Keegan Messing’s return to competitive skating comes as little surprise to those who've followed him closely since his retirement.
For the past two years, Messing has been performing in rinks around the world on show tours with Kurt Browning, and the Canadian figure skating legend says if anything, his triple axels look cleaner.
“I've just been watching him skate so strongly,” Browning said. “Do a backflip, land on one foot, step, triple axel. I skate over to him and I'm like, 'Your triple axel looks better now with a backflip in front of it than it did when you're at the Olympics.'"
Messing, a two-time Olympian and two-time Canadian national champion, raised eyebrows in the figure skating world last week when he announced his return with an eye on next February’s Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
The 33-year-old dual citizen from Girdwood, Alaska, says landing a difficult jump during the Stars on Ice holiday tour last December sparked thoughts of a comeback.
“I got it in my head, ‘You know what, I want to go for quad toe again,’” said Messing in a phone interview from Skate Canada’s high-performance camp in Mississauga, Ont. “Took me a couple of tries, but ended up nailing one.
“That was where the seed was planted. I landed that, and I was like, ‘Huh, can I do this?’”
Messing’s international resume isn’t overflowing with medals — his best result is a silver at the Four Continents Championship, and his career-best finish at the world championships was sixth in 2021 — but the five-foot-four showman became a fan favourite with passionate and energetic programs.
His return also spices up the men’s discipline in Canada, which has lacked standout performances since he left the scene after the 2022-23 season.
If Messing rediscovers his pre-retirement form, he’ll be a heavy favourite to grab Canada’s only men’s singles trip to Milan.
“I think he saw an opening and I think he saw himself filling it,” said Browning, the Stars on Ice tour director and choreographer. “If another even one skater from Canada had really stepped up and really made some noise on the international scene … he might've been going, ‘Well, nope.’”
The thought of parachuting in for an Olympic year and taking someone else’s spot weighed heavily on Messing’s mind before he made the decision. But the possibility of living with regret, he says, hit even harder.
“If I'm skating this good and I don't go for this, I'm going to forever wonder if I could have done it,” said Messing, who has two kids with his wife, Lane Hodson. “I didn't want to ever look back and think, ‘What if?’”
Messing has unfinished business after missing the 2022 Olympic team event following a positive COVID-19 test and a long journey to Beijing that received significant media coverage.
His return could also boost Canada’s chances of a team medal in Milan, but Skate Canada high-performance director Mike Slipchuk wants it to be clear that “this is Keegan's decision, it's not Skate Canada approaching Keegan.”
And Messing doesn’t expect a clear path to the top.
Reigning national champ Roman Sadovsky and Stephen Gogolev — two of his main competitors — are off to strong starts this season with a gold and bronze, respectively, at the Challenger Series Cranberry Cup earlier this month.
Messing, meanwhile, still needs to compete internationally — his first competition is a domestic U.S. event in Dallas in late September — and see if his body can withstand the rigorous demands of competitive skating.
After his aha moment during the Stars on Ice holiday tour, Messing went home to Alaska to rebuild his strength and endurance and try to rediscover his passion for training.
“The whole reason I retired was I wasn't fond of training anymore,” he said. “I was really pushing my body, like get myself to pain, really try to jump under load and see how my body and my mind reacted to it. And honestly, I started loving it.”
Messing can’t, however, train as hard or as often. Set to turn 34 before the Olympics, he says he needs to balance building strength with giving his body the rest it needs. Lately, a stressed Achilles tendon is “the biggest hurdle” in his training.
“I'm not a kid anymore. My body doesn't spring back as fast,” he said. “It's going to take a little while to see if this decision is a good one or a bad one, but right now we're pleasantly optimistic."
Browning, meanwhile, says Messing didn't stop pushing the limits while on tour.
“All Keegan does all day is physically test himself," he said. "Let's go for a family picnic. Good, let's hike 25 miles, and I'll carry both kids and all our food. That's Keegan, so it doesn't surprise me at all that he has put himself back in.”
As for his programs, Messing is adding more flair, including "a backflip or two" now that the crowd-pleasing stunt is legal in competition. He’ll skate to "On the Dark Side" by Corey Taylor in his short program and "The Mountain Song" by Tophouse for the long.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
