(February 26, 2010) – It was a memorable night for Joannie Rochette of Île Dupas, QC. In front of a sold out crowd at the Pacific Coliseum and the world watching, Rochette skated a beautiful free skate to Samson and Delilah which earned her the bronze medal. Rochette, the six-time Canadian Champion whose mother passed away earlier this week in Vancouver earned 131.28 points in her long program for a total combined score of 202.64.

A Canadian woman has not reached the podium since the 1988 Olympics in Calgary where Liz Manley won the silver medal.

South Korea’s Yu-na Kim won the gold medal, a first in women’s figure skating for her country. She skated a flawless long program and received a world-record combined points total of  228.56.

Mao Asada was solid in second place after the short program and landed two triple axels with one of them in combination in the long program. The Japanese skater finished with a total combined score 205.50.

Cynthia Phaneuf of Contrecoeur, QC was 14th after the short program and she performed a strong free skate which earned her a personal best score of 99.46 points. Her total score was 156.62 which earned Cynthia a 12th place finish.

“It was a good experience, and I am really happy of what I have done here. I am a little bit disappointed because I did not skate as I could, but at the same time, it is my best international mark. I know that I will have to build my confidence. That was my problem here, because I started well with the jumps I missed, and it is only at the end that I was changing my mind instead of going for it and showing self-confidence.” said Cynthia after her long program.

The figure skating competition ended last night after an eventful two weeks in Vancouver. The top 3 skaters in each discipline will perform at the Exhibition Gala on Saturday. Olympic Champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir will skate along with Joannie Rochette