# Conrad Orzel

Conrad Orzel (born July 11, 2000) is a retired Canadian figure skater and model. He is the 2019 Bavarian Open silver medalist and 2023 Canadian national silver medalist. Earlier in his career, he won two medals on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series and placed 13th at the 2017 and 2018 World Junior Championships.

## Personal life

Orzel was born on July 11, 2000, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is of Polish ancestry and speaks English, French, and Polish.
Orzel graduated from York University in May 2024. He also announced his retirement from competitive skating in order to pursue a career in public venture capital.

## Career

Orzel began learning to skate in 2003. Eva Najarro became his coach when he was five years old. He trained at the York Region Skating Academy in Richmond Hill, Ontario until 2018 and also worked with Joanne McLeod in Vancouver, British Columbia.

### 2014–2015 season

Orzel sustained a torn ligament in his left leg before the Skate Canada Challenge in December 2014. The following month, he won bronze in the novice men's event at the 2015 Canadian Championships.

### 2015–2016 season

Competing on the junior level, Orzel ranked fourth in the short program, sixth in the free skate, and fifth overall at the 2016 Canadian Championships. He hit his head on the ice during the free skate after attempting a triple Axel. He continued with his program and was examined afterwards by a medical team, which found no concussion. Making his international debut, he won the junior bronze medal at the Coupe du Printemps in March 2016.

### 2016–2017 season

In August 2016, Orzel placed tenth at his first Junior Grand Prix (JGP) assignment in Saint Gervais-les-Bains, France, before winning silver at a JGP event in Dresden, Germany, in October. He received the junior silver medal at the 2017 Canadian Championships and was named in Canada's team to the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. He placed eighteenth in the short program, twelfth in the free skate, and thirteenth overall.

### 2017–2018 season

Orzel placed seventh at his first Junior Grand Prix assignment in Linz, Austria. In his second event in Poland, he won the bronze medal. Orzel moved to the senior level domestically, placing eleventh at the 2018 national championships. He ended the season at the 2018 World Junior Championships, where he placed thirteenth again.

### 2018–2019 season

Orzel decided to leave his longtime coach Eva Najarro, transferring to the Toronto Cricket, Skating & Curling Club under the tutelage of Lee Barkell. He was again named to Skate Canada's NextGen team. Orzel placed fourth at both of his JGP assignments, coming only 0.01 points away from a bronze medal at 2018 JGP Slovenia after setting new personal bests in both the free skate and in total score.
At the 2019 Canadian Championships, Orzel placed fourth in the short program. He had a difficult free skate, dropping to fifth place overall. Because Orzel finished behind both Stephen Gogolev and Joseph Phan, he was not named to Canada's team for the World Junior Championships. He was instead assigned to the 2019 Bavarian Open, making his senior international debut, where he won the silver medal.

### 2019–2020 season

Orzel moved to compete fully at the senior level, beginning the season at the 2019 CS Autumn Classic International, where he placed sixth. Making his Grand Prix debut at the 2019 Cup of China, he placed eleventh. Orzel was twelfth at the 2019 NHK Trophy and concluded his season with a sixth-place finish at the 2020 Canadian Championships.

### 2020–2021 season

Orzel was assigned to compete at the 2020 Skate Canada International, but the event was cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
With the pandemic continuing to make it difficult to hold in-person events, the 2021 Skate Canada Challenge was held virtually, and Orzel placed fifth at the event, notably placing third in the short program and landing two quadruple jumps. The 2021 Canadian Championships were subsequently cancelled.

### 2021–2022 season

Orzel was assigned to begin the season at the 2021 CS Autumn Classic International, whose men's competition lost its Challenger status due to insufficient competitors and countries. Orzel won the gold medal over the two other Canadian men who competed. On the Grand Prix at 2021 Skate Canada International, Orzel placed ninth. After the free skate, he said, "even though there were some mistakes, I was still happy with the performance in general."
At the 2022 Canadian Championships, Orzel had a difficult short program, making mistakes on all his jumping passes to place fourteenth overall in the segment. He was sixth in the free skate, rising to ninth overall.

