Nam Nguyen (born May 20, 1998) is a Canadian retired competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

. He is the 2014 World Junior champion, 2019 Skate Canada silver medallist, and two-time

Canadian national The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

champion (2015, 2019). He has placed as high as fifth at the World Championships, in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Personal life

Nam Nguyen was born May 20, 1998, in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. Both of his parents are from

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

— his father, Sony, moved to Canada in 1988 and sponsored his wife, Thu, in 1994. His father is an engineer and his mother works for a medical software company. His sister, Kim, is six years younger and is also a figure skater. He lived in

Richmond, British Columbia Richmond is a city in the coastal Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly a suburban city, it occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough, New Westminster, Queensborough), between the two estuarine dis ...

, and

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

, B.C. from 1999 to 2012, and then moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario, so that he and his sister could train under

Brian Orser Brian Ernest Orser (born 18 December 1961) is a Canadian former competitive and professional figure skater and coach to Olympic champions. He is the 1984 and 1988 Olympic silver medallist, 1987 World champion and eight-time (1981–88) Cana ...

. Nguyen studied health sciences at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

. In 2025, he and former American women's singles skater,

Gracie Gold Grace Elizabeth Gold (born August 17, 1995), known as Gracie Gold, is an American figure skater. She is a 2014 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, a six-time Grand Prix medalist (2 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze), and a two-time U.S. nationa ...

, publicly confirmed that they were in a relationship.

Career

Nguyen began skating in 2003. Growing up, his figure skating idols were

Evgeni Plushenko Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko (, born 3 November 1982) is a Russian former figure skater. He is a four-time Olympic medalist (2006 gold, 2014 team gold, 2002 & 2010 silver), a three-time World champion (2001, 2003, 2004), a seven-time Europe ...

, Stephane Lambiel, and

Jeffrey Buttle Jeffrey Buttle (born September 1, 1982) is a Canadian figure skater and choreographer. He is the 2006 Winter Olympics bronze medalist, the 2008 World champion, the 2002 and 2004 Four Continents champion and the 2005–2007 Canadian champion. ...

. Nguyen also cited his former training mates,

Yuzuru Hanyu is a Japanese figure skater and ice show producer. Universally regarded as one of the greatest figure skaters in history for his well-rounded skills, achievements, innovations, longevity, popularity, and impact on the sport, he started skat ...

and Javier Fernandez, as being his inspirations.

Early career

From 2007 to 2009, Nguyen won three Canadian national men's titles — Juvenile, Pre-Novice, and Novice — each time becoming the youngest skater to do so. In 2010, he won the bronze medal on the junior level at the

Canadian Championships Canadian Championships refers to a number of national-level competition in Canada. It may refer to: * Canadian Championship, the national championship tournament for professional soccer * Canadian Figure Skating Championships * Canadian Professiona ...

. Nguyen performed in the exhibition gala at the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

in Vancouver, British Columbia. The following year at the 2011 Canadian Championships, he became the youngest skater to win the junior men's title.

2011–2012 season

In the 2011–2012 season, Nguyen became age-eligible for international junior competition. He finished twelfth in his first

Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

(JGP) event in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, Latvia and then won the bronze medal in his second event in Brasov, Romania. He placed seventh on the senior level at the 2012 Canadian Championships and was assigned to the 2012 World Junior Championships. Nguyen landed his first triple axel in competition in the preliminary round and qualified for the short program with a first-place finish. He was eighteenth in the short program and eleventh in the free skating, finishing thirteenth overall at the event. Joanne McLeod coached him at the

BC Centre of Excellence The "Champs International Skating Centre of British Columbia" (formerly known as the 'BC Centre of Excellence') is one of two major figure skating training centers in Canada. Located in Burnaby, British Columbia, it is home to many great national ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, until the end of the season.

2012–2013 season

In the summer of 2012, Nguyen moved to

to work with

at the

Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club The Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club is a private sport and social club located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The club has facilities for sports including aquatics, cricket, croquet, curling, figure skating, fitness classes, lawn bowling ...

. He started the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

at the JGP in France where he finished ninth. He did better at his second JGP event, in Turkey, earning the bronze medal. At the

, he placed sixth in the senior division. He finished the season at the World Junior Championships in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy, where he placed twelfth.

2013–2014 season

The next season, he placed fourth and 16th at his two JGP events. Competing at the senior level, he placed fifth at the

. He then competed at his first senior international, the

Four Continents Championships The Four Continents Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU). Medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. The ISU est ...

, and placed tenth. Afterwards, at the World Junior Championships in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, Bulgaria, he placed first in both segments and won the gold medal. He finished the season at the senior World Championships, where he placed twelfth.

2014–2015 season

Nguyen started the

with a silver medal at the inaugural Skate Canada Autumn Classic, an

ISU Challenger Series The ISU Challenger Series is a series of international figure skating competitions. Established by the International Skating Union in the 2014–15 figure skating season, 2014–15 season, it is a group of senior-level events ranked below the ISU ...

event. He made his senior Grand Prix debut at the

Skate America Skate America is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by U.S. Figure Skating. The first Skate America was in held in 1979 in Lake Placid, New York, as a test event fo ...

