A new figure skating season begins with Canada rebuilding

The backbone of the international figure skating season gets underway this Friday as the Grand Prix tour opens in France.

To refresh your memory, there will be a total of six regular Grand Prix events through the end of November, including a Canadian stop next week in Kelowna., B.C. Skaters are allowed to compete in any two of them, and the top six finishers in the regular-season points standings for each discipline — men's, women's, pairs and ice dance — will be invited to the prestigious Grand Prix Final in December in China. After Christmas, the focus turns to national championships (Canada's take place in early January in Mississauga, Ont.) and the world championships in Finland in March.

This season marks the start of a fresh Olympic cycle. A few major players retired in the wake of last winter's Games in Italy, including Olympic pairs gold medallists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan and Japanese women's singles star Kaori Sakamoto, who hung up her blades after taking the women's silver in Milan and then capturing her fourth gold in five years at the world championships.

Others are taking this season off to regroup and mull their future, including Olympic women's champion Alysa Liu of the United States, Olympic and world men's silver medallist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, three-time ice dance world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S., and Canadian ice dance stars Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. The 34-year-olds finally reached the Olympic podium with an emotional bronze in Milan and added a silver in Prague for their fifth world-championship medal in six years.

And so begins the climb to the 2030 Games in the French Alps. For Canada, it could be a long one.

With Gilles and Poirier stepping aside,