Christopher Mabee

Christopher Mabee (born August 26, 1985) is a Canadian retired competitive figure skater. He is the 2007 Canadian national silver medalist. He announced his retirement from competitive skating in December, 2008.^[1]

Christopher Mabee
Mabee competes in 2006.
Full name	Christopher Mabee
Born	(1985-08-26) August 26, 1985 (age 39) Tillsonburg, Ontario
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Canada
Discipline	Men's singles
Skating club	Tillsonburg SC
Retired	December 10, 2008
Medal record Men's Figure skating Representing  Canada Four Continents Championships 2002 Jeonju Men's singles Junior Grand Prix Final 2003–04 Malmö Men's singles

Early career

Christopher Mabee was born in Tillsonburg, Ontario. He began skating at age seven. Mabee was coached by Paul Wirtz for a year in Montreal but, after being injured in 1998, he moved back home to be closer to his family.^[2] Mabee then trained at the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie, Ontario, under Lee Barkell and Doug Leigh.

Mabee won the silver medal on the novice level at nationals in 1998. He was sent to the Triglav Trophy 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, 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 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, 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 and Emanuel Sandhu. Mabee placed ninth at Skate America and just off the podium at the NHK Trophy. 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, 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.^[3] 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 and 2008 NHK Trophy 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.^[1] After his retirement, he began skating professionally on the west coast tour of Disney on Ice's High School Musical: The Ice Tour. He is now skating in the ice shows aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruiseships.

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2007–2008	Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia by Aram Katchaturian	Sing, Sing, Sing from Fosse: A Song and Dance Spectacular (soundtrack)
2006–2007	Blues Deluxe by R. Stewart	Big Band Selections Pearl Harbor (soundtrack)	Ordinary Day by Great Big Sea
2005–2006	Fear by Ástor Piazzolla Tango Remembrances by Calandrelli and Piazzolla	Arvid Beaten by James Horner Concerto For Cootie by Duke Ellington Begin the Beguine by Cole Porter Flyin Home by Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman Brothers by Hana Zimmer Decommission & Alien Landscape by Christopher Gordon	Shout It Out Loud Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry
2004–2005	Art of War by Vanessa-Mae	Finlandia by John Selibus
2003–2004	Fantasia	Slaughter on 10th Avenue by Richard Rodgers Rhapsody in Blue (Part 3) by George Gershwin

Results

GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International[4]
Event	98–99	99–00	01–02	02–03	03–04	04–05	05–06	06–07	07–08
Worlds								13th
Four Continents							2nd	5th
GP Bompard									8th
GP Cup of Russia								10th
GP NHK Trophy							4th
GP Skate America							9th	9th
GP Skate Canada									4th
International: Junior[4]
Junior Worlds					5th	10th
JGP Final					3rd	8th
JGP Canada		11th
JGP China				11th
JGP Netherlands			15th
JGP Norway		9th
JGP Serbia						1st
JGP Slovakia					3rd
JGP Slovenia					1st
JGP USA				6th		2nd
Triglav Trophy
National[4]
Canadian Champ.	4th J	9th J	3rd J	9th	6th	5th	4th	2nd	5th

References

1. Abbot, Chris (December 10, 2008). "Turn pro". Woodstock Sentinel-Review. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012.
2. Mittan, Barry (February 13, 2004). "Medal Not a Maybe for Canada's Mabee". Golden Skate.
3. Kondakova, Anna (March 18, 2007). "Figure skating crowd-pleaser gets his turn". Golden Skate.
4. "Competition Results: Christopher MABEE". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 23, 2017.

External links

• Official Site
• Christopher Mabee at the International Skating Union
• Skate Canada Profile