Complete Timeline of the Nikolaj Sørensen Case

By Madison (@KnifeShoeSport1 on Twitter) with additional research and translation from Shabah (@Fanthomette) and Elle (@2axelbot)

Content warning: graphic depictions of sexual assault and rape

This timeline serves to gather all known information related to the Nikolaj Sørensen rape investigation, complete with dates and sources. For a brief overview of the case and Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron’s involvement in it, please read our primer here.

Sometime in 2012 (it is currently unknown if this is before or after the alleged assault) - Sørensen “signed the paperwork” to skate for Canada
- Sørensen switched to Canada to compete with Vanessa Crone, training at the Ice Academy of Montreal (IAM). Crone retired from skating two months after their partnership was formed.
- Soon after Crone’s retirement, Sørensen and Laurence Fournier Beaudry teamed up and skated for Canada for a year before switching to compete for Denmark. In 2018, they switched to compete for Canada again. At some point during their partnership, the two began dating. They are still in a relationship today.
- Source: Inside Skating
April 21st, 2012 - Date of alleged assault
- Occurred at a party in Hartford, Connecticut, United States.
  - According to TSL, photos of Sorensen at the party were published on social media until shortly after the case was published. Investigators for OSIC used these photos to identify witnesses.
- At the time, the alleged victim was 22 and Sørensen was 23.
- Statement from the alleged victim (from her report to Canada’s Office Sport Integrity Commissioner):
  - “He pinned me down with his left arm over my collarbone. He pushed down hard on my collarbone, making me gasp for air the moment he inserted his penis into my vagina and covered his right hand over my mouth. All sound at that point became virtually inaudible and it felt like I would suffocate under the pressure of his arm on my collarbone and chest. I pushed my arms against his hips to try to get his penis out of me and I was struggling to breathe. At this point, I feared for my life and let my body go limp as I lay there and he raped me.” (Source: USA Today).
July 22nd, 2023 - Alleged victim files report with Canada’s Office of Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC)
- The alleged victim later says that she chose to file because on that day, she had seen an interview with Sørensen in which he discussed the importance of keeping women safe in ice dance and his desire to coach in the future.
  - Quote from the alleged victim: “I couldn't believe the words coming out of the rapist's mouth,” the report quotes the woman as saying. “It hit me at that moment that mothers would likely be sending their daughters to train with him (as a coach) at some point after he retired from competitive skating, and I could not live with the guilt of knowing I never told any authority figures.” (Source: USA Today).
- The alleged victim was unable to report the alleged assault to police because it was past the statute of limitations for Connecticut.
  - She was also unable to report to SafeSport (the governing body for investigating abuse in sports in the United States) because Sørensen is not actively skating for the United States.
- Canada’s Office of Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) is the governing body for investigating abuse in sports in Canada.
January 4th, 2024 - Sørensen sexual assault allegations made public for the first time in USA Today article by Christine Brennan
- Link to article
January 5th, 2024 - Second Christine Brennan article released with quotes from the alleged victim’s attorney
- Link to article
- Quote from the alleged victim’s attorney Nancy Hogshead (a well-known civil rights attorney specializing in Title IX cases related to sports): “As the survivor’s lawyer, now that these violent and traumatic events have been published in USA TODAY, I’m calling on Skate Canada to suspend Nikolaj Sørensen prior to next week’s Canadian national figure skating championships. If he competes, Skate Canada is sending a demoralizing message for survivors of sexual assault. For sport to effectively address athlete abuse, enforcement cannot wait.”
January 9th, 2024 - Sørensen and Fournier Beaudry post on their Instagram accounts that they are withdrawing from the Canadian National Championships. The posts deny the allegations, and Fournier Beaudry describes Sørensen as “a man of integrity, respect and kindness.”
- Screenshots of Instagram posts (the posts have since been deleted, screenshots from Christine Brennan’s Twitter)

