Canada's Rudi Swiegers has been honoured for some quick thinking and good sportsmanship at the Four Continents figure skating championships in Taipei City, Taiwan.

Swiegers lent a helping hand Thursday when American Mark Ladwig snapped off part of his skate blade when he fell trying a triple toe loop during the short program. Under the rules, Ladwig and partner Amanda Evora had just three minutes to restart the program or be disqualified.

Swiegers, who had finished his performance and was in the stands with his skates, knew from training with Ladwig a couple of times that they both wore size 9.

So he headed to the ice.

"I knew I was on a tight schedule," Swiegers said on a conference call Friday. "Mark just said, 'give me the skate, let's go.' And hats off to him for finishing the program with two different skates on."

The Canadian said when he arrived at ice level, officials had drills out and were attempting to screw the blade back in.

"It wasn't looking good when I got there," Swiegers said.

International Skating Union officials presented Swiegers and Ladwig with flowers for good sportsmanship.

"I just did what I thought Mark would do if the situation was reversed," Swiegers said. "We're good friends, we've trained together. It was just the thing I thought was right."

Ladwig and Evora finished sixth in the event, won by Olympic silver medallists Qing Pang and Jian Tong of China. In November, Czech Tomas Verner won a bronze medal at the Cup of China sporting a shirt belonging to Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier.

The first version of Verner's costume for his Michael Jackson-inspired free program from New York costume designer Jamie Scott wasn't comfortable — except for the single white glove.

Enter Verner's Canadian "mom" Carmen James, who found the solution by consulting the mothers of Poirier and Vanessa Crone. Around midnight on the Monday prior to Verner's departure for China, he went with Carmen to Crone's house, where the latter's mother handed them one of Poirier's electric blue shirts.

With files from Doug Harrison, CBC Sports