Famous Figure Skaters in Canadian History

A List of Ice Skaters From Canada Who Have Left Their Mark

Canada has a rich skating history. This is a list of figure skaters from Canada who have accomplished great things.

Patrick Chan - World Figure Skating Champion 2011, 2012, 2013

Patrick Chan of Canada competes during the Men's Single Free Program on day eight of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games
Patrick Chan of Canada competes during the Men's Single Free Program on day eight of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

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Patrick Chan of Canada, has won three consecutive world figure skating titles (2011, 2012, 2013) and was the favorite to win gold at the Olympics in Sochi, but ended up winning silver in 2014.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir - 2010 Olympic Ice Dance Champions

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada celebrate the gold medal in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada celebrate the gold medal in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

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In 2010, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir became Canada's and North America's first Olympic Ice Dance Champions.

Jeffrey Buttle - 2006 Olympic Bronze Medalist and 2008 World Champion

Jeffrey Buttle skating
Jeffrey Buttle performs in Revolution on Ice Tour 2018.

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Canada's Jeffrey Buttle won many figure skating events before he won bronze at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games that were held in Torino, Italy. After he won the 2008 world figure skating title, he retired from competitive skating. He stated that he was satisfied with what he had accomplished in the sport. His decision surprised the ice skating world since it was expected he'd be one of Canada's hopes for a medal at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz - 2003 World Ice Dance Champions

Shae-Lynn Bourne And Victor Kraatz Of Canada During The The Finals Of The Ice Dancing Competition At The 2002 Olympic Winter Games
Shae-Lynn Bourne And Victor Kraatz Of Canada During The The Finals Of The Ice Dancing Competition At The 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

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At the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships that took place in Washington D.C., USA, Canadian ice dancers Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz won gold. They became the first ice dancers in history from North America to win a world figure skating title.

Jamie Salé and David Pelletier - 2002 Olympic Pair Skating Champions

Jamie Sale and David Pelletier
Olympic Gold Medalists Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

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Canadian figure skaters Jamie Salé and David Pelletier are one of the sets of Olympic pair skating champions that were crowned after the controversy that surrounded the pair skating event at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. In response, a new kind of figure skating scoring system was implemented in 2004. Salé and Pelletier are members of the Skate Canada Hall of Fame and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.

Elvis Stojko - 1994 and 1998 Olympic Silver Medalist

Elvis Stojko
Elvis Stojko.

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Elvis Stojko is a three-time world figure skating champion and a two-time Olympic figure skating silver medalist.

Kurt Browning - World Figure Skating Champion 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993

Kurt Browning performs at 1991 Trophee Lalique
Kurt Browning performs at 1991 Trophee Lalique.

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Kurt Browning competed in three different Olympics and won the world figure skating title four times. In recent years he has been known for being a television media commentator for figure skating. Browning also holds the record for being the first male ice skater to land a quadruple jump in competition.

Elizabeth Manley - 1988 Olympic Figure Skating Silver Medalist

Elizabeth Manley of Canada shows off her silver medal
Elizabeth Manley of Canada shows off her silver medal following the Women's Singles event of the Figure Skating competition of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.

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At the 1988 Winter Olympics which took place in Calgary, Canada, Elizabeth Manley skated the performance of her life and was awarded the Olympic silver medal.

Tracy Wilson and Robert McCall - 1988 Olympic Ice Dance Bronze Medalists

Wilson and McCall on the Ice
Wilson and McCall on the Ice.

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In addition to winning the bronze medal in ice dancing at the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics, Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall won bronze at the World Figure Skating Championships three times and won seven consecutive Canadian national ice dance titles. They were the first ice dance team from Canada that won an Olympic medal in ice dancing.

Brian Orser - 1984 and 1988 Olympic Figure Skating Silver Medalist

Brian Orser skates
Brian Orser (CAN) skates his Long Program of the Men's Singles competition in the 1984 Winter Olympics.

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Brian Orser won eight Canadian national figure skating titles and two Olympic silver medals. He is also the 1987 Men's World Figure Skating Champion. He went on to coaching and was the coach of Korea's Kim Yu-Na who won the Ladies Olympic Figure Skating title at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games which took place in Vancouver.

Toller Cranston - 1976 Olympic Bronze Medalist

Toller figure skating at Innsbruck Olympics
Toller figure skating at Innsbruck Olympics.

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Toller Cranston won the Men's Canadian Figure Skating title six times and won bronze at the 1974 World Figure Skating Championships and at the 1976 Olympic Winter Games. He is considered by many to be one of the most influential figure skaters of the 20th Century.

Karen Magnussen - World Figure Skating Champion and Olympic Silver Medalist

Karen Magnussen Skating on Ice
Karen Magnussen Skating on Ice.

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Karen Magnussen won silver at the 1972 Winter Olympics and went on to win the 1973 world figure skating title. Although there have been other great women Canadian skaters, no other Canadian ladies have won the world figure skating title since Magnussen's win.

Petra Burka - 1964 Olympic Bronze Medalist and 1965 World Champion

Petra Burka
Figure Ice Skating - Petra Burka.

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Petra Burka, the daughter of Canadian figure skating coaching legend Ellen Burka, not only won bronze at the 1964 Olympic Winter Games, but won the World Figure Skating Championship in 1965, and won bronze medals at the 1964 and 1966 World Figure Skating Championships. She holds the record of being the first woman in history to land a triple Salchow in competition. She was born in The Netherlands but emigrated to Canada in 1951.

Donald Jackson - 1962 World Figure Skating Champion

Donald Jackson

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Donald Jackson won the bronze medal at the Winter Olympics which took place in Squaw Valley, California, USA, in 1960. He went on to win the men's title at the World Figure Skating Championships in 1962. He holds the record of being the first Canadian male figure skater to win the World Figure Skating Championships and received seven perfect 6.0 scores at that event. He is the first person to land a triple Lutz in an international figure skating competition and is a co-founder of the Jackson Skate Company.

Maria and Otto Jelinek - 1962 World Pair Skating Champions

Maria and Otto Jelinek
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Maria and Otto Jelinek won the 1962 world pair skating title and also were the 1961 North American pair skating champions. They were the first pair skaters to perform lifts that included several turns and rotations and also were one of the first pair teams to do side by side double jumps. They placed 4th at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympic Winter Games. The Jelinek family fled the communist government in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and emigrated to Canada. After winning their world title in 1962, they skated with Ice Capades.

Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul - 1960 Olympic Pair Skating Champions

Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul

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Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul won the Canadian pair skating title five times, the world pair skating title four times, and also won gold at the 1960 Winter Olympic Games.

Barbara Ann Scott - 1948 Olympic Figure Skating Champion

Barbara Ann Scott Skating at Olympics

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Barbara Ann Scott was the first Canadian to win a gold medal in Olympic figure skating.