Bruce Waddell

Last updated
Bruce Waddell
2020-01-15 Medals Ceremonies (2020 Winter Youth Olympics) by Sandro Halank-148.jpg
Born (2001-11-28) November 28, 2001 (age 22)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Figure skating career
CountryFlag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Discipline Men's singles (since 2016)
Ice dance (2016–22)
Coach Andrew Hallam
Joey Russell
Tracy Wilson
Skating club Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club
Began skating2002
Olympic rings.svg Winter Youth Olympics Olympic rings.svg
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2020 Lausanne Team
World Junior Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2022 Tallinn Ice dance

Bruce Waddell (born November 28, 2001) is a Canadian ice dancer and singles skater. With his skating partner, Natalie D'Alessandro, he is the 2022 World Junior silver medallist and 2022 Canadian national junior champion. They have won three medals on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, including gold at the 2021 JGP Slovakia, and bronze in the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics team event.

Contents

Personal life

Waddell was born on November 28, 2001, in Toronto, Canada. He has two older brothers, twins George and Charles. [1] Charles is a former ice dancer, and George currently competes in ice dance, representing Great Britain. He enjoys playing the piano and skateboarding. [2] He is the grandson of NHL hockey star Leonard "Red" Kelly and his uncle Patrick Kelly is an Olympic speed skater. [1] [3] Waddell has dual Canadian-British citizenship. [1]

Skating career

Waddell started skating in 2002. Both he and Natalie D'Alessandro trained as singles skaters at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club and initially tried out as a dance team at the suggestion of the TCC's dance coach, Andrew Hallam. D'Alessandro/Waddell were pre-novice champions at the 2016 Skate Canada Challenge and then won the novice title at the 2017 Canadian Championships. [4] Making their international debut as a dance team, they placed fourth at the 2017 Bavarian Open in the advanced novice division. [5]

2017–18 season: Junior debut

D'Alessandro/Waddell were assigned by Skate Canada to make their debut on the ISU Junior Grand Prix, with one assignment to the 2017 JGP Australia in Brisbane. [5] Placing sixth, Waddell commented that the international competition made them "more nervous than usual." [6] Competing at the 2018 Canadian Junior Championships, they placed eighth.

2018–19 season: Junior national bronze

Given two assignments on the Junior Grand Prix, D'Alessandro/Waddell were fourth at the 2018 JGP Austria and sixth at the 2018 JGP Canada, the latter held in Richmond, British Columbia. Competing at the 2019 Canadian Junior Championships, they won the bronze medal. [7]

2019–20 season: First JGP medal

Again assigned to two events on the Junior Grand Prix, D'Alessandro/Waddell began the season at the 2019 JGP Latvia, where they placed fourth, missing the bronze medal by 0.68 points after sitting in third after the rhythm dance. [8] At their second event, the 2019 JGP Italy, they won the silver medal, the highest colour of medal won by a Canadian dance team on the Junior Grand Prix that season. [9] D'Alessandro commented afterwards, "seeing your name on the podium with the Canadian flag next to it is a pretty cool feeling." [4]

D'Alessandro & Waddell compete in the rhythm dance at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics 2020-01-11 Ice Dance Rhythm Dance (2020 Winter Youth Olympics) by Sandro Halank-1223.jpg
D'Alessandro & Waddell compete in the rhythm dance at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics

D'Alessandro/Waddell won the gold at the 2020 Skate Canada Challenge. [10] This would be their final domestic competition of the season, as they were assigned as part of the Canadian delegation to the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, which both had had as a longtime goal. [4] Competing in the ice dance event in Lausanne, D'Alessandro/Waddell placed third in the rhythm dance despite encountering level issues on several elements. [11] These continued in the free dance, where they placed fifth and dropped to fourth place overall, 0.91 points behind bronze medallists Wolfkostin/Chen. Waddell said after, "there were a few technical errors, but I definitely still had a blast." They subsequently won a bronze medal in the team event. [12]

