(December 6, 2002)
Anabelle Langlois and Patrice Archetto, the bronze medallists from the 2002 Bank of Montreal Canadian Championships, moved up from fourth-place after the short program to finish third at the 2002 NHK Trophy, the final stop in the Senior Grand Prix series. Their bronze medal finish secures Langlois, 21, of Hull, Que., and Archetto, 29, of Montreal, Que., a spot in the Senior Grand Prix Final, which will take place Feb. 28 - March 2, 2003 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Other teams qualifying for the event include the current World Pair Champions, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, of China, Russians Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, and Polish champions Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek. Two other Russian pairs, Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov and Julia Obertas and Alexei Sokolov, round out the field.

Langlois and Archetto accumulated a total of 16 points on the Senior Grand Prix circuit, nine which were earned with a silver medal performance at the 2002 Smart Ones Skate America, and the other seven came from the NHK Trophy, which was held in Kyoto, Japan. The team also skated to a bronze medal at the 2002 MasterCard Skate Canada International, which was their non-scoring event on the circuit.

Langlois and Archetto's success comes in a season where the pair has been through a lot of change. They moved from their old training site, St-Julie, Que., to Edmonton, Alta. to train with their new coach, Jan Ullmark.

Skate Canada congratulates Langlois and Archetto on their accomplishment and wishes them good luck at the upcoming Final.

Keep checking www.skatecanada.ca for more updates regarding the Senior Grand Prix Final.