Lajoie and Lagha win first junior title at 2017 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships
OTTAWA – Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Greenfield Park, Que., won the junior ice dance title on Tuesday at the 2017 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships being held this week at TD Place.
Lajoie and Lagha totalled 153.55 points with Ashlynne Stairs of Calgary and Lee Royer of St. Albert, Alta., second at 139.63 and Danielle Wu and Nik Mirzakhani of Burnaby, B.C., third at 133.98.
‘’This is a great accomplishment for us,’’ said Lajoie, who competed at the world junior championships last winter with her partner. ‘’We are super happy.’’
The couple, runners-up last year, are in their sixth season together.
‘’So far we’ve accomplished a lot in our career and we want to keep that progress going,’’ said Lagha.
Corey Circelli, Catherine Carle and ice dancers Natalie D’Alessandro and Bruce Waddell all won novice titles on Tuesday
In men’s competition, Circelli, of Toronto, took the gold with 139.27 points. Dawson Nodwell of Calgary was second at 132.67 and Alistair Lam of Hamilton, Ont., was third at 127.75.
‘’It feels amazing to get the gold,’’ said Circelli, who also competed in the ice dancing event. ‘’I have trained so hard this year. It was very satisfying when I finished and it went so well.’’
In women’s competition, Carle, from Milton, Ont., earned 133.73 points for the victory. Emma Bulawka of Edmonton followed at 122.68 and Élodie Adsuar of Greenfield Park, Que., was third at 119.96.
‘’It feels good because all my hard work has paid off,’’ said Carle, the pre-novice national champion last year. ‘’I kept calm and kept training hard this season.’’
In ice dancing, D’Alessandro and Waddell, of Toronto, totalled 90.49 for top spot. Jade McCue and Gabriel Clemente of Brampton, Ont., had 80.48 for second and Jessica Lee-Behiel and Jackson Behiel of Calgary were third at 83.20.
‘’We had a lot of fun here,’’ said Waddell. ‘’Our goal was to win and we came out and did it.’’
The couple were pre-novice Canadian champions last winter.
‘’This season we worked a lot on our speed and going out there and having fun every day in practice,’’ added D’Alessandro.
Competition continues Wednesday with junior free skates and the novice pairs free skate. The senior competition gets underway Friday.
Full results: 2017 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships Results
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