Canadian figure skater Gogolev still discovering full potential after breakout season

Stephen Gogolev still can’t quite believe the heights he reached last season.

His coach, Benoît Richaud, foresees even higher peaks for Canada’s top men’s figure skater.

“The season was fantastic last year because he was one of the most stable skaters, but it’s still very far from his capacity,” the renowned French choreographer said. “For now, I’m still discovering. I feel like I’m cruising and I discover every day some stuff he can do.”

Gogolev delivered on his promise as a junior prodigy last season, finishing fifth at the Milan Cortina Olympics and fourth at the world championships in a cathartic breakthrough after years of injury setbacks.

“Whenever I look back at my season, I am still quite surprised by what I was able to do,” he said of what became known as the “Gogolevaissance” in figure skating circles.

Now the 21-year-old from Toronto is trying to expand his boundaries, both technically and artistically.

Gogolev was scheduled to skate the short program at Skate Ontario sectionals Thursday night before making his international season debut at Skate Canada International, Oct. 30 to Nov. 1 in Kelowna, B.C. The event is the second stop on the Grand Prix circuit, figure skating’s top international series.

Gogolev spent 10 weeks working with Richaud in Italy and France this past summer, developing two new programs while adding more quadruple jumps to his arsenal.

From a technical standpoint, he is gifted, once the youngest skater to land several quad jumps.

Years of back problems held him back, limiting him to two quads — a salchow and a toe loop — in his free skate last season. But this summer he practised the quad flip, loop and lutz, the last of which he expects to introduce in Kelowna.

Even the quad axel — an elusive jump landed only by American star Ilia Malinin in competition — is something Richaud and other esteemed coaches can envision in Gogolev’s future.

“I believe it’s possible,” Richaud said. “I’ve been speaking also with (famed Russian coach) Alexei Mishin … he also believes that Stephen could do it.

“If there is the opportunity to work on that, we will definitely spend some time. Smart time, I would say, not to create any injury or anything like that.”

But Gogolev may be poised to make his biggest leap artistically.

The soft-spoken Canadian will skate to the energetic synth-pop anthem “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat in his short program. For his free skate, he’ll take on the dramatic soundtrack to “Moulin Rouge!,” putting his own spin on a program made iconic by Canadian ice dance legends Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

“That’s probably the first thing I thought of when I heard the music,” Gogolev said.

He was skeptical when Richaud first played the track on that June day in the Italian Alps, but his feelings soon changed once they created a step sequence to match the music.

“The connection between the music and Stephen was unbelievable,” Richaud recalled. “When we just did the first part, everyone came to me and was like, ‘Oh my God, I can already get goosebumps.’”

Richaud explained that Gogolev’s physique, understated charisma and personality meshed with Christian, the young English writer at the centre of the 2001 film “Moulin Rouge!”

“The idea of this quiet man entering a big world, that’s also something that resonates with me,” Richaud said. “There is this kind of innocence that I find very interesting that Stephen has, and I can see it in the movie also.”

“Stephen doesn’t need to be macho. He doesn’t need to be like that to be a hero … He’s just himself,” he added. “The artist who finds his voice; I believe Stephen found his voice last year, so this year it kind of fit.”

Taking on a multi-faceted, character-driven program like this, Gogolev said, reflects how comfortable the once-shy skater has grown in expressing himself on the ice.

“Over the last season, if you look at my first and last competitions, there’s quite a bit of a difference in the way I skate,” Gogolev said in a phone interview last month. “And I think these programs will elevate that a little bit more.”

But Gogolev’s preparations for the new season haven’t been without obstacles. He revealed during a conference call Thursday that he has been managing a left foot injury that first surfaced in late February, ahead of the world championships, and persisted through the summer.

The issue, relating to the structure of his foot, has flared up at times and forced him to adjust his workload, affecting jumps including the axel, salchow and toe loop.

After navigating back injuries that nearly ended his career, he’s drawing on those experiences to manage the latest setback.

“Once you feel pain, you need to figure out firstly where it’s coming from and what it is, if it’s just some regular pain that you feel day to day or if it could develop into something more serious,” he said. “From there you adapt your training plan instead of pushing through it.

“Now we have a better idea of what it is and a better plan to manage it.”

As for the pressure of following up his breakthrough season? Gogolev said he’s not feeling any.

“I’m more present, and I’m just enjoying training,” he said. “Rather than training with the thought of what’s in the future.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2026.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press