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) Canadian national champion. At the 1988 Winter Olympics, the rivalry between Orser and American figure skater Brian Boitano, who were the two favorites to win the gold medal, captured media attention and was described as the "Battle of the Brians".

Orser turned professional in 1988 and skated with Stars on Ice for almost 20 years. As a coach, he has led both Yuna Kim (2010) and Yuzuru Hanyu (2014, 2018) to Olympic titles. He also coached Javier Fernández to Olympic bronze (2018) and the 2015 and 2016 World titles. He is a Skating Consultant at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club.

Early life Brian Orser was born in Belleville, Ontario. He grew up in Penetanguishene.

Professional skating career Orser began touring with Stars on Ice in 1988, soon after ending his competitive career. He would go on to appear with them on and off for nearly 20 years, skating his last with the show in 2007.

Orser starred in the 1990 German skating dance film Carmen on Ice, alongside his archrival Brian Boitano and Katarina Witt. The film told the story of Carmen wordlessly through ice skating; Orser played the part of Escamillo.

Orser performed in many ice shows and was known in the show business as one of the few people who could perform a backflip. Unfortunately, in 2007, he suffered from a broken wrist which occurred while stepping backward off the ice. Since then he has decided not to continue doing backflips and has greatly decreased his participation in ice shows.

Coaching career

Orser with Jin Boyang and Tracy Wilson at the 2023 Four Continents Championships.

He is the head instructor at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club along with Tracy Wilson.

His current students include: Victoria Barakhtina – began coaching in August 2024. Lucas Broussard – began coaching in May 2025. Logan Higase-Chen – began coaching in 2025. Pimmpida Lerdpraiwan – began coaching in 2024. Grayson Long – began coaching in 2019. Daniel Martynov – began coaching in fall 2025. Kaiya Ruiter – began coaching in September 2024. Hetty Shi – began coaching in 2024. Seigo Tauchi – began coaching in summer 2025.

His former students include: Fedor Andreev – began coaching him in the fall of 2007. Sean Carlow Gabrielle Daleman – coached her from spring 2015 to 2019, coached her to win bronze at the 2017 World Championships. Phoebe Di Tommaso Rika Kihira – initially intended to begin training in July 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they could not coach in-person until September 2021. Conrad Orzel – coached from the summer of 2019 to August 2022. Adam Rippon

Orser, along with his two co-stars, won an Emmy Award for his performance in Carmen on Ice after it appeared on HBO.