate, rising to ninth overall.[20]

2022–2023 season

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After underwhelming results in preceding years, Orzel opted to leave his coaches at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club to work with Ravi Walia at the Ice Palace FSC in Edmonton, Alberta.[21]

Orzel was assigned to the 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy, finishing eleventh.[22] He was eleventh as well at the 2022 Skate Canada International, and tenth at the 2022 NHK Trophy.[6]

At the 2023 Canadian Championships, Orzel placed second in the short program.[23] He placed fourth in the free skate, but won the silver medal.[24][25] While national champion Keegan Messing was immediately named to compete at both the 2023 World Championships, the second Canadian men's berth was to be decided later, pending results at the 2023 Four Continents Championships, where both Orzel and fourth-place Stephen Gogolev were assigned.[26] Orzel finished eighth at Four Continents.[27]

Orzel finished twenty-sixth in the short program at the 2023 World Championships and did not qualify for the free skate.[28]

2023–2024 season

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Beginning the season at the 2023 CS Nepela Memorial, Orzel came ninth.[29] In his lone appearance on the Grand Prix, he finished in tenth place.[30] At the domestic level, he went on to win the Skate Canada Challenge, the final qualifier to the 2024 Canadian Championships.[31] At the national championships, Orzel had a "disastrous" short program, tripling both planned quad jumps and singling his triple Axel attempt. Tenth in that segment, he recovered with second-place free skate that boosted him to fourth overall. He finished 0.26 points behind bronze medalist Anthony Paradis.[32]

Skate Canada initially declined to name the Canadian team for the 2024 World Championships, pending the results of the 2024 Four Continents Championships in Shanghai, which Orzel attended alongside Wesley Chiu and Roman Sadovsky. Orzel finished seventeenth, and third among the Canadians.[33] The two Canadian berths at the home ice World Championships were ultimately given to Chiu and Sadovsky.[34]

On May 1, Orzel announced that he was starting a new job at Rockbank Capital Corp in the role of Corporate Development and was thus retiring from competitive figure skating.[35]

Programs

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Season Short program Free skating Exhibition
2023–2024
[36]
2022–2023
[37]
2021–2022
[38]
2020–2021
[39]
2019–2020
[40][41]
2018–2019
[1]
2017–2018
[42]
2016–2017
[2]
2015–2016
2014–2015
[4]

Competitive highlights

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Competition placements at senior level 
Season 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023-24
World Championships 26th
Four Continents Championships 8th 17th
Canadian Championships 11th 5th 6th C 9th 2nd 4th
GP Cup of China 11th
GP NHK Trophy 12th 10th
GP Skate Canada C 9th 11th 10th
CS Autumn Classic 6th 1st
CS Finlandia Trophy 11th
CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 10th
CS Nepela Memorial 9th
Bavarian Open 2nd
Skate Canada Challenge 7th 3rd 5th 1st
Competition placements at junior level [6]
Season 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19
World Junior Championships 13th 13th
Canadian Championships 5th 2nd
JGP Austria 7th 4th
JGP France 10th
JGP Germany 2nd
JGP Poland 3rd
JGP Slovenia 4th
Bavarian Open 2nd
Coupe du Printemps 3rd
Skate Canada Challenge 4th 3rd

Detailed results

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ISU personal best scores in the 5/-5 GOE System [43]
Segment Type Score Event
Total TSS 226.10 2023 Four Continents Championships
Short program TSS 80.09 2023 Four Continents Championships
TES 46.63 2023 Four Continents Championships
PCS 37.41 2023 CS Nepela Memorial
Free skating TSS 149.56 2021 Skate Canada International
TES 79.46 2021 Skate Canada International
PCS 73.00 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb
ISU personal best scores in the 3/-3 GOE System 
Segment Type Score Event
Total TSS 196.30 2016 JGP Germany
Short program TSS 66.21 2017 World Junior Championships
TES 37.64 2017 World Junior Championships
PCS 32.17 2018 World Junior Championships
Free skating TSS 134.98 2017 JGP Poland
TES 71.62 2017 JGP Poland
PCS 64.36 2017 JGP Poland

