Madeline Schizas’s McMaster roommates share what it’s like to live with an Olympian

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This article was published 01/02/2026 (224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Madeline Schizas secured her spot in the Olympics, she didn’t think her roommates from McMaster University would want to tag along.

The 22-year-old from Oakville, Ont., made her Olympic debut at the Beijing Games in 2022, where she helped Canada to a fourth-place finish in the team event. This year, she earned Canada’s lone spot in women’s competition at February’s Milan Cortina Games.

Just weeks before she was set to fly out for Milan, roommates Jenna Coulter and Shayla McKeown decided to join her in her travels.

“It’s not cheap to go to Italy during the Olympics, so they went back and forth,” Schizas said. “We’re all really excited.”

After the Games, the trio plans to celebrate their birthdays, which fall within days of each other in February.

“We’re really excited, we’re going to spend our 23rd birthdays in Milan together,” Schizas said, adding that none of them has ever been to the northern Italian city.

The friends said they are “stoked” to see their roommate compete at the Olympics.

“It’s funny it being a reality because we don’t talk about it a ton and we just know (Schizas) as our friend and our roommate,” Coulter said. “But all of a sudden, she’s going to the Olympics, like OK!”

“We just see her every day and how hard she works, and I just think it’s so cool,” another roommate, Emma Wren, said.

Back in January, all four of them made the drive to Gatineau, Que., to watch Schizas win her fourth Canadian women’s title and solidify her Olympic spot.

In photos shared by Coulter, the friends can be seen holding handmade posters that read “We love Maddie Schizas” and “Schizas makes the whole ice shimmer.”

McKeowan, who was behind the stands with Schizas’s parents, said she still remembers the very moment, about halfway through Schizas’s performance, when they realized she would definitely make the cut.

“When you finished skating, we were all so emotional. I feel like we all teared up, and we just like we’re so proud of you,” she said.

Another roommate, Annika Stratton, who works at a preschool, said the 24 toddlers in her class are making signs to cheer Schizas on from back home.

“It’s going to be so exciting to watch,” Stratton said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2026.