Brezden to make Team Canada debut in France

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This article was published 27/09/2024 (749 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the first time in 40 years, a Manitoba athlete has earned the nod from Skate Canada to compete for Canada in senior international competition alongside some of the world’s best female figure skaters.

Dauphin’s Breken Brezden will make her ISU Challenger Series debut in France in three weeks at the Trophy Metropole Nice Cote d’Azur.

The 18-year-old’s assignment came thanks to her impressive results at summer competitions in Ontario and Quebec. She won two gold medals and a bronze against fields that included several of Canada’s top 10-ranked women.

“It has given me a lot of confidence. I’ve been able to go out three times now and put out pretty solid performances for the most part,” Brezden said.

“Knowing I can compete under pressure, not a ton (of pressure) because they weren’t qualifying events or anything yet, but just getting to go against really good competitors and see where I stand with all of them really helps to put everything into perspective.

“Having two triple lutzes in my (long) program has helped immensely with my score and really leaves an impression because I don’t know if many others (senior women) do two right now,” Brezden added, noting she’s also added triple-triple (jump) combos and honed her performance and skating skills.

Her winning score of 172.64 in Montreal would have been enough to finish top 20 at the 2024 world championships last March, but competing in Nice under the scrutiny of international judges should be a truer test of where she fits in the global scene.

“I’m very lucky to have received this assignment. I’m super excited. It’s extra motivation to keep training hard and keep pushing though,” said Brezden, who hasn’t travelled extensively in Europe and never to France.

The last female figure skater from Manitoba to compete for Canada in the senior ranks also grew up in a small town not far from Dauphin. Diane Ogibowski, who trained in Minnedosa, Brandon and Toronto, competed for Team Canada at two Grand Prix events and topped off her career with a fourth-place at Prague Skate in 1984. She was the Canadian novice and then junior champion in the early 1980s, but never landed on the national podium as a senior.

Coach Jen Jackson believes Brezden has what it takes to finish top-three in senior company at the Canadian championships, perhaps even this season.

Brezden relocated to Hamilton, Ont., last year to train full time with Jackson and Bryce Davison, a three-time Canadian pairs champion and world medallist, after being accepted to study at McMaster University. For most of her young career, she had made the five-hour round trip from Dauphin to Virden several times each week to train with Patty Hole.

Last season in her rookie year in senior competition, Brezden’s aspirations were dashed by a serious hip injury that sidelined her for two months in early fall. She rebounded to qualify for nationals, but an ankle injury mere days ahead of the Canadian championships in January translated into an 18th-place finish.

“Spunk got her through that. She’s a tough cookie. When she came home, she had to heal,” Jackson recalled, noting Brezden only resumed full training in May.

“Now she’s healthy. She’s always been a workhorse. She’s always had talent. What we have to do is keep her healthy, because the sky’s the limit if this girl’s healthy.”

Brezden trains three hours daily, six days a week on an Olympic-size rink. Off-ice fitness and ballet classes, online sessions with a sport psychologist and physiotherapy treatments are also on her agenda, leaving just enough time for two life sciences courses at McMaster.

Post-France, Brezden is scheduled to compete in Winnipeg at the nationals qualifying event at the end of November.

Fellow Manitoban Davey Howes, 17, a junior men’s competitor, should also be back home for the competition at Seven Oaks Arena. Now training in Richmond, B.C., the Winnipegger was Canada’s 2023 novice champion. He finished just off the podium in fourth last season in his first run at the junior title.

Meanwhile, Winnipeg’s junior pair skaters Ava Kemp, 16, and Yoni Elizarov, 20, who relocated to Toronto last year, were absent from Skate Canada’s junior camp in July due to an undisclosed injury and subsequently withdrew from their two Grand Prix events in Europe this month. The couple, who won silver at the prestigious Junior Grand Prix Final and ranked sixth at the world juniors last season, declined to provide any information about the injury or their future competition plans.