Stefan Lotz and Abby Haas stand atop the podium. (Submitted photo/ Sanet Kapp)

By Nigel Maxwell

Skate

St. Mary alumnus wins gold at Ontario figure skating competition

Oct 20, 2025 | 10:20 AM

Prince Albert’s Stefan Lotz is showing off some shiny new hardware.

The St. Mary graduate and his partner Abby Haas secured a first place finish in the novice pair category at the Skate Ontario Sectional Series event.

“We still came on top and victorious,” Lotz said in a post-event interview, emphasizing their resilience.

The competition in Barrie, Ontario ran from Oct. 13 to Oct. 16. The pair’s long program stood out as stronger, building on an ambitious one-hand lift in the short program.

Haas, a Grade 9 student at Miller Comprehensive Catholic High School in Regina, expressed disappointment in certain elements of their program, but remained gracious about the win.

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“I think we got lucky,” she shared, adding it was a mix of fortune and their foundational skills. “Because we didn’t even skate [as well as we could], but we still won.”

When asked if she was happy with first place, Haas affirmed, “I mean, yeah,” balancing humility with quiet pride.

Lotz, now pursuing his first year in kinesiology at the University of Regina, echoed this reflective tone with optimism.

“We know what we have to work on and we’re really going to come back stronger than ever.”

He highlighted their training’s role, noting, “If we hadn’t trained this program, it wouldn’t have gone well,” and playfully affirmed their capabilities by saying, “I would have said all skill.”

The achievement marks rapid progress for the pair, who moved up to novice level just months earlier in August. Returning to Regina, they aim to refine speed and synchronization, channeling this gold-medal experience into future successes in Canadian figure skating.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @princealbertnow