Cayden Dawson (born February 2006) is a Canadian ice dancer who formerly represented Brazil. Together with his previous skating partner, Catharina Guedes Tibau, they were the first Brazilian team to ever qualify for an ISU championship,[1] after getting their minimum technical scores for an ISU Junior World Championships entry.
Personal life
Dawson was born in Toronto, Canada. He holds dual citizenship of both Canada and the United Kingdom.
Career
Early career
Dawson started skating in 2012. He competed in singles skating until 2020.[2]
2021–22 season
Dawson switched to ice dance, teaming up with Catharina Guedes Tibau in 2021. He agreed to represent Brazil, Tibau's birthplace, stating: "I always thought it was a very interesting country, I really like the culture and it's very beautiful. I'm very happy to be able to provide this chance for Catharina”.
The COVID-19 pandemic prevented them from officially competing, making the upcoming team wait until the next season to gain international experience.[3]
2022–23 season: Junior Grand Prix debut
Tibau / Dawson announced their partnership publicly on their Instagram account in July.[4] In the same month, they were invited to skate in the exhibition gala of the 2022 Brazilian Championships. In August, Tibau/Dawson competed domestically in Canada representing their skating club in the qualifiers for the Ontario Sectionals, where they finished in fifth place.[3]
In early September 2022, the team made their Junior Grand Prix debut at the event in Riga, Latvia. They broke the national score in the discipline, which was previously held by Karolina Calhoun and Michael Valdez, finishing the competition in eleventh place.[5] The duo ended their first participation in the series with the twentieth place at the 2022 JGP Italy in October.
Tibau / Dawson took another chance in achieving the minimum TES for the Rhythm Dance needed in order to compete at the 2023 Junior Worlds at the 2022 Open D'Andorra, without succeeding. This competition finished the season for them and the team started to work on the next season's programs shortly after.
2023-24 season
Tibau / Dawson started their season at the 2023 Lake Placid International, with a 10th place finish in both segments and in the total score. They were assigned two Junior Grand Prix spots, at Linz and Osaka.
At the 2023 JGP Cup of Austria, they first achieved the rhythm dance minimum technical element score required for a 2024 Junior World Championships spot, making it the first time ever for Brazil to have an ice dance team qualified for an ISU championship.[1] After not qualifying for the free skating round at the 2024 ISU World Junior Championships, they announced the end of their patnership on March 22, 2024.[6]