Canadian figure skater Sorensen suspended minimum of six years

Canadian figure skater Nikolaj Sorensen has been suspended for at least six years for "sexual maltreatment," the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner announced Wednesday.

The suspension was listed on the office's Abuse-Free Sport registry and is subject to challenge or appeal.

Skate Canada, the nation's governing body of figure skating and a signatory to Abuse-Free Sport, said in a statement it "has been made aware of the decision from Abuse-Free Sport in this matter and is taking the necessary action to comply with it.

"The ban will be issued by Skate Canada."

The ban is a result of an OSIC investigation into an allegation that Sorensen sexually assaulted an American figure skating coach and former skater in Hartford, Conn., in 2012.

Sorensen has denied the allegation, which has not been tested in court.

Sorensen and skating partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry were active last season despite the allegation, which first emerged in a USA Today report in early January, and the OSIC investigation.

In January, the pair withdrew from the Canadian figure skating championships in Calgary. But in March they competed at the world championships in their home base of Montreal, where they finished ninth. They also won a silver medal at the Four Continents event in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The 35-year-old Sorensen competed for Denmark, the country of his birth, before switching allegiance to Canada when Beaudry, who is from Montreal, was unable to obtain Danish citizenship before the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

He teamed with Beaudry to win a national ice dance title at the 2023 Canadian championships in Oshawa, Ont., and the pair represented Canada at the 2022 Beijing Games.

OSIC opened in June 2022 to handle complaints and investigations for national-level athletes in sporting organizations that sign on to the program. Former sports minister Pascale St-Onge established it to be an independent body for abuse complaints following Hockey Canada's scandal that year.

Since August 2023, OSIC has announced eight suspensions, including Sorensen's. Sorensen is the sixth among those to include sexual maltreatment.

Tyler Myles is the only other from Skate Canada to have been suspended, with the coach currently ruled to have permanent ineligibility for "Boundary Transgressions, Interference with or Manipulation of Process, Physical Maltreatment, Sexual Maltreatment."

However, the decision is "under challenge based on applicability of the UCCMS (Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport)."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.