Nam Nguyen earns comeback victory at 2019 Skate Canada Challenge

EDMONTON, AB – Toronto’s Nam Nguyen soared from third place after the short program to win the gold medal on Friday in men’s senior competition at the 2019 Skate Canada Challenge figure skating competition.

Nguyen totalled 223.67 points for the victory with Bennet Toman of Brampton, Ont., second at 201.55 and Conrad Orzel of Woodbridge, Ont., the leader after the short, third at 197.01.

“It feels good to win but I wasn’t too focused on the results,” said Nguyen. “I jut wanted to put out some decent skates. After a questionable short, the long was a better fight. This is definitely a big momentum booster for my confidence.”

In senior pairs, Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., climbed from second after the short program to win the event with 160.66. Lori-Ann Matte and Thierry Ferland of Levis, Que., were second at 156.57. Mariah McCaw and Steven Adcock of Kitchener, Ont., were third at 143.89.

“We made some changes to our free skate and we were excited to see that it worked out well,” said Michaud. “We improved on everything we’ve been working on in practice. There’s still a lot to improve but we like where we stand with the nationals a month away.”

In junior pairs, Quebec skaters were 1-2.  Chloe Choinard and Mathieu Ostiguy were first with 128.70 and Chloe Panetta and Benjamin Mimar second at 124.02. Ontario’s Patricia Andrew and Paxton Fletcher were third at 119.52.

“Neither of our programs were 100 percent perfect,” said Ostiguy. “Our free tonight wasn’t our best showing but our goal was just to overcome some recent challenges in the program and we improved in some areas that make this an overall positive experience.”

Competition at the Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre continues through to Sunday.

Full results: 2019 Skate Canada Challenge

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