(December 6, 2002)
Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon are certainly no strangers to the Senior Grand Prix Final. The silver medallists from the 2002 Bank of Montreal Canadian Championships have been to the past two Senior Grand Prix Championships (2001 and 2002), in which they finished sixth at both events. On the strength of a silver medal performance at the 2002 MasterCard Skate Canada International and a fourth-place finish at the 2002 Bofrost Cup on Ice, the team has once again qualified for the Final, which will be held Feb. 28- March 2, 2003 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Dubreuil, 28, of Ste-Catharine, Que., and Lauzon, 27, of Boisbriand, Que., accumulated a total of 14 points on the Grand Prix circuit this season. Other teams qualifying for the event include current World Champions and Olympic Silver Medallists Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh, Ukrainians Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov, and Russia's Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov. Rounding out the field are the teams of Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviyski, of Bulgaria, and Germany's Kati Winkler and Rene Lohse.

Dubreuil and Lauzon experienced a number of changes this season, moving to Lyon, France to train with their new coach Murielle Boucher-Zazoui.

Skate Canada congratulates Dubreuil and Lauzon 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.