February 2nd-4th, 2024 - Fournier Beaudry and Sørensen compete at the ISU Four Continents Championship and place 2nd
- Source: International Skating Union
March 6th, 2024 - Skate Canada hosts a media day in preparation for the upcoming World Championships. Sorensen attempts to discredit the allegations in the press, and Fournier-Beaudry reiterates her full support for Sorensen.
- Sørensen: “When something like that comes out in the media, the damage is kind of done. I think that is the intention more than anything” (source: USA Today)
- Sørensen: “We’re here today because we feel like we deserve to be here… We’re following all the measures and rules and believe we should be here now… I believe the truth will come out eventually. I still deny the allegations” (source: Sportsnet).
- Fournier Beaudry called dealing with the allegations “difficult” and “a challenge” and said she fully supports Sørensen (source: Sportsnet and In The Loop, the latter is a screenshot of the now-deleted tweet).
March 21st, 2024 - The third USA Today article is released. The alleged victim’s attorney tells USA Today that Sørensen’s comments at Media Day are “retaliation” against the victim and should have resulted in him being suspended by Skate Canada. Alleged victim makes first public statement
- Link to article
- The alleged victim’s attorney said Sørensen’s comments “impugned the motives of the person reporting rape to OSIC, a type of retaliation prohibited by OSIC.”
  - Specifically, the comments violated Rule 5.14.2 of OSIC’s Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport which says “retaliation includes threatening, intimidating, harassing, coercing, negatively interfering with sport participation, or any other conduct that would discourage a reasonable person from engaging or participating in an investigation or disciplinary review process…”
- The alleged victim’s attorney also said, “Nikolaj Sørensen has no evidence of the victim’s motives. His statement is clearly designed to discredit the veracity of the victim, and is therefore retaliation for filing a complaint. He should not be able to compete in the world championships because he is violating the rules prohibiting retaliation when he defamed the victim for filing a claim.”
- The alleged victim also provided her first public statement to USA Today, saying, “I never planned to comment during the investigation but seeing the respondent publicly comment has led me to say something now. When I filed with OSIC, my only intention was to ensure that potential vulnerable parties would be safe from the respondent should he decide to become a coach, where his power dynamic would be even more dangerous than it is between fellow athletes. I hoped the case would remain confidential, fair and thorough so the best possible outcome would prevail based on all of the evidence in a way that would not affect those who must train or compete with the respondent. I wanted to ensure athletes were ultimately kept safe from my attacker and that nobody would ever have to face the horror I faced in 2012, and the trauma endured since then. I look forward to this case being resolved and hope it will set a precedent for other rapists that they will not get away with such heinous crimes, and that our sport will support victims more carefully to make it safe for all.”
March 22nd, 2024 - Fournier Beaudry and Sørensen compete in the rhythm dance at the ISU World Championships. When speaking with reporters after their performance, Sørensen says he feels like he did nothing wrong.
- [Sørensen about not competing at Nationals & why he is here]: “It was really fresh for everybody, and especially for myself, emotionally it was really tough for us. Something like that can be really traumatic for when you don't feel you did anything wrong at all. A story breaking for anybody like that can be really tough. On the moment we just didn't feel like we could do it.”
- [Sørensen on what has changed]: “The story is a little bit further behind us, the process is doing its course, we trained really hard to be here, very happy to have the chance to perform here.” (Source: AnythingGOEs)
October 2nd, 2024 - Nikolaj Sørensen suspended from Skate Canada by OSIC for a minimum of 6 years for alleged “sexual maltreatment”
- Source: CNN and AnythingGOEs
- According to a since-deleted The Skating Lesson video, Fournier Beaudry and Sørensen were at Shanghai Trophy when they found out. Cizeron accompanied them to the competition
- Sørensen appealed the decision
October 4th, 2024 - The alleged victim publishes statement
- From Christine Brennan’s Twitter
“Dear figure skating community,

Thank you to everyone who sent their support to me, it really helped me through the darkest days of this past year, and I greatly appreciate the kind words.

First and foremost I want to thank my US attorney Nancy Hogshead who was my rock throughout this process and without whom I could never have seen this through to the end. Her guidance and the truth of what happened to me kept me going through the hardest days.

