Conrad Orzel (born July 11, 2000) is a Canadian figure skater and model. He is the 2019 Bavarian Open silver medalist, a two-time medalist on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, and the 2017 Canadian national junior silver medalist. He placed 13th at the 2017 and 2018 World Junior Championships.
Conrad Orzel | |
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![]() Orzel at the 2019 Cup of China | |
Personal information | |
Country represented | ![]() |
Born | (2000-07-11) July 11, 2000 (age 22) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Home town | Woodbridge, Ontario |
Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
Coach | Ravi Walia |
Former coach | Brian Orser, Tracy Wilson, Lee Barkell, Eva Najarro, Joanne McLeod |
Choreographer | Lance Vipond |
Former choreographer | Jeffrey Buttle, David Wilson, Joey Russell, Grzegorz Filipowski[1] |
Skating club | Toronto Cricket, Skating & Curling Club |
Former skating club | York Region Skating Academy |
Training locations | Edmonton, Ontario |
Former training locations | Toronto, Ontario Richmond Hill, Ontario |
Began skating | 2003 |
ISU personal best scores | |
Combined total | 222.75 2021 Skate Canada |
Short program | 80.82 2021 CS Autumn Classic |
Free skate | 149.56 2021 Skate Canada |
Orzel was born on July 11, 2000, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is of Polish ancestry, and speaks English, French, and Polish.[2] He has two younger sisters, one named Amelia, who is also a figure skater.
Orzel is currently a third year student at York University. He also models during his free-time, and is signed with Ciotti Models modeling agency.
Orzel began learning to skate in 2003.[3] Eva Najarro became his coach when he was five years old.[4] He trained at the York Region Skating Academy in Richmond Hill, Ontario until 2018, and also worked with Joanne McLeod in Vancouver, British Columbia.[1][5]
Orzel sustained a torn ligament in his left leg and an avulsion fracture before the Skate Canada Challenge in December 2014.[1] The following month, he won bronze in the novice men's event at the 2015 Canadian Championships.[6]
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. During the free skate, he hit his head on the ice after attempting a triple Axel jump. He continued with his program and was examined afterward 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]
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, having finished second to Stephen Gogolev, and was named in Canada's team to the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei. Competing in Taiwan, he placed eighteenth in the short program, twelfth in the free skate, and thirteenth overall.[6]
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]
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, skating completely cleanly. 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]
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]
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]
Orzel was assigned to begin the season at the 2021 CS Autumn Classic International, whose men's competition lost its Challenger status due to having an insufficient number of 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. Speaking 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]
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. Both he and his sister Amelia moved to Edmonton, never having lived away from home before.[21]
Orzel was assigned to the 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy, finishing eleventh.[22] He was eleventh as well at the 2022 Skate Canada International.[6]
Season | Short program | Free skating |
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2022–2023 [23] |
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2021–2022 [24] |
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2020–2021 [25] |
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2019–2020 [26][27] |
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2018–2019 [2] |
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2017–2018 [28] |
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2016–2017 [3] |
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2015–2016 |
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2014–2015 [1] |