### 2022–2023 season

After underwhelming results in preceding years, Orzel opted to leave his coaches at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club to work with Ravi Walia at the Ice Palace FSC in Edmonton, Alberta.
Orzel was assigned to the 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy, finishing eleventh. He was eleventh as well at the 2022 Skate Canada International, and tenth at the 2022 NHK Trophy.
At the 2023 Canadian Championships, Orzel placed second in the short program. He placed fourth in the free skate, but won the silver medal. While national champion Keegan Messing was immediately named to compete at both the 2023 World Championships, the second Canadian men's berth was to be decided later, pending results at the 2023 Four Continents Championships, where both Orzel and fourth-place Stephen Gogolev were assigned. Orzel finished eighth at Four Continents.
Orzel finished twenty-sixth in the short program at the 2023 World Championships and did not qualify for the free skate.

### 2023–2024 season

Beginning the season at the 2023 CS Nepela Memorial, Orzel came ninth. In his lone appearance on the Grand Prix, he finished in tenth place. At the domestic level, he went on to win the Skate Canada Challenge, the final qualifier to the 2024 Canadian Championships. At the national championships, Orzel had a "disastrous" short program, tripling both planned quad jumps and singling his triple Axel attempt. Tenth in that segment, he recovered with second-place free skate that boosted him to fourth overall. He finished 0.26 points behind bronze medalist Anthony Paradis.
Skate Canada initially declined to name the Canadian team for the 2024 World Championships, pending the results of the 2024 Four Continents Championships in Shanghai, which Orzel attended alongside Wesley Chiu and Roman Sadovsky. Orzel finished seventeenth, and third among the Canadians. The two Canadian berths at the home ice World Championships were ultimately given to Chiu and Sadovsky.
On May 1, Orzel announced that he was starting a new job at Rockbank Capital Corp in the role of Corporate Development and was thus retiring from competitive figure skating.

## Programs

| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
| 2023–2024 | Carmina Burana: O Fortuna by Carl Orff choreo. by Lance Vipond | Believer Tied Warriors by Imagine Dragons choreo. by Lance Vipond | Who Wants to Live Forever by Queen choreo. by Jeffrey Buttle |
| 2022–2023 | Carmina Burana: O Fortuna by Carl Orff choreo. by Lance Vipond | Out of Tears Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones choreo. by Lance Vipond | Carmina Burana: O Fortuna by Carl Orff choreo. by Lance Vipond |
| 2021–2022 | Who Wants to Live Forever by Queen choreo. by Jeffrey Buttle | Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell performed by Daniel Adni choreo. by Joey Russell | In My Blood by Shawn Mendes |
| 2020–2021 | Who Wants to Live Forever by Queen choreo. by Jeffrey Buttle | Les Miserables - Symphonic Suite Suite from Les Miserables and Miss Saigon Comme un homme (from Les Misérables) by Claude-Michel Schoenberg & Alain Boublil choreo. by David Wilson | |
| 2019–2020 | In My Blood by Shawn Mendes choreo. by Jeffrey Buttle | Les Miserables - Symphonic Suite Suite from Les Miserables and Miss Saigon Comme un homme (from Les Misérables) by Claude-Michel Schoenberg & Alain Boublil choreo. by David Wilson On the Waterfront (soundtrack) by Leonard Bernstein choreo. by David Wilson | |
| 2018–2019 | In My Blood by Shawn Mendes choreo. by Jeffrey Buttle | Romeo and Juliet by Nino Rota Un giorno per noi (from Romeo and Juliet) performed by Josh Groban choreo. by Joey Russell | |
| 2017–2018 | Secrets by OneRepublic Beethoven's Five Secrets by The Piano Guys choreo. by Shae Zukiwsky | Big My Secret (from The Piano) by Michael Nyman Knowing the Ropes (from Mozart 252) by Michael Nyman choreo. by Allison Purkiss | |
| 2016–2017 | Secrets by OneRepublic Beethoven's Five Secrets by The Piano Guys choreo. by Shae Zukiwsky | The Last Samurai by Hans Zimmer River Waltz (from The Painted Veil) by Alexandre Desplat Takiotoshi (Sound of Waterfall) choreo. by Allison Purkiss | |
| 2015–2016 | | | |
| 2014–2015 | | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by Ennio Morricone | |

