By Scott Mammoser, Team FSO Contributing Writer
Photos by Robin Ritoss
WARSAW, POLAND — There is only one spot on the women’s Canadian Olympic team and three teenagers are already in the mix.
Gabrielle Daleman, who previously placed 17th at Sochi in 2014 and 15th in the women’s event, plus a gold team medal at PyeongChang in 2018, also aspires to make her third Olympic team. The announcement will be made at the 2022 Canadian National Championships in Ottawa January 6-13.
The selection process begins for Daleman this week in Regina, Saskatchewan at the 2022 Skate Canada Challenge where she must qualify for the National Championships. If successful, Daleman, who will turn 24 on the last day of the event, will compete against Emily Bausback, Madeline Schizas and Alison Schumacher in Ottawa for that lone Canadian women’s position. If Gabrielle Daleman gets to Beijing, she will know who to thank.
At the recent ISU Challenger Series Warsaw Cup in Poland, Daleman recorded 176.64 points, a 30-point improvement from her eighth-place finish at the Autumn Cup in Montreal earlier this season.
After her seventh place finish, Daleman candidly said her fans are her greatest motivation.
“My family is absolutely amazing,” Daleman said, “they are out of this world, but my fans are definitely the reason I keep going, they inspire me, they motivate me, and even after everything, they are so supportive and so loving, and I wouldn’t be here without them.”
“They always remind me how much I inspire them, how much of an inspiration (I am) and how I keep coming back fighting,” the Toronto native continued about her fans. “They are just wonderful people who remind me that I am worth so much more than I think I am and how much I love my sport.” 
“Warsaw still wasn’t perfect, but it was a step in the right direction,” said the 2017 Helsinki World bronze medalist. “This was only my second competition in front of an audience and judges, so I am very happy with what I did here. I don’t want to be perfect now – I want to almost be perfect at Nationals, that’s my goal. I will keep focusing day by day, getting those jumps more and more (flawless), (attempt) more program run throughs and just enjoy skating and loving it, being in the moment every day.”
A Four Continents silver medalist from 2017, Daleman is currently skating to “Libertango” by Astor Piazzolla in her short program and “Samson and Delila” by Camille Saint-Saens in her free skate.