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GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix
International | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Event | 14–15 | 15–16 | 16–17 | 17–18 | 18–19 | 19–20 | 20–21 | 21–22 | 22–23 |
GP Cup of China | 11th | ||||||||
GP NHK Trophy | 12th | 10th | |||||||
GP Skate Canada | C | 9th | 11th | ||||||
CS Autumn Classic | 6th | ||||||||
CS Finlandia | 11th | ||||||||
CS Golden Spin | 10th | ||||||||
Autumn Classic | 1st | ||||||||
Bavarian Open | 2nd | ||||||||
International: Junior[6] | |||||||||
Junior Worlds | 13th | 13th | |||||||
JGP Austria | 7th | 4th | |||||||
JGP France | 10th | ||||||||
JGP Germany | 2nd | ||||||||
JGP Poland | 3rd | ||||||||
JGP Slovenia | 4th | ||||||||
Bavarian Open | 2nd | ||||||||
Coupe du Printemps | 3rd | ||||||||
National[6] | |||||||||
Canadian Champ. | 3rd N | 5th J | 2nd J | 11th | 5th | 6th | C | 9th | |
SC Challenge | 4th N | 4th J | 3rd J | 7th | 3rd | 5th | |||
Ontario Sectionals | 2nd | 6th | |||||||
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Event cancelled Levels: N = Novice; J = Junior |
2022–23 season | ||||
Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
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November 18–20, 2022 | 2022 NHK Trophy | 8 73.10 |
11 129.59 |
10 202.69 |
October 28–30, 2022 | 2022 Skate Canada International | 6 69.69 |
11 125.73 |
11 195.42 |
October 4–9, 2022 | 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy | 6 71.58 |
13 121.57 |
11 193.15 |
2021–22 season | ||||
Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
January 6–12, 2022 | 2022 Canadian Championships | 14 59.13 |
6 133.79 |
9 192.92 |
October 29–31, 2021 | 2021 Skate Canada International | 9 73.19 |
6 149.56 |
9 222.75 |
September 16–18, 2021 | 2021 Autumn Classic International | 1 80.82 |
1 126.49 |
1 207.31 |
2020–21 season | ||||
Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
January 8–17, 2021 | 2021 Skate Canada Challenge | 3 87.22 |
8 131.39 |
5 218.61 |
2019–20 season | ||||
Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
January 13–19, 2020 | 2020 Canadian Championships | 8 69.26 |
6 140.11 |
6 209.37 |
November 22–24, 2019 | 2019 NHK Trophy | 10 70.35 |
12 125.99 |
12 196.34 |
November 8–10, 2019 | 2019 Cup of China | 10 72.22 |
12 120.38 |
11 192.60 |
September 12–14, 2019 | 2019 CS Autumn Classic International | 6 76.64 |
5 138.34 |
6 214.98 |
2018–19 season | |||||
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Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
February 5–10, 2019 | 2019 Bavarian Open | Senior | 4 67.93 |
2 132.58 |
2 200.51 |
January 14–20, 2019 | 2019 Canadian Championships | Senior | 4 82.87 |
6 141.28 |
5 224.15 |
October 3–6, 2018 | 2018 JGP Slovenia | Junior | 5 73.24 |
4 139.70 |
4 212.94 |
Aug. 29 – Sept. 1, 2018 | 2018 JGP Austria | Junior | 1 79.66 |
6 120.80 |
4 200.46 |
2017–18 season | |||||
Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
March 5–11, 2018 | 2018 World Junior Championships | Junior | 15 64.49 |
12 121.44 |
13 185.93 |
January 8–14, 2018 | 2018 Canadian Championships | Senior | 10 73.69 |
11 133.97 |
11 207.66 |
October 4–7, 2017 | 2017 JGP Poland | Junior | 9 61.07 |
3 134.98 |
3 196.05 |
Aug. 31 – Sept. 2, 2017 | 2017 JGP Austria | Junior | 6 58.23 |
7 114.51 |
7 172.74 |
2016–17 season | |||||
Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
March 15–19, 2017 | 2017 World Junior Championships | Junior | 18 66.21 |
12 128.20 |
13 194.41 |
February 14–19, 2017 | 2017 Bavarian Open | Junior | 2 71.60 |
3 125.85 |
2 197.45 |
January 16–22, 2017 | 2017 Canadian Junior Championships | Junior | 1 68.16 |
2 137.90 |
2 206.06 |
October 5–8, 2016 | 2016 JGP Germany | Junior | 5 64.98 |
2 131.32 |
2 196.30 |
August 24–27, 2016 | 2016 JGP France | Junior | 4 61.65 |
11 100.67 |
10 162.32 |
2015–16 season | |||||
Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
March 11–13, 2016 | 2016 Coupe du Printemps | Junior | 1 52.45 |
5 89.24 |
3 141.69 |
January 18–24, 2016 | 2016 Canadian Junior Championships | Junior | 4 51.44 |
6 102.49 |
5 153.93 |
Autumn Classic International champions in figure skating – Men's singles | |
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