Kaetlyn Osmond to skip entire figure skating season

Canadian figure skating world champion Kaetlyn Osmond will not compete next season.

Instead, the world champion has said she will travel her home country and perform alongside other elite figure skaters in the “Thank you Canada Tour”, while also pursuing new ventures.

“I have had some time to reflect this summer on my future and believe taking this year off to evaluate my next steps is important in making the best personal decision,” she said in a Skate Canada press release.

In June Osmond announced on Twitter that she would sit out the ISU Grand Prix series to evaluate her career.

But after a summer of watching tennis and enjoying other activities outside the rink, she decided to extend that break to fully recuperate after an intense previous season.

This means the 22-year-old will miss January’s Canadian Championships and the world championships in Japan in March.

Olympic success and stardom at home

Osmond experienced elation at PyeongChang 2018, helping Team Canada to gold in the team figure skating event.

She also secured a bronze medal in the singles, behind Russian duo Alina Zagitova and Yevgenia Medvedeva.

But the Alberta resident bounced back to seal the short programme world title in Milan a month later.

In doing so she became Canada’s first women’s singles world champion in 45 years.

“The last four years have been incredible, the last two years especially… with skating, ending as world champion,” she told Canadian daily The Globe and Mail.

“It’s something I couldn’t even dream of being when I was younger.”

Following in famous footsteps

Osmond’s decision to temporarily hang up the skates after a successful Olympics isn’t uncommon.

Her esteemed colleague Patrick Chan also took 12 months off after winning silver at Sochi 2014.

Double Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir also had some time off following their exploits in Russia.

Osmond will spend her new-found leisure time with friends and family, as well as undertaking further education.

Fresh look for Canadian figure skating

Osmond’s sabbatical, along with several high-profile retirements, means Canada will be looking to introduce new figure-skating stock next season.

Chan has called it quits for good, alongside two-time pairs world champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford.

Virtue and Moir are in something of a limbo, as they have not officially retired, but are not expected to compete again.

This means that Canada’s most recognisable figure heading into the new season will be 2015 world bronze medallist Gabrielle Daleman.

The Grand Prix season kicks off at Skate America in October.