Madeline Schizas

Biography

Madeline Schizas made her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022, where she was a key contributor to Canada’s fourth-place finish in the team event, finishing second in both the women’s short program and free skate portions of the competition. She then placed 18th in the women’s singles event. Schizas ended a very long season at the 2022 ISU World Championships where she finished 12th, less than a point outside of the top 10.

Schizas posted her best world championship result in 2025 when she placed sixth in the short program, putting her in the final flight for the free skate. She ended up finishing one spot outside the top 10, qualifying one Olympic spot for Canada Milano Cortina 2026.

Schizas made quite the impression in her debut at the ISU World Championships in 2021. She finished ninth in the short program to be placed in the second last flight for the free skate. She went on to finish 13^th overall, securing Canada an Olympic spot for Beijing 2022. She thrived after being thrown in the proverbial deep end as the world championships were just her second ever senior international competition, giving her the fun challenge of learning how to compete and win at the highest levels on the fly.  

Schizas’ rise to be the top-ranked Canadian woman came amidst the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. She won bronze at her first senior national championships in 2020. She was then sent to the International Challenge Cup, her first senior international competition, where she won the bronze medal.

Schizas had hoped to make her ISU Grand Prix debut in the fall of 2020, but the  pandemic preempted that. She won gold at the Skate Canada Challenge, which was held as a virtual competition. After the 2021 Canadian Championships were cancelled, Schizas was selected as one of Canada’s two women’s entries for the 2021 World Championships.

In the fall of 2021, Schizas competed in her first ISU Challenger Series event at Finlandia Trophy, where she placed ninth. She followed up with an eighth-place finish when she finally made her Grand Prix debut at Skate Canada International, ranking her as the top Canadian woman. At her second Grand Prix, Rostelecom Cup, Schizas skated a clean short program to finish fourth in that portion of the competition before placing sixth overall in a very tough field. She won her first national title in 2022.  

Schizas earned her best Grand Prix result at Skate Canada International in the fall of 2023 when she finished fourth. Later that season, she posted her career-best result at the ISU Four Continents Championships, finishing sixth.

Schizas had finished sixth in the novice women’s event at the 2018 Canadian Championships. The next year, she moved up to junior and won silver at the 2019 nationals. That fall, she made her international debut in the junior event at the Volvo Open Cup in Riga, Latvia. She then qualified for the 2020 Canadian Championships by winning the senior women’s event at the Skate Canada Challenge in December 2019. 

A Little More About Madeline

Getting into the Sport: Started skating at age 3 and began competing locally at age 6… Her first time on ice was while on vacation in San Francisco… Her father taught her to skate on public sessions before she began formal lessons… Did a lot of sports when young (soccer, gymnastics, ju-jitsu) but chose skating because she loved having the ice to herself while competing and skating her best under pressure… Attended Vancouver 2010 as a fan and watched the women’s short program in person which ignited her passion for sport; was inspired by the resilience of Joannie Rochette who won bronze just days after the sudden death of her mother… Outside Interests: Completing an undergrad degree in Environment and Society at McMaster University in 2025-26; particularly interested in learning about transportation systems and health geography… Long term ambition is to become a doctor…  Enjoys playing soccer in the summer… Is a big reader, especially on long travel days… Odds and Ends: Comes from a tightknit immigrant family that is representative of Canada’s diversity; her maternal grandparents were originally from South and East Asia; has Greek and French Canadian heritage through her father… Always likes to eat eggs before competing… Collects pins from her international travels… Was a skating double on the Netflix drama series Spinning Out…Favourite quote: “Hope is not a strategy” (something her mother told her when she was child)…