## Competitive highlights

* GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
* JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
* CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
* C – Event cancelled
Competition placements at senior level :
| Season | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023-24 |
| World Championships | | | | | | 26th | |
| Four Continents Championships | | | | | | 8th | 17th |
| Canadian Championships | 11th | 5th | 6th | C | 9th | 2nd | 4th |
| GP Cup of China | | | 11th | | | | |
| GP NHK Trophy | | | 12th | | | 10th | |
| GP Skate Canada | | | | C | 9th | 11th | 10th |
| CS Autumn Classic | | | 6th | | 1st | | |
| CS Finlandia Trophy | | | | | | 11th | |
| CS Golden Spin of Zagreb | | | | | 10th | | |
| CS Nepela Memorial | | | | | | | 9th |
| Bavarian Open | | 2nd | | | | | |
| Skate Canada Challenge | 7th | 3rd | | 5th | | | 1st |
Competition placements at junior level :
| Season | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 |
| World Junior Championships | | 13th | 13th | |
| Canadian Championships | 5th | 2nd | | |
| JGP Austria | | | 7th | 4th |
| JGP France | | 10th | | |
| JGP Germany | | 2nd | | |
| JGP Poland | | | 3rd | |
| JGP Slovenia | | | | 4th |
| Bavarian Open | | 2nd | | |
| Coupe du Printemps | 3rd | | | |
| Skate Canada Challenge | 4th | 3rd | | |

## Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System :
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
| Total | TSS | 226.10 | 2023 Four Continents Championships |
| Short program | TSS | 80.09 | 2023 Four Continents Championships |
| Short program | TES | 46.63 | 2023 Four Continents Championships |
| Short program | PCS | 37.41 | 2023 CS Nepela Memorial |
| Free skating | TSS | 149.56 | 2021 Skate Canada International |
| Free skating | TES | 79.46 | 2021 Skate Canada International |
| Free skating | PCS | 73.00 | 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb |
ISU personal best scores in the +3/-3 GOE System :
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
| Total | TSS | 196.30 | 2016 JGP Germany |
| Short program | TSS | 66.21 | 2017 World Junior Championships |
| Short program | TES | 37.64 | 2017 World Junior Championships |
| Short program | PCS | 32.17 | 2018 World Junior Championships |
| Free skating | TSS | 134.98 | 2017 JGP Poland |
| Free skating | TES | 71.62 | 2017 JGP Poland |
| Free skating | PCS | 64.36 | 2017 JGP Poland |