Senior level

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Results in the 2017–18 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Nov 28 – Dec 3, 2017   2018 Skate Canada Challenge 11 60.07 5 125.40 7 185.47
Jan 8–14, 2018   2018 Canadian Championships 10 73.69 11 133.97 11 207.66
Results in the 2018–19 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Nov 28 – Dec 2, 2018   2019 Skate Canada Challenge 1 73.56 3 123.45 3 197.01
Jan 14–20, 2019   2019 Canadian Championships 4 82.87 6 141.28 5 224.15
Feb 5–10, 2019   2019 Bavarian Open 4 67.93 2 132.58 2 200.51
Results in the 2019–20 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Sep 12–14, 2019   2019 CS Autumn Classic International 6 76.64 5 138.34 6 214.98
Nov 8–10, 2019   2019 Cup of China 10 72.22 12 120.38 11 192.60
Nov 22–24, 2019   2019 NHK Trophy 10 70.35 12 125.99 12 196.34
Jan 13–19, 2020   2020 Canadian Championships 8 69.26 6 140.11 6 209.37
Results in the 2020–21 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Jan 8–17, 2021   2021 Skate Canada Challenge 3 87.22 8 131.39 5 218.61
Results in the 2021–22 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Sep 16–18, 2021   2021 CS Autumn Classic International 1 80.82 1 126.49 1 207.31
Oct 29–31, 2021   2021 Skate Canada International 9 73.19 6 149.56 9 222.75
Dec 7–11, 2021   2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 8 78.85 11 140.35 10 219.20
Jan 6–12, 2022   2022 Canadian Championships 14 59.13 6 133.79 9 192.92
Results in the 2022–23 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Oct 4–9, 2022   2022 CS Finlandia Trophy 6 71.58 13 121.57 11 193.15
Oct 28–30, 2022   2022 Skate Canada International 6 69.69 11 125.73 11 195.42
Nov 18–20, 2022   2022 NHK Trophy 8 73.10 11 129.59 10 202.69
Jan 9–15, 2023   2023 Canadian Championships 2 86.16 4 151.30 2 237.46
Feb 7–12, 2023   2023 Four Continents Championships 7 80.09 7 146.01 8 226.10
Mar 22–26, 2023   2023 World Championships 26 67.65 – – 26 67.65
Results in the 2023–24 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Sep 28–30, 2023   2023 CS Nepela Memorial 7 77.45 9 136.07 9 213.52
Oct 27–29, 2023   2023 Skate Canada International 6 77.68 10 135.44 10 213.12
Nov 30 – Dec 3, 2023   2024 Skate Canada Challenge 1 78.71 1 144.14 1 222.85
Jan 7–14, 2024   2024 Canadian Championships 10 61.72 2 148.00 4 209.72
Jan 30 – Feb 4, 2024   2024 Four Continents Championships 17 65.07 17 129.85 17 194.92

Junior level

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Results in the 2015–16 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Dec 2–5, 2015   2016 Skate Canada Challenge 5 54.45 4 103.66 4 158.11
Jan 18–24, 2016   2016 Canadian Championships (Junior) 4 51.44 6 102.49 5 153.93
Mar 11–13, 2016   2016 Coupe du Printemps 1 52.45 5 89.24 3 141.69
Results in the 2016–17 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Aug 24–27, 2016   2016 JGP France 4 61.65 11 100.67 10 162.32
Oct 5–8, 2016   2016 JGP Germany 5 64.98 2 131.32 2 196.30
Nov 30 – Dec 4, 2016   2017 Skate Canada Challenge 3 60.57 4 110.96 3 171.53
Jan 16–22, 2017   2017 Canadian Championships (Junior) 1 68.16 2 137.90 2 206.06
Feb 14–19, 2017   2017 Bavarian Open 2 71.60 3 125.85 2 197.45
Mar 15–19, 2017   2017 World Junior Championships 18 66.21 12 128.20 13 194.41
Results in the 2017–18 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2017   2017 JGP Austria 6 58.23 7 114.51 7 172.74
Oct 4–7, 2017   2017 JGP Poland 9 61.07 3 134.98 3 196.05
Mar 5–11, 2018   2018 World Junior Championships 15 64.49 12 121.44 13 185.93
Results in the 2018–19 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Aug 29 – Sep 1, 2018   2018 JGP Austria 1 79.66 6 120.80 4 200.46
Oct 3–6, 2018   2018 JGP Slovenia 5 73.24 4 139.70 4 212.94

