World champion Osmond to skip this year's Grand Prix circuit

Posted June 04, 2018 7:00 am

The Associated Press

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - World champion Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada is skipping this year's ISU Grand Prix events.

Osmond won the world title in March, a month after taking individual bronze in the women's competition at the Pyeongchang Olympics. She also was part of Canada's gold medal-winning team at the games.

The 22-year-old Osmond became the first Canadian woman with a singles world title since Karen Magnussen in 1973.

Osmond's layoff comes after other Canadian figure skating stars have left the sport: two-time Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir; three-time men's world champion Patrick Chan; and Pyeongchang pairs bronze winners Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford.

"For the past years, my focus has been on the 2018 Olympic Winter Games and I worked really hard to achieve my goals," Osmond said in a statement. "The 2017-18 season went far beyond any of my own expectations and now I need time to refocus and evaluate the next steps in my career."

FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2018, file photo, Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond performs in the women's figure skating short program at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea. World champion Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada is skipping this yearâs ISU Grand Prix events. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP, File) The Associated Press

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