I also want to thank the OSIC provided therapist and attorney who went above and beyond their required hours to support me out of the goodness of their hearts. You were integral to this process.

I want to thank OSIC for their thorough and fair process. While it was daunting, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that abuse must be treated with extreme caution and cannot be rushed.

I hope the respondent will be able to finally take accountability for his actions and seek help to become a safe member of society outside of our sport.

My thoughts are with Laurence Fournier Beaudry, who has unfairly had to endure the trauma of this case.

A word to the figure skating fans: please refrain from bullying or retaliation against anyone who appeared in photos with the respondent since the news broke. Skaters forced to train alongside or compete with him were put in an impossible situation. The responsibility of creating a safe environment lied primarily with the coaches and figure skating federation. Fellow athletes should not be blamed for any proximity to the respondent or silence on the matter.

I hope the respondent’s coaches will reflect on how they handled this situation and the importance of their role as a leading ice dance program. The same responsibility belongs to figure skating commentators who downplayed the severity of the allegations during the airing of the world figure skating championships. I am sure that I am not the only survivor who was distraught to hear the supportive comments made about them on the air, completely belittling the experience of rape survivors and promoting the dangerous culture of victim silence in our sport.

Please believe survivors and continue to support safe sport measures across borders and sports.”

March 2nd, 2025 - Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron are announced as a new ice dance team
- Original announcement from Cizeron’s Instagram
- Article about the new team from Olympics.com
- Cizeron had initially approached Fournier-Beaudry about teaming up in November 2024. They finalized their decision in December 2024. (Source)
May 5th, 2025 - Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron defend Sørensen in an interview with La Presse. Laurence calls the allegations false and says “I support Nik 100%” and Guillaume calls Sørensen’s ban an “injustice”
- Source: La Presse
- Fournier Beaudry: “It was certainly emotionally complicated to get through that episode. [These are] false and unsubstantiated allegations. I support Nik 100%. We were very close to each other, but this episode brought us closer together. Through this, in our sport, we often fall, but we learn to get back up and move forward."
- Cizeron: “It was still very difficult to see them go through this ordeal. It's hard to see your friends suffer. Even as a fellow athlete, it's also hard to put yourself in the shoes of another athlete going through something like that. I think the hardest part is the sense of injustice. Stopping your career is something very difficult, and it's even more difficult when it's not you who decided, because it's really your whole life. It's not just an occupation. It's a passion that's driven us since we were children, and it's already a mourning process when everything goes well, even when we stop on a positive note. So to have it stolen from you, or to have the decision to stop stolen from you, any athlete can sympathize with those difficulties.”
June 19th, 2025 - Arbitrator overturns Sørensen’s suspension on jurisdictional grounds (note: this would be overruled 6 months later)
- Source: CBC
  - Link to download the arbitrator’s decision found here: Christine Brennan’s Twitter
- Author’s note: Lori Ward from Broken Ice did a fantastic overview of the legal issues surrounding the suspension being overturned. A summary of her research will be provided below, but please take a look at her original reporting and analysis by clicking here. It has been immensely helpful in understanding the legal issues surrounding this case
- An arbitrator for the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC, an organization that oversees disputes and investigations by OSIC) ruled that OSIC cannot suspend Sørensen because OSIC did not have jurisdiction to investigate the alleged assault. They argued this was because Sørensen signed a consent form for athlete conduct “under duress” and because Sørensen was not a member of Skate Canada when the assault occurred. OSIC said the arbitrator misapplied the law for both of these reasons.
  - How the law was misapplied for the consent form:
  - How the law was potentially misapplied for the Skate Canada membership:
Summer 2025 - Alleged victim and the Director of Sanctions for OSIC file an appeal to the decision to overturn Sørensen’s suspension.

For more information, please read our other articles:

Cizeron’s former ice dance partner Gabriella Papadakis recently released her memoir Pour ne pas disparaître. In this book, Gabriella examines the mistreatment women face within ice dance and the culture of silence that surrounds it. It also discusses how Cizeron mistreated her. There is not currently an English translation, but you can sign the petition for an English-language release of the book here.