McIntosh and Mimar Win Comeback Bronze at ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships

TALLIN, Estonia – Brooke McIntosh of Toronto and Benjamin Mimar of Terrebonne, Que., won the bronze medal on Friday in pairs at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

The Canadians were fourth after Thursday’s short program but delivered the third best free skate to climb into the podium position finishing with 156.80 points.

The medal capped a great season for the pair who also captured gold at both Canadian Tire National Skating Championships and the Bavarian Open in 2022.

‘’We focused on what we had to do for the free skate,’’ said McIntosh, 10^th at the world juniors with her previous partner in 2019. ‘’We knew we were prepared, and we just had to go and show that. Even through the uncertainty of this season we kept training and kept motivated.’’

Karina Safina and Luka Berulava of Georgia took the gold with 188.12 and Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore of Australia were second at 169.91.

Chloe Panetta of Oakville, Ont., and Kieran Thrasher of Amherstburg, Ont., remained in seventh with 129.70.

In ice dancing, Canadian couples are second and third after the rhythm dance. Natalie D’Alessandro and Bruce Waddell of Toronto are second with 64.00 points and Nadiia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont of Ajax, Ont., are third at 63.45. They trail leaders Oona Brown and Gage Brown of the U.S. first at 66.98.

D’Alessandro and Waddell continue a successful season, most recently capturing the silver last week at the Egna Dance Trophy and gold in January at the 2022 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships.

‘’We had speed and aggression and there was no holding back which allowed us to have one of our best skates of the year,’’ said Waddell.

‘’We got a lot of good feedback on the technical side from our performance in Italy and some of those elements we were able to accomplish here,’’ added D’Alessandro.

This season Bashynska and Beaumont took silver at nationals and bronze at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Linz, Austria.

‘’When we finished that program, it was an explosion of emotions,’’ said Bashynska. ‘’We did everything we wanted basically.’’

‘’There was no thinking going on,’’ added Beaumont. ‘’Everything was natural.’’

Competition continues Saturday with the men’s free skate featuring Canadians Wesley Chiu and Stephen Gogolev second and sixth after Thursday short program and the women’s short program. The free dance is Sunday.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2122/wjc2022/