Skate Canada assigned D'Alessandro/Waddell to one of Canada's three berths at the 2020 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, and also to compete at the 2020 Bavarian Open in the junior division. They won the bronze medal, narrowly behind fellow Canadians Bronsard/Bouaraguia. [13] D'Alessandro/Waddell finished the season at the World Junior Championships, where they placed eleventh, narrowly behind the other Canadian teams competing, Bronsard/Bouraguia and Makita/Gunara. [14]

2020–21 season

With the COVID-19 pandemic severely constraining competitions, both the ISU Junior Grand Prix and the 2021 World Junior Championships were cancelled. As well, in-person domestic competition was limited, as a result of which D'Alessandro/Waddell competed only once during the season at a virtually-held 2021 Skate Canada Challenge. They won the gold medal. The 2021 Canadian Junior Championships were subsequently cancelled. [15] [16]

2021–22 season: World Junior silver

With the resumption of the Junior Grand Prix, D'Alessandro/Waddell returned to international competition at the 2021 JGP Slovakia in Košice. Second in the rhythm dance, they won the free dance and took the gold medal. D'Alessandro commented on the effects of the pandemic, saying the long absence from competition "made us hungrier and more excited to come out here." [17] Weeks later, at their second event, the 2021 JGP Slovenia in Ljubljana, they won the bronze medal. [18]

In November, D'Alessandro/Waddell competed at the junior event at the 2021 Ice Challenge in Graz. Second in the short program, they won the free dance and took the gold medal, their second international win of the season. Waddell assessed the result as having had "lots of positives but also a couple of negatives we weren't as happy about. But that’s super necessary for us to happen in order to realize the difference between this and an amazing performance." [19] While their results on the Junior Grand Prix had qualified them to the Junior Grand Prix Final in December, this event was cancelled as a result of restrictions prompted by the Omicron variant. [20]

Entering the 2022 Canadian Junior Championships as the favourites for the gold medal, they won both programs to take their first national junior title. [21] They were subsequently sent to compete at the Egna Trophy, taking the silver medal in the junior competition. [22]

Due to the pandemic, the 2022 World Junior Championships could not be held as scheduled in Sofia in early March and, as a result, were rescheduled for Tallinn in mid-April. [23] Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Skating Union banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating, which had a significant impact on the dance field. [24] In the rhythm dance, D'Alessandro/Waddell scored an even 64 points, finishing in second place. [25] They were third in the free dance, but won the silver medal. D'Alessandro said afterward, "this season, we've trained so hard, so many mornings, and finishing it off on the podium at a competition like this...it still has not sunk in." With Bashynska/Beaumont winning the bronze medal, it was the first time two Canadian dance teams had stood on the podium together at the World Junior Championships. [26]

On May 3, 2022, D'Alessandro and Waddell announced on their joint Instagram account that they would no longer be skating together, stating, "the time has come when we are excited to move on with new separate adventures." [27]

Programs

Season Rhythm dance Free dance
2021–2022
[28]
2020–2021
2019–2020
[2]
2018–2019
[29]
Short dance
2017–2018
[30]

Competitive highlights

Single skating

Competition placements at senior level [31]
Season 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Canadian Championships 16th15th10th
Cranberry Cup 6th12th
Skate Canada Challenge 12th10th4th7th
Competition placements at junior level [31]
Season 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
Canadian Championships 11th7th4th
Skate Canada Challenge 10th5th10th4th