, winning the bronze medal. He continued to his second Grand Prix event, the

Cup of China The Cup of China is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Chinese Skating Association (), and part of the ISU Grand Prix Series. The first competition was held in ...

, where he placed fourth. This placed him ninth in the final Grand Prix standings, making him third alternate for the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. In December, he won the gold medal at the Skate Canada Challenge, the qualifying event for Canadian Nationals. In January, he won his first senior national title, outscoring the silver medallist by more than 30 points. After placing eleventh at the 2015 Four Continents, he finished fifth at the 2015 World Championships in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, recording his personal best scores in both segments.

2015–2016 season

Nguyen started his season by winning silver at the 2015 Skate Canada Autumn Classic. Turning to the

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

series, he placed fifth at the

2015 Skate Canada International The 2015 Skate Canada International was the second event of six in the 2015–16 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the ENMAX Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta on October 30 ...

and seventh at 2015 Rostelecom Cup. Nguyen finished fourth at the 2016 Canadian Nationals. He was assigned to the 2016 World Championships in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

after Liam Firus withdrew. He failed to qualify to the free skating. In an interview at the

2016 Team Challenge Cup The 2016 Team Challenge Cup was held April 22–24, 2016 at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington. Skaters competed as part of Team Asia, Team Europe, or Team North America. The 2016 competition was the first edition of the event. Spokane was ...

, he mentioned his planned coaching change to David Glynn.

Skate Canada Skate Canada (Canadian French: ''Patinage Canada'', lit. "Skating Canada") is the national governing body for figure skating in Canada, recognized by the International Skating Union and the Canadian Olympic Committee. It organizes the annual C ...

confirmed the change a few days later, stating that Nguyen would move to San Jose in May.

2016–2017 season

Nguyen placed fifth at the 2016 CS U.S. International Classic. On the Grand Prix series, he placed sixth at the

2016 Skate America The 2016 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2016–17 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Sears Centre in Chicago, Illinois, on October 21–23. Medals we ...

and eighth at the 2016 NHK Trophy. After returning to Ontario in December 2016, he began training at the York Region Skating Academy, coached by Tracey Wainman and

Grzegorz Filipowski Grzegorz Filipowski (Polish pronunciation: ; born 28 July 1966) is a former Polish competitive figure skater. He is the 1985 European bronze medalist, the 1989 European silver medalist and the 1989 World bronze medalist. Filipowski competed i ...

. He won the bronze medal at the 2017 Canadian Championships and placed 8th at the 2017 Four Continents Championships. Nguyen switched coaches again following continued disappointing results, working instead with Robert Burke in Richmond Hill.

2017–2018 season

Nguyen placed fifth at the

2017 CS Autumn Classic The 2017 CS Autumn Classic International was held in September 2017 at the Sportsplexe Pierrefonds in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was part of the 2017–18 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skati ...

and seventh at the

2017 Rostelecom Cup The 2017 Rostelecom Cup was the first event of six in the 2017–18 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Megasport Arena in Moscow on October 20–22. Medals were awar ...

. At the

2017 NHK Trophy The 2017 NHK Trophy was the 4th event of six in the 2017–18 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held in Osaka on November 10–12. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men ...

in Osaka, Japan, Nam placed tenth overall after disappointing eleventh place in short program. Later in Montreal, Nguyen took the bronze medal at the 2018 Skate Canada Challenge. Nguyen placed third at the 2018 Canadian Championships, behind

Patrick Chan Patrick Lewis Wai–Kuan Chan (born December 31, 1990) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. He is a Figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Team event, 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, Figure skating at the 2014 ...

and

Keegan Messing Keegan Messing (born January 23, 1992) is a Canadian-American retired figure skater. Representing Canada, he has competed at two Winter Olympic Games in 2018 and 2022. He has also appeared at three World Championships, placing as high as sixth. H ...

, and thus was not picked for the Canadian delegation to the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

. He instead joined Messing on the Canadian team at the 2018 World Championships, where he had a poor showing in the short program and failed to qualify for the free skating.

2018–2019 season

Nguyen opened the new season at the 2018 U.S. Classic, where he placed first in the short program and second in the free skate to win the gold medal, his first international gold at the senior level. He was assigned to two ISU Grand Prix events,

, where he placed sixth, and

, where he placed fifth. In January 2019, Nguyen competed at the 2019 Canadian Championships. He placed third in the short program after doubling the second part of his combination. He then won the free skate, and the overall title, the second of his career. He was subsequently named to the Canadian teams for the

Four Continents Europeans in the 16th century divided the world into four continents: Africa, America, Asia, and Europe. Each of the four continents was seen to represent its quadrant of the world—Africa in the south, America in the west, Asia in the east, a ...

and

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. At the 2019 World Championships, Nguyen placed sixteenth after two error-riddled programs. The placements of Nguyen and Messing meant that Canada would have only one men's berth at the 2020 World Championships. Nguyen concluded the season at the 2019 World Team Trophy, where he placed seventh overall among the twelve men.

