Following a report of a sexual assault accusation, an ice dancer withdrew from the nationals in January. Nikolaj Soerensen and Laurence Fournier Beaudry have now been selected to represent Canada in figure skating at the upcoming world championships in Montreal. The duo withdrew from the Canadian championship in Calgary last month after an American figure skating coach and former skater accused Soerensen of sexual assault in Hartford, Conn., in 2012, as reported by USA Today. Complaints have been filed with both Canada’s Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner and the U.S. Center for SafeSport, according to the same source.
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Soerensen, denying the allegations, stated their falseness in an Instagram post. Despite the controversy, Soerensen and Beaudry participated in the Four Continents in Shanghai, China, securing a second-place finish behind Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier in the ice dance competition that concluded on Feb. 4. The team for the world championships, scheduled for March 18-24 at Montreal’s Bell Centre, will include Gilles, Poirier, Deanna Stellato-Dudek, Maxime Deschamps, Marjorie Lajoie, Zachary Lagha, Lia Pereira, Trennt Michaud, Kelly Ann Laurin, and Loucas Ethier. In men’s competition, Wesley Chiu, the newly crowned Canadian champion, will make his senior world championships debut alongside 2022 Olympian Roman Sadovsky. Madeline Schizas, another 2022 Olympian, will be Canada’s sole competitor in the women’s field.
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