Ice dance with Natalie D'Alessandro

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System
SegmentTypeScoreEvent
TotalTSS163.04 2021 JGP Slovakia
Rhythm dance TSS64.482021 JGP Slovakia
TES34.922021 JGP Slovakia
PCS30.05 2022 World Junior Championships
Free dance TSS98.562021 JGP Slovakia
TES52.742021 JGP Slovakia
PCS47.012022 World Junior Championships
ISU personal bests in the +3/-3 GOE System (from 2010–11)
SegmentTypeScoreEvent
TotalTSS113.25 2017 JGP Australia
Short dance TSS47.702017 JGP Australia
TES26.302017 JGP Australia
PCS22.402017 JGP Australia
Free dance TSS65.552017 JGP Australia
TES30.962017 JGP Australia
PCS34.592017 JGP Australia
Competition placements at junior level [32]
Season 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22
Winter Youth Olympics 4th
Winter Youth Olympics –
Team trophy
3rd
World Junior Championships 11th2nd
Canadian Championships 8th3rdC1st
JGP Australia 6th
JGP Austria 4th
JGP Canada 6th
JGP Italy 2nd
JGP Latvia 4th
JGP Slovakia 1st
JGP Slovenia 3rd
Bavarian Open 3rd
Egna Trophy 2nd
Ice Challenge 1st
Skate Canada Challenge 10th7th1st1st

Detailed results

Men's singles

Results in the 2022–23 season
DateEvent SP FS Total
PScorePScorePScore
Aug 9–14, 2022 Flag of the United States.svg 2022 Cranberry Cup International 662.395122.066184.45
Nov 30 – Dec 3, 2022 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg 2023 Skate Canada Challenge 566.175130.554196.72
Jan 9–15, 2023 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg 2023 Canadian Championships 770.3715106.0215176.39
Results in the 2023–24 season
DateEvent SP FS Total
PScorePScorePScore
Aug 11–14, 2023 Flag of the United States.svg 2023 Cranberry Cup International 1458.728120.5612179.28
Nov 29 – Dec 3, 2023 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg 2024 Skate Canada Challenge 471.717112.727184.43
Jan 7–14, 2024 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg 2024 Canadian Championships 865.869121.1710187.03

Ice dance with Natalie D'Alessandro

2021–22 season
DateEvent RD FD Total
April 13–17, 2022 2022 World Junior Championships 2
64.00
3
98.56
2
162.56
February 4–6, 2022 2022 Egna Dance Trophy 2
62.62
2
97.09
2
167.06
January 6–12, 2022 2022 Canadian Junior Championships 1
70.79
1
104.24
1
175.03
November 11–14, 2021 2021 Ice Challenge 2
60.65
1
93.01
1
153.66
September 22–25, 2021 2021 JGP Slovenia 2
64.26
3
97.53
3
161.79
September 1–4, 2021 2021 JGP Slovakia 2
64.48
1
98.56
1
163.04
2020–21 season
DateEvent RD FD Total
January 15–17, 20212021 Skate Canada Junior Challenge1
68.08
1
101.79
1
169.87
2019–20 season
DateEvent RD FD Total
March 2–8, 2020 2020 World Junior Championships 9
61.63
12
90.16
11
151.79
February 3–9, 2020 2020 Bavarian Open 3
61.48
3
93.57
3
155.05
January 10–15, 2020 2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Team 3
95.73
3T/3P
January 10–15, 2020 2020 Winter Youth Olympics 3
59.61
5
91.91
4
151.52
Nov. 27 – Dec. 1, 20192020 Skate Canada Junior Challenge1
69.79
1
104.53
1
174.32
October 2–5, 2019 2019 JGP Italy 2
63.25
3
89.51
2
152.76
September 4–7, 2019 2019 JGP Latvia 3
61.68
4
90.44
4
152.12
2018–19 season
DateEvent RD FD Total
January 13–20, 2019 2019 Canadian Junior Championships 6
58.75
2
97.04
3
155.79
Nov. 28 – Dec. 2, 20182019 Skate Canada Junior Challenge5
58.14
6
88.70
7
146.84
September 12–15, 2018 2018 JGP Canada 7
52.94
4
85.19
6
138.13
Aug. 29 – Sept. 1, 2018 2018 JGP Austria 5
50.45
3
84.97
4
135.42
2017–18 season
DateEvent SD FD Total
January 8–14, 2018 2018 Canadian Junior Championships 9
50.99
8
72.84
8
123.83
Nov. 28 – Dec. 2, 20172018 Skate Canada Junior Challenge11
44.90
7
67.92
10
112.82
August 23–26, 2017 2017 JGP Australia 6
47.70
6
65.55
6
113.25

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