2019–2020 season

Nguyen placed fourth at the 2019 Nebelhorn Trophy, finishing ninth in the short program after making severe errors on all his jumping passes and second in the free program after only one fall. Beginning the

at the

2019 Skate Canada International The 2019 Skate Canada International was the second event of the 2019–20 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Prospera Place in Kelowna, British Columbia from October 25 ...

, Nguyen was third in the short program behind

and

Camden Pulkinen Camden Pulkinen (born March 25, 2000) is an American figure skater and he is the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 2024, 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 2025 U.S. bronze medalist. He competed at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics and is ...

with a mostly clean skate, but for a minor error on his triple flip. Nguyen performed last in the free skate, immediately after a near-world record performance by Hanyu. He skated with only one minor error, singling a planned double toe loop, and set new personal bests in both the free skate and total score to take the silver medal, his first Grand Prix medal in five years. Nguyen was fifth at his second assignment, the

2019 Rostelecom Cup The 2019 Rostelecom Cup was the fifth event of the 2019–20 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Megasport Sport Palace in Moscow, Russia from November 15–17. Medals wer ...

, his only major error being popping one of his planned quad Salchow jumps in the free skate. Nguyen set out to defend his national title at the 2020 Canadian Championships, placing second in the short program behind Messing. Nguyen fell on both of his quad Salchow attempts in the free skate, and remained in second place overall, behind

Roman Sadovsky Roman Sadovsky (born May 31, 1999) is a Canadian figure skating, figure skater and YouTuber. He is the 2019 NHK Trophy bronze medalist, a five-time ISU Challenger Series medalist, and a two-time Canadian Figure Skating Championships, Canadian n ...

declined to determine who would take the sole men's berth at the World Championships in Montreal, and assigned the entire men's podium to compete at the 2020 Four Continents Championships in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. Nguyen placed sixth at Four Continents, the highest placement among the Canadian men there, with his only error across two programs being a singled attempt at a triple Axel in the free skate. Due to his strong performance at Four Continents, Nguyen was chosen to represent Canada at the World Championships, but these were cancelled as a result of the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

2020–2021 season

Nguyen was assigned to compete at the 2020 Skate Canada International, but the event was cancelled as a result of the pandemic. With the pandemic continuing to make it difficult to hold in-person events, Skate Canada held the 2021 Skate Canada Challenge virtually. Nguyen won the silver medal, finishing 5.58 points behind

. Nguyen was named as an alternate to the 2021 World Championships, the lone men's berth going to

. With Canada's mandatory two-week quarantine for returning athletes, however, no member of the World team was assigned to the 2021 World Team Trophy, and Nguyen was assigned as one of Canada's two men's entries, alongside Sadovsky. On April 8, he was named as team captain. Nguyen placed eleventh of eleven skaters in both segments of the competition, while Team Canada finished in sixth place.

2021–2022 season

Nguyen was initially assigned to compete at the 2021 CS Autumn Classic International, but withdrew shortly before the competition. He subsequently made his competitive debut at the 2021 Skate America, where he placed eighth. He was tenth at his second Grand Prix, the 2021 NHK Trophy. He landed a quad Salchow in the free skate, and said afterward that his overall score was "a reflection of how I've been focusing on my training. I recently just got my quad a few weeks ago and I’ve been neglecting the connection between the elements." Nguyen contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

the week before the 2022 Canadian Championships, the last event prior to the selection of the Canadian Olympic team. He was off the ice for five days, returning to the ice four days before the short program. He struggled at the competition, finishing in sixth place, and was not named to the team. Nguyen had earlier said he anticipated this being his final season, but after the championships said that he "wanted to finish on a really high note, however, I did say earlier this season that this could be my last season. However, I was in a different mindset back then and a lot has happened from then to now, so I am not quite sure yet what my future holds." Nguyen subsequently announced on May 20 that he would be retiring as he had originally planned. He said that "after nationals, I was very, very determined to do another season, and we were already in the kind of like planning mode. And then give or take a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, my feeling shifted a lot."

Post-competitive career

Interviewed in September 2022, Nguyen stated, " atching figure skatingjust pushed me away further because I remembered how awful I felt during my warm-up and how nervous I felt, and sitting there in front of the TV, I'm like, 'I'm so glad I'm not doing this anymore.'" Having no desire to work as a figure skating coach, he decided to coach ice hockey players in power skating. In 2025, he joined the cast of Canadian Stars on Ice.

Programs

Competitive highlights

* GP:

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

2011–12 to present

2006–07 to 2010–11

Detailed results

Small medals for short program and free skating awarded only at ISU Championships.

Senior

Junior

* *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Nam 1998 births Canadian male single skaters Canadian sportspeople of Vietnamese descent Living people Figure skaters from Ottawa Sportspeople of Vietnamese descent World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists 21st-century Canadian sportsmen