World champion Ilia Malinin headlines Skate Canada this week, bidding to extend a nearly two-year win streak and qualify for December’s Grand Prix Final, the most prestigious event this season before the Olympics.
While Malinin leads the men’s field, other American stars entered include 2024 World silver medalist Isabeau Levito and 2018 Olympian Bradie Tennell in the women’s event.
Plus Canada’s top skaters — 2024 World pairs’ champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps and four-time world ice dance medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
Peacock airs live coverage Friday through Sunday of every program.
NBC has coverage of the men’s free skate Sunday at 12 p.m. ET.
2025 Skate Canada Broadcast Schedule
| Day | Event | Time (ET) | Platform |
| Friday | Pairs’ Short Program | 7 p.m. | Peacock |
| Women’s Short Program | 8:25 p.m. | Peacock | |
| Saturday | Rhythm Dance | 2:45 p.m. | Peacock |
| Men’s Short Program | 4:25 p.m. | Peacock | |
| Pairs’ Free Skate | 7 p.m. | Peacock | |
| Women’s Free Skate | 8:40 p.m. | Peacock | |
| Sunday | Men’s Free Skate | 11:30 a.m. | Peacock |
| Men’s Free Skate | 12 p.m. | NBC | |
| Free Dance | 1:40 p.m. | Peacock |
Ilia Malinin nears Nathan Chen win streak
Malinin won his last 11 individual events dating to December 2023. At Skate Canada, he can move one shy of Nathan Chen’s best streak of 13 in a row (from 2018-2021), the longest in men’s skating in 40 years.
Malinin already won his Grand Prix opener in France two weeks ago (by a whopping 40.05 points, just off the largest margin of his eight career victories on the circuit).
At Skate Canada, his competition is led by Frenchman Kévin Aymoz, who was fifth at last season’s World Championships (a distant 46.04 points behind Malinin).
SKATE CANADA: Entry List
Malinin attempted five quadruple jumps in his free skate in France. He is capable (and hopeful) of trying seven later this season as he builds up.
A podium finish in Canada should be enough to get Malinin to December’s Grand Prix Final, where he would likely face his top rivals — including 2022 Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama — for the last time before the Milan Cortina Games.
The top six per discipline over the six-event Grand Prix regular season qualify for the Final. Skaters’ two results in the regular season are combined to determine standings.
Isabeau Levito can extend U.S. women’s momentum
Levito headlines the Skate Canada women’s field on the heels of a historic U.S. one-two from Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu at Cup of China last week.
Liu, Levito and Glenn are the front-runners for the U.S.’ three Olympic women’s spots, given they finished first, fourth and fifth at last March’s World Championships, the best collective U.S. women’s showing at worlds since 2001.
The Olympic team will be chosen by a committee after January’s U.S. Championships, taking into account skaters’ body of work beyond just results at nationals.
Glenn and Liu are now in strong position to qualify for the Grand Prix Final at their next starts in November.
Levito has ground to make up. She was fourth in her Grand Prix season debut two weeks ago, granted her score would have beaten Liu for second place in China last week.
The woman who won the Grand Prix opener — 17-year-old Ami Nakai of Japan, with the world’s top score this season — is entered in Skate Canada.
Levito must make the podium this week — likely first or second — for a realistic chance to go three-for-three in attempts to qualify for the Final in her senior career. She took silver in 2022 and placed fifth in 2023 before being sidelined by a right foot injury last fall.
The pairs’ event at Skate Canada pits the 2024 World champions Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps against two-time world medalists Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany and 2024 U.S. champions Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps already debuted on the Grand Prix two weeks ago, placing a distant second to reigning world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan.
Another podium should be enough to get the Canadians to the Grand Prix Final and a rematch with Miura and Kihara.
Kam and O’Shea make their Grand Prix season debut after O’Shea had foot and sports hernia surgeries in early spring. They placed seventh at March’s worlds while he skated on a broken foot.
In ice dance, Gilles and Poirier eye a sixth consecutive Skate Canada title dating to 2019.
Gilles and Poirier, world silver medalists the last two years behind Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, make their season debut.
The world’s other top couples have already competed on the Grand Prix, posting scores of 211.02 (Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France), 210.24 (Brits Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson) and 208.25 (Chock and Bates).
Gilles and Poirier’s top threats at Skate Canada could be U.S. silver medalists Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who were fifth at March’s worlds.
Carreira, who was born in Canada and is working to get U.S. citizenship to become Olympic eligible, and Ponomarenko missed last year’s Grand Prix Final by one spot.