### Senior level

Results in the 2017–18 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Nov 28 – Dec 3, 2017 | 2018 Skate Canada Challenge | 11 | 60.07 | 5 | 125.40 | 7 | 185.47 |
| Jan 8–14, 2018 | 2018 Canadian Championships | 10 | 73.69 | 11 | 133.97 | 11 | 207.66 |
Results in the 2018–19 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Nov 28 – Dec 2, 2018 | 2019 Skate Canada Challenge | 1 | 73.56 | 3 | 123.45 | 3 | 197.01 |
| Jan 14–20, 2019 | 2019 Canadian Championships | 4 | 82.87 | 6 | 141.28 | 5 | 224.15 |
| Feb 5–10, 2019 | 2019 Bavarian Open | 4 | 67.93 | 2 | 132.58 | 2 | 200.51 |
Results in the 2019–20 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Sep 12–14, 2019 | 2019 CS Autumn Classic International | 6 | 76.64 | 5 | 138.34 | 6 | 214.98 |
| Nov 8–10, 2019 | 2019 Cup of China | 10 | 72.22 | 12 | 120.38 | 11 | 192.60 |
| Nov 22–24, 2019 | 2019 NHK Trophy | 10 | 70.35 | 12 | 125.99 | 12 | 196.34 |
| Jan 13–19, 2020 | 2020 Canadian Championships | 8 | 69.26 | 6 | 140.11 | 6 | 209.37 |
Results in the 2020–21 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Jan 8–17, 2021 | 2021 Skate Canada Challenge | 3 | 87.22 | 8 | 131.39 | 5 | 218.61 |
Results in the 2021–22 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Sep 16–18, 2021 | 2021 CS Autumn Classic International | 1 | 80.82 | 1 | 126.49 | 1 | 207.31 |
| Oct 29–31, 2021 | 2021 Skate Canada International | 9 | 73.19 | 6 | 149.56 | 9 | 222.75 |
| Dec 7–11, 2021 | 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb | 8 | 78.85 | 11 | 140.35 | 10 | 219.20 |
| Jan 6–12, 2022 | 2022 Canadian Championships | 14 | 59.13 | 6 | 133.79 | 9 | 192.92 |
Results in the 2022–23 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Oct 4–9, 2022 | 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy | 6 | 71.58 | 13 | 121.57 | 11 | 193.15 |
| Oct 28–30, 2022 | 2022 Skate Canada International | 6 | 69.69 | 11 | 125.73 | 11 | 195.42 |
| Nov 18–20, 2022 | 2022 NHK Trophy | 8 | 73.10 | 11 | 129.59 | 10 | 202.69 |
| Jan 9–15, 2023 | 2023 Canadian Championships | 2 | 86.16 | 4 | 151.30 | 2 | 237.46 |
| Feb 7–12, 2023 | 2023 Four Continents Championships | 7 | 80.09 | 7 | 146.01 | 8 | 226.10 |
| Mar 22–26, 2023 | 2023 World Championships | 26 | 67.65 | – | – | 26 | 67.65 |
Results in the 2023–24 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Sep 28–30, 2023 | 2023 CS Nepela Memorial | 7 | 77.45 | 9 | 136.07 | 9 | 213.52 |
| Oct 27–29, 2023 | 2023 Skate Canada International | 6 | 77.68 | 10 | 135.44 | 10 | 213.12 |
| Nov 30 – Dec 3, 2023 | 2024 Skate Canada Challenge | 1 | 78.71 | 1 | 144.14 | 1 | 222.85 |
| Jan 7–14, 2024 | 2024 Canadian Championships | 10 | 61.72 | 2 | 148.00 | 4 | 209.72 |
| Jan 30 – Feb 4, 2024 | 2024 Four Continents Championships | 17 | 65.07 | 17 | 129.85 | 17 | 194.92 |

### Junior level

Results in the 2015–16 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Dec 2–5, 2015 | 2016 Skate Canada Challenge | 5 | 54.45 | 4 | 103.66 | 4 | 158.11 |
| Jan 18–24, 2016 | 2016 Canadian Championships (Junior) | 4 | 51.44 | 6 | 102.49 | 5 | 153.93 |
| Mar 11–13, 2016 | 2016 Coupe du Printemps | 1 | 52.45 | 5 | 89.24 | 3 | 141.69 |
Results in the 2016–17 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Aug 24–27, 2016 | 2016 JGP France | 4 | 61.65 | 11 | 100.67 | 10 | 162.32 |
| Oct 5–8, 2016 | 2016 JGP Germany | 5 | 64.98 | 2 | 131.32 | 2 | 196.30 |
| Nov 30 – Dec 4, 2016 | 2017 Skate Canada Challenge | 3 | 60.57 | 4 | 110.96 | 3 | 171.53 |
| Jan 16–22, 2017 | 2017 Canadian Championships (Junior) | 1 | 68.16 | 2 | 137.90 | 2 | 206.06 |
| Feb 14–19, 2017 | 2017 Bavarian Open | 2 | 71.60 | 3 | 125.85 | 2 | 197.45 |
| Mar 15–19, 2017 | 2017 World Junior Championships | 18 | 66.21 | 12 | 128.20 | 13 | 194.41 |
Results in the 2017–18 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2017 | 2017 JGP Austria | 6 | 58.23 | 7 | 114.51 | 7 | 172.74 |
| Oct 4–7, 2017 | 2017 JGP Poland | 9 | 61.07 | 3 | 134.98 | 3 | 196.05 |
| Mar 5–11, 2018 | 2018 World Junior Championships | 15 | 64.49 | 12 | 121.44 | 13 | 185.93 |
Results in the 2018–19 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Aug 29 – Sep 1, 2018 | 2018 JGP Austria | 1 | 79.66 | 6 | 120.80 | 4 | 200.46 |
| Oct 3–6, 2018 | 2018 JGP Slovenia | 5 | 73.24 | 4 | 139.70 | 4 | 212.94 |