Christopher Mabee (born August 26, 1985) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. He is the 2007 Canadian national silver medalist. He announced his retirement from competitive skating in December, 2008.

Early career

Christopher Mabee was born in

Tillsonburg Tillsonburg is a town in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada with a population of 18,615 located about 50 kilometres southeast of London, on Highway 3 at the junction of Highway 19. History Prior to European settlement, the present site of Tillso ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He began skating at age seven. Mabee was coached by

Paul Wirtz Paul Wirtz (May 3, 1958 - April 6, 2006) was a Canadian figure skating coach."A te ...

for a year in Montreal but, after being injured in 1998, he moved back home to be closer to his family. Mabee then trained at the

Mariposa School of Skating The Mariposa School of Skating, located in Barrie, Ontario, is a major figure skating training center in Canada. History The school was founded in Orillia, Ontario in 1973 by Doug Leigh and Tom Harrison. The school moved to Barrie in 1988 after th ...

in Barrie, Ontario, under

Lee Barkell Lee Barkell originally from Kirkland Lake, Ontario is a Canadian figure skating coach, working with both singles and pairs, and a former competitive pair skater. With Melanie Gaylor, he won gold at the 1986 Fujifilm Trophy, 1986 Nebelhorn Trophy ...

and

Doug Leigh Douglas Leigh is a Canadians, Canadian figure skating coach. He is the head coach and founder of the Mariposa School of Skating. Among his former students are Brian Orser, Elvis Stojko, Takeshi Honda, Jennifer Robinson (figure skater), Jennifer R ...

. Mabee won the silver medal on the novice level at nationals in 1998. He was sent to the

Triglav Trophy The Triglav Trophy is an annual international figure skating competition held in the spring in Jesenice, Slovenia. The competition takes its name from the nearby mountain Triglav Triglav (; german: Terglau; it, Tricorno), with an elevation o ...

that year and placed 5th on the novice level. Mabee went junior the next season and placed 4th at nationals in 1999. In the 1999-2000 season, he made his debut on the

Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

, placing 11th in Canada and 9th in Norway. He dropped down to ninth at Nationals as a junior. At the 2002 Nationals, he won the bronze medal on the junior level behind Shawn Sawyer and Keegan Murphy. The 2002-2003 season was Mabee's senior national debut. Mabee competed at two Junior Grand Prix events, placing 6th and 11th. He then went on to place 9 at Nationals, his first senior competition. The following season, Mabee won his first international junior event and became the second Canadian man after

Fedor Andreev Fedor Vladimirovich Andreev (russian: Фёдор Владимирович Андреев, born March 2, 1982) is a former figure skater with dual Russian and Canadian citizenship. In single skating, he is the 2003 Canadian bronze medalist and t ...

to win a medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final. He moved up to sixth at Nationals and earned a spot to the

World Junior Figure Skating Championships The World Junior Figure Skating Championships (''"World Juniors"'' or ''"Junior Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which figure skaters within a designated age range compete for ...

, where he placed 5th. The next season, Mabee won a gold and a silver on the Junior Grand Prix, but had a bad skate at the final and placed eighth. He moved up a spot at Nationals, but dropped to 10th at Junior Worlds. It was Mabee's final junior competition.

Senior career

Mabee moved up to the senior level in 2005-2006, with the hopes of making the Canadian Olympic team. His quest to make the team was chronicled on the fifth estate, along with other skaters like

Jeffrey Buttle Jeffrey "Jeff" Buttle (born September 1, 1982) is a Canadian figure skater and choreographer. He is the 2006 Winter Olympics bronze medalist, the 2008 World champion, the 2002 and 2004 Four Continents champion and the 2005–2007 Canadian cha ...

and Emanuel Sandhu. Mabee placed ninth at

Skate America Skate America is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It is hosted by U.S. Figure Skating. The location changes yearly. Medals are awarded in four disciplines: m ...

and just off the podium at the

NHK Trophy The NHK Trophy is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. Organized by the Japanese Skating Federation, it began in 1979 and was added to the Grand Prix series in 199 ...

. But he placed fourth at Nationals, missing a berth on the Olympic team by one spot. Mabee had a career-best free skate, but his imperfect short program prevented him from placing higher. Mabee was instead put on the team to the

Four Continents Figure Skating Championships The Four Continents Figure Skating Championships (4CC) is an annual figure skating competition. The International Skating Union established it in 1999 to provide skaters representing non-African and non-European countries with a similar competit ...

, where he won the silver medal, the first senior medal of his career. The 2006-2007 season began badly for Mabee. He had bad skates at both his Grand Prix events and he went into Nationals with the hope of skating clean and making the world team. He did that and more. He skated two career-best programs, placing second overall, ahead of three-time national champion Emanuel Sandhu. This brought Mabee his first berth on the World team. Mabee went back to the Four Continents Championships, where he placed 5th in a much stronger field than the previous year's. He placed 13th at Worlds. During the 2007-2008 season, Mabee competed on the Grand Prix. He placed 5th at the 2008 Canadian Figure Skating Championships and did not qualify for either the Four Continents or World teams. He was originally assigned to the

2008 Skate America The 2008 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2008–09 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Comcast Arena at Everett in Everett, Washington on October 23– ...

and

2008 NHK Trophy The 2008 NHK Trophy was the final event of six in the 2008–09 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo on November 27–30. Medals were ...

Grand Prix events for the 2008-2009 season. However, he withdrew from them and announced in October, 2008 he would not compete in the 2008-2009 season due to a lack of motivation. He announced his retirement from competitor skating on December 10, 2008. After his retirement, he began skating professionally on the west coast tour of

Disney on Ice Disney on Ice, originally Walt Disney's World on Ice, is a series of touring ice shows produced by Feld Entertainment's Ice Follies And Holiday on Ice, Inc. under agreement with The Walt Disney Company. Aimed primarily at children, the shows fea ...

's High School Musical: The Ice Tour. He is now skating in the ice shows aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruiseships.

Programs

Results

''GP:

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

; JGP:

References

External links

Official Site
*
Skate Canada Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mabee, Christopher 1985 births Canadian male single skaters Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists Living people Sportspeople from Tillsonburg Sportspeople from Barrie