References

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  1. ^ a b "Conrad ORZEL: 2018/2019". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on August 16, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Conrad ORZEL: 2016/2017". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017.
  3. ^ Smith, Beverley (January 17, 2017). "Conrad Orzel: his head in the game". Archived from the original on January 28, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c Smith, Beverley (September 29, 2015). "Conrad Orzel overcomes injury, ready to face a new season of challenges". Skate Canada. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016.
  5. ^ "Conrad Orzel". York Region Skating Academy. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Competition Results: Conrad ORZEL". International Skating Union.
  7. ^ Smith, Beverley (January 21, 2016). "Amidst junior skater Conrad Orzel's concussion scare, Skate Canada says this is not an isolated incident". Yahoo Sports Canada. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016.
  8. ^ Russell, Susan D. (August 29, 2018). "Conrad Orzel Embraces New Challengers". International Figure Skating Magazine.
  9. ^ "Skate Canada NextGen Program". Skate Canada. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018.
  10. ^ "So close to podium for Conrad Orzel at ISU Junior Grand Prix". Skate Canada. October 5, 2018.
  11. ^ Curley, Sean (January 20, 2019). "In 'game mode,' Nguyen captures second Canadian title". Golden Skate.
  12. ^ "Canadians win two more medals at Bavarian Open". Skate Canada. February 10, 2019.
  13. ^ "Gilles and Poirier win gold at Autumn Classic International". Skate Canada. September 14, 2019.
  14. ^ "Two bronze medals for Canada at ISU Grand Prix". Skate Canada. November 9, 2019.
  15. ^ "Skate Canada International in Ottawa cancelled as COVID-19 cases rise". CBC Sports. October 14, 2020.
  16. ^ Ewing, Lori (January 17, 2021). "Roman Sadovsky wins the Challenge, his only event of the figure skating season". The Toronto Star.
  17. ^ "2021 Skate Canada Challenge – Results". Skate Canada.
  18. ^ "Toronto ice dancers Piper Gilles, Paul Poirier win Autumn Classic International". CBC Sports. September 18, 2021.
  19. ^ Slater, Paula (October 30, 2021). "USA's Chen back on track; takes gold at Skate Canada". Golden Skate.
  20. ^ Flett, Ted (January 9, 2022). "Messing finally triumphant!". Golden Skate.
  21. ^ Russell, Susan D. (August 22, 2022). "Changes paying off for Conrad Orzel". International Figure Skating.
  22. ^ "Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen win gold at ISU Challenger Series Finlandia Trophy". Skate Canada. October 9, 2022.
  23. ^ "Keegan Messing leads men's competition at the 2023 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships". Skate Canada. January 14, 2023.
  24. ^ Ewing, Lori (January 15, 2023). "CMessing claims emotional men's victory, Schizas wins women's title at Canadian figure skating championships". CBC Sports.
  25. ^ Flett, Ted (January 15, 2023). "Messing defends title in last appearance at nationals". Golden Skate.
  26. ^ "Skate Canada names teams for 2023 ISU championships". Skate Canada. January 15, 2023.
  27. ^ Slater, Paula (February 12, 2023). "Japan's Kao Miura takes Four Continents gold". Golden Skate.
  28. ^ "Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps continue dream season with fourth at ISU World Figure Skating Championships". Skate Canada. March 23, 2023.
  29. ^ "Madeline Schizas brings home bronze from Nepela Memorial". Skate Canada. October 1, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  30. ^ "Gold for Canadian pair and ice dance team at Skate Canada International". Skate Canada. October 29, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  31. ^ "New faces shine at 2023-2024 Skate Canada Challenge - Junior/Senior in Winnipeg". Skate Canada. December 3, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
  32. ^ Flett, Ted (January 15, 2024). "Wesley Chiu rises to the occasion Calgary". Golden Skate. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  33. ^ "Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps golden at Four Continents". Skate Canada. February 3, 2024. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  34. ^ "Fifteen Canadian athletes to compete on home soil at the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships". Skate Canada. February 14, 2024. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  35. ^ "I'm excited to share that starting in May, I'll be joining Rockbank Capital Corp in the role of Corporate Development". Conrad Orzel's LinkedIn. May 1, 2024.
  36. ^ "Conrad ORZEL: 2023/2024". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on November 2, 2023.
  37. ^ "Conrad ORZEL: 2022/2023". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on October 31, 2022.
  38. ^ "Conrad ORZEL: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on September 20, 2021.
  39. ^ "Conrad ORZEL: 2020/2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020.
  40. ^ "Conrad ORZEL: 2019/2020 (1st free skate)". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on September 13, 2019.
  41. ^ "Conrad ORZEL: 2019/2020 (2nd free skate)". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019.
  42. ^ "Conrad ORZEL: 2017/2018". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 8, 2018.
  43. ^ "CAN-Conrad ORZEL". Skating Scores.
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