Lajoie and Lagha stand second after short dance at world juniors

SOFIA, Bulgaria – Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Greenfield Park, Que., are in second place after Wednesday’s short dance at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Three of the top-four are Russian couples. Anastasia Skoptcova and Kirill Aleshin lead with 66.44, Lajoie and Lagha follow at 62.39 and Arina Ushakova and Maxim Nekrasov are third at 61.29.

‘’Overall it went very well, we managed our stress levels,’’ said Lajoie, 17. ‘’We have to stay calm and not get too excited about our current placing for the free dance.’’

This is a third world junior appearance for Lajoie and Lagha. They were 13th two years ago and sixth last season.

Olivia McIsaac of Burlington, Ont., and Elliott Graham of Angus, Ont., are 12th.

Russia is 1-2 in pairs after the short program with Daria Pavliuchenko and Denis Khodykin first at 63.12 and Polina Kostiukovich and Dmitrii Ialin second at 61.77. Yumeng Gao and Zhong Xie of China are third at 59.55.

Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Strathroy, Ont., are fifth at 55.31 and Lori-Anne Matte and Thierry Ferland of Levis, Que., are 10th.

‘’We felt like we had a solid skate out there but left a few point son the table,’’ said Walsh. ‘’We really wanted to show here how much we’ve improved our skating skills.’’

Matte and Ferland were hoping to be higher in the standings.

‘’We made some errors that cost us but overall we’re pleased with the performance,’’ said Matte. ‘’We had really good energy from start to finish.’’

Competition continues Thursday with the free skate in pairs and the men’s short program. The free dance is on Friday.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1718/wjc2018/index.htm

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