HIGH ACHIEVERS: Gloucester Skating Club’s Reese Rose will step up to senior next season following respectable junior finish

By Martin Cleary

Gloucester Skating Club’s Reese Rose is heading for figure skating’s major league.

After her third season in women’s junior singles, which had enough up moments to counter the downs, the Grade 11 St. Peter Catholic High School student from Gananoque, ON is ready to take the giant step into the senior singles flight for the 2025-26 season.

“I’m not too worried. It obviously will be a challenge. I’ll just keep doing what I do,” Rose said in a phone interview Tuesday night.

Rose is planning to enter the senior division by upgrading the technical aspects of her short and free skating programs. She wants to add higher-scoring triple Lutz-triple toe loop and/or triple flip-triple toe loop jump combinations. This season, she relied on a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination.

For 2025-26, Rose also hopes to feel comfortable enough to execute the triple Axel jump in her free skating program. The three-and-a-half rotation jump is the most difficult triple jump for skaters.

She has been working on the triple Axel in practice for a couple of years, while wearing a protective safety harness. She hasn’t attempted the triple Axel without wearing the harness.

“Recently, I have been getting really good (landing the jump) in the harness, but I haven’t tried it out of the harness. I hope to in the coming months,” added Rose, who said no senior woman tried a triple Axel at last week’s Canadian championships in Laval, PQ.

Rose’s third and final women’s junior competition at the Canadian championships was much like the first two, at least when it came to her overall point score and final standing.

In her 2023 debut, she scored 147.78 points for sixth place overall. Rose tied for fourth place in 2024 at 147.87 points. This season, she totalled 148.09 points and was a solo fourth, which left her 3.59 points from the bronze medal.

At this year’s Canadian championship, Rose had a puzzling short program and a third-place finish in the free skating final, which almost brought her to the podium.

“It was the same as last year,” summarized Rose about her overall performance this year. “That’s OK. I had more difficult programs this year. In general, I was happy with this year.”

She certainly wasn’t pleased after the short program, where she earned only 49.91 points for fifth place.

“It wasn’t the short program I was hoping for,” said Rose, who had a quick laugh before answering the question about her effort. “I did doubles instead of triples. I’ve never done that before.”

For the opening two elements of her short program, she did a double toe loop-double toe loop jump combination and then a double flip jump instead of executing triple jumps in her combo and individual jump.

“Being fifth was incredible for only doing doubles. Even though I didn’t land my triples, I did the program to the best of my ability,” she explained. “Honestly, I thought about it (doubles instead of triples) so many times and I’m not sure why. Maybe it was my focus. I wanted it a little too much. It sucks, but it happens.

“After the short program, I was a little frustrated and upset. But going into the long program, it was a new day and anything can happen. I trusted my training. I knew I could be on the podium, but I was pretty far back point wise (about 7.5 points from third).”

While her point total of 148.09 allowed her to be considered for Canada’s team to the world junior figure skating championships Feb. 25 to March 2 in Debrecen, Hungary, Skate Canada selected Next Gen team skaters Lulu Lin of Mississauga and Kara Yun of Burnaby, B.C. Rose also is a member of Skate Canada’s Next Gen team.

“I still have three years left (for the under-19 worlds),” Rose said. “There’s plenty of time. It will be a goal next year and in the future. There are always things to work towards.”

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Rose entered the Canadian championships with a series of strong results.

At Skate Canada Challenge in Winnipeg in November, she finished second overall in women’s junior singles, which earned her the silver medal and her first trip to the podium in that event. At the previous two Challenger events, she was seventh in 2024 and 13th in 2023.

It wasn’t easy at this year’s Challenge as she only had one week to prepare for it, after returning home from the Tallinn Trophy competition in Tallinn, Estonia. Tallinn Trophy wasn’t a good competition for Rose, who placed ninth overall, but she did achieve Skate Canada’s score to be considered for the world junior championship team.

In October, she competed at the Trophée Metropole Nice Côte d’Azur in Nice, France, and finished second in the short program. A heavy and persistent rainstorm in Nice forced the cancellation of the free skating final.

“I had a great event as it was a reflection on what I was training. I felt great going in, ready and I skated an amazing short program,” said Rose, who received a trophy for her skating performance.

Meanwhile, Gloucester teammate David Shteyngart had a disappointing Canadian championships in men’s junior singles, after winning the bronze medal last year.

The Next Gen team member struggled in his short program, falling during his two-jump combination and the triple flip. He finished ninth with 52.22 points and was 9.5 points out of third place.

Shteyngart rallied and rebounded in the free skating final with the third-best skate of the competition at 117.81 points. Overall, he placed seventh with 170.03 points.

“Last week didn’t turn out as I expected,” Shteyngart wrote in an email interview. “I was prepared and very strong. I had perfect practices, nailing all jumps, and perfect warm-ups. But unfortunately, I made two major errors in my performance on the first day.

“And with a strong comeback and fight on the second day, it wasn’t enough to cover what I lost. It (was) about four points between my score and third place.

“Despite all the challenges I faced at the beginning of the season, I am proud of myself as I was able to show two clean skates in December at Skate Canada Challenge and place third with great scores and lots of improvement.”

After winning the Challenge men’s junior singles title last year, he finished third this year, placing second in the short program and third in the free skate for 197.41 points overall.

Shteyngart’s 2024-25 season also had a rocky start.

“I had acute pain in the ankle nerve due to a new model of (skating) boots,” he explained. “I had to withdraw from the Boston competition and switch to different boots that I broke (in) within three weeks and ended up with pain in a different part of the ankle.

“It was hard to focus on training, when you cannot trust your equipment. Every time I was going into any jump, I had no idea if it will be a flesh-cutting pain or no pain at all. I had to stop learning harder jumps as it was not safe anymore.

“Mentally, it was hard as well and this is why I am glad I was able to come back and show that I am a strong skater.”