Gogolev inches closer to Olympic berth with first Canadian figure skating title

Stephen Gogolev almost walked away from skating. Years of recurring back injuries kept him off the ice, and when he did step on it, he felt like a shadow of the skater he once was.

But after a resurgent season, he's on the brink of the Olympic Games.

Gogolev captured his first national title Saturday at the Canadian figure skating championships, adding another chapter to a remarkable comeback.

"It would mean … I want to say everything, because the past couple of years have been quite a struggle," Gogolev said of going to the Winter Olympics. "Coming back this season is very special."

Skating to "Piano Concerto No. 2" by Sergei Rachmaninov, the 21-year-old from Toronto landed two quad jumps — and seven triples — to score 175.90 points in his free program, pushing his total to 275.50 after a stellar short program Friday.

Gogolev said the victory felt "unreal" and hadn't "fully sunk in" after the years of wondering if he could ever get back to this point.

When he was just 13 years old, a nimble five-foot skater at the time, Gogolev was dubbed the next great Canadian men's hope, until a massive growth spurt — and the back problems that followed — threw his trajectory off course.

"There were definitely a lot of doubts in my mind in the past few years," he said. "There were even times where I thought maybe it's not worth continuing doing because it was year after year where I wasn't able to perform and compete the way I wanted to, or even compete at all."

This season has looked entirely different. Finally healthy, Gogolev has competed in all five of his events — all in head-to-head matchups with fellow Canadian Roman Sadovsky.

Gogolev and Sadovsky arrived as co-favourites in Gatineau, the matchup marking their final showdown with Canada's one men's singles spot in February's Milan Cortina Winter Games on the line.

"I definitely felt quite a bit more pressure, and I think it's because this is probably the final moment and the deciding point of who's going to Milano," said the soft-spoken Gogolev. "That was probably the most nervous I've been for a competition."

The full Olympic figure skating team will be announced Sunday evening. Skate Canada's selection is not based solely on results at nationals, but on a body of work over the past couple seasons.

But Gogolev all but confirmed his place after entering the event with the highest total international score among Canadian men this season.

Sadovsky, the 2025 men's champion, claimed the silver medal with 255.10 points, climbing to second from fourth after the short program, while Aleksa Rakic of New Westminster, B.C., took bronze (246.02).