Thierry Ferland (born August 3, 1997) is a Canadian

pair skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

. With his skating partner, Lori-Ann Matte, he is the 2018 Canadian national junior champion and finished within the top ten at two World Junior Championships (

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

Personal life

Thierry Ferland was born August 3, 1997, in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, Canada. After attending Cégep de Sainte-Foy, he enrolled at

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montm ...

, where he is studying teaching through

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

Career

Early years

Ferland began learning to skate in 2003. He teamed up with Lori-Ann Matte around 2010. The pair won the novice bronze medal at the 2015 Canadian Championships and the novice silver medal at the 2015 Canada Winter Games. The following season, they moved up to the junior level and placed 6th at the 2016 Canadian Championships.

2016–2017 season

Matte/Ferland made their

ISU 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 ...

debut in September 2016. After winning the junior silver medal at the 2017 Canadian Championships, they were assigned to the 2017 World Junior Championships in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

. The pair ranked 7th in the short program, 12th in the free skate, and 9th overall at the competition in Taiwan. They were coached by Martine Simard in

Lévis, Quebec Lévis () is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Lévis, and two bridges, the Quebec and the Pierre-Laporte, connect western Lévis wit ...

until the end of the season. In May 2017, they relocated to

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

2017–2018 season

The pair lost several weeks of training after Matte broke her elbow in the autumn of 2017. In January, Matte/Ferland won the junior pairs' title at the 2018 Canadian Championships. They placed 10th in the short program, 7th in the free skate, and 9th overall at the 2018 World Junior Championships, which took place in March in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

, Bulgaria. Richard Gauthier and

Bruno Marcotte Bruno Marcotte (born September 10, 1974) is a Canadian figure skating coach and former competitor in pairs. He is the 1993 World Junior bronze medallist with Isabelle Coulombe and the 2000 Nebelhorn Trophy champion with Valérie Marcoux. Pers ...

coached the pair in Montréal.

2018–2019 season

Making their senior international debut, Matte/Ferland placed fifth at the

2018 CS Autumn Classic International The 2018 CS Autumn Classic International was held in September 2018 in Oakville, Ontario. It was part of the 2018–19 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancin ...

in September. They were fourth at the 2020 Canadian Championships.

2019–2020 season

Competing at two Challenger events to begin the season, Matte/Ferland were eight at the 2019 CS U.S. Classic and seventh at the

2019 CS Warsaw Cup The 2019 CS Warsaw Cup was held in November 2019 in Warsaw, Poland. It was part of the 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series The 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series was held from September to December 2019. It was the sixth season that the ISU Challenge ...

. They placed fifth at the 2020 Canadian Championships.

2020–2021 season

Matte/Ferland were assigned to make their Grand Prix debut at the 2020 Skate Canada International, but the event was cancelled as a result of the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

. They made their competitive debut at the 2021 Skate Canada Challenge, the qualifying event for the national championships, winning the silver medal. Matte/Ferland were named as alternates to the 2021 World Championships. With Canada's mandatory two-week quarantine for returning athletes; however, no member of the World team was assigned to the 2021 World Team Trophy, and they assigned as Canada's entry in the pairs segment. They finished sixth in both the short and free programs, while Team Canada finished in sixth place overall.

2021–2022 season

Matte/Ferland made their competitive debut at the 2021 CS Autumn Classic International, where they placed seventh. Making their Grand Prix debut, they were seventh as well at the

2021 Skate Canada International The 2021 Skate Canada International was the second event in the 2021–22 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, Bri ...

. They placed fourth at the 2022 Canadian Championships. Assigned to compete at the 2022 Four Continents Championships, they finished sixth.

2022–2023 season

The team began the season with a seventh-place finish at the 2022 CS U.S. Classic. Matte and Ferland were scheduled to compete on the Grand Prix at the

2022 MK John Wilson Trophy The 2022 MK John Wilson Trophy was the fourth event in the 2022–23 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the IceSheffield in Sheffield on November 11–13. It was the re ...

, but had to withdraw due to injury.

Programs

(with Matte)

Competitive highlights

''GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix'' ; With Matte ; Men's Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferland, Thierry 1997 births Canadian male pair skaters French Quebecers Living people Sportspeople from Quebec City