(February 9, 2007)

Five new Canadian records were established at the 2007 BMO Financial Group – Skate Canada Junior Nationals held January 31 - February 3 at the Powerade Centre in Brampton, Ontario.

Tara Hancherow and Paul-Remi Poulin	Zoey Brown and Ian Beharry
Roxanne Rheault	Liam Firus
Louis-Philippe Sirois	Nam Nguyen

In Juvenile Pair, Tara Hancherow and Paul-Remi Poulin from the Saskatchewan Section scored a total of 32.22 points. This surpassed the previous mark of 32.13 set in February 2006 at the 2006 Junior Nationals by Michelle Egli and Ben Koenderink from the Northern Ontario Section.

In Juvenile Women, Roxanne Rheault from the Quebec Section scored a total of 43.23 points, beating the previous score of 39.82 which she set herself in her qualifying round performance at the Quebec 2007 BMO Financial Group Skate Canada Sectionals in November 2006. Roxanne has single-handedly raised the record score in Juvenile Women by over 31% this season. The top 4 Juvenile Women at this year’s competition surpassed the winning score from the 2006 Junior Nationals which at the time was a national record.

In Pre-Novice Men, Liam Firus from the British Columbia / Yukon Section established a new record when he scored 88.43 points, beating the previous score of 85.97 set at last year’s Junior Nationals by Ronald Lam, also from the BC / Yukon Section.

A new record was also established in Pre-Novice Pair when Zoey Brown and Ian Beharry from the Western Ontario Section scored 90.78 points. They beat the previous record by 1.25 points, which was established by Michelle Egli and Ben Koenderink from the Northern Ontario Section at their 2007 BMO Financial Group Skate Canada Sectionals in November 2006. Egli and Koenderink placed second in the competition and also surpassed their previous high score making for a very close event. Brown and Beharry were previously the record holders until Egli and Koenderink surpassed their mark at Sectionals last November.

Finally, a record was also established in Novice Men when Louis-Philippe Sirois from the Quebec Section scored 107.39 points, beating the previous score of 105.99 set at last year’s Junior Nationals by Patrick Wong from the BC / Yukon Section.

The 2007 BMO Financial Group – Skate Canada Junior Nationals also crowned the youngest ever figure skating champion in Canada when 8-year-old Nam Nguyen from the Richmond’s Connaught Skating Club in BC won the juvenile title with a score of 34.32 points. The four-feet-tall and grade-3-student also excels at hockey and piano. Nam Nguyen is a name to remember for the future.