GRAZ, Austria – Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensen of Montreal are on track for a third international medal this season as they stand third after the rhythm dance in ice dancing at the Cup of Austria, a stop on the ISU Challenger Series.

Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy are first with 82.78 points, Olivia Smart and Adrian Diaz of Spain second at 78.53 and the Canadian ice dancers follow at 77.38, a season’s best score.

Fournier Beaudry and Sørensen also took bronze at Skate America earlier this month and silver at the Lombardia Trophy.

Alicia Fabbri of Terrebonne, Que., and Paul Ayer of Calgary are sixth and Dmitre Razgulajevs of Ajax, Ont., and Molly Lanaghan of Scarborough, Ont., are 12^th.

In the men’s event, Nika Egadze of Georgia rocketed from 12^th after the short program to win the gold medal. Lucas Honda of Japan was second and Ilia Malinin of the U.S. jumped from 13^th to third.

Corey Circelli of Toronto moved from 14^th to 10^th and Beres Clements of Gibson, B.C., was 16^th.

Wakaba Higuchi of Japan hung on to gold in the women’s event despite the fourth best free skate with Yeongjeong Park of South Korea second and Niina Petrokina of Estonia third.

Emily Bausback of Vancouver was seventh and Allison Schumacher of Tecumseh, Ont., moved from 17^th after the short program to 13^th with the eighth best free skate.

Competition ends Sunday with the free dance.

Gold and silver medals for Canada in the Junior Event

The Cup of Austria also featured a junior competition which concluded Saturday. The big news for Canada was a victory for Natalie D’Alessandro and Bruce Waddell in ice dancing on Saturday. It was a second victory this season after they won an ISU Junior Grand Prix event in September.

‘’There were lots of positives but also a couple of negatives we weren’t as happy about,’’ said Waddell. ‘’But that’s super necessary for us to happen in order to realise the difference between this and an amazing performance.’’

‘’There are a lot of things we want to change and improve when we get home,’’ added D’Alessandro.

Sandrine Gauthier of Saint-Constant, Que., and  Quentin Thieren of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que., were ninth.

Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., nearly grabbed another victory for Canada in the junior men’s event. He took the silver medal with 180.04 points with the winner Naoki Rossi of Switzerland first with 180.82.

Rose Théroux of Ste-Victoire-de-Sorel, Que., won the women’s junior short program but couldn’t duplicate that performance in the free skate and placed fourth overall less than three points from the podium.

Full results:

Junior: http://skateaustria.vs91-250-98-130.cloud-he.de/img/competition/7.2021_22/031/index.htm

Challenger Series: http://skateaustria.vs91-250-98-130.cloud-he.de/img/competition/7.2021_22/030/index.htm