Cyr and Lacasse break Canadian record at 2023 Skate Canada Challenge Pre-Novice/Novice

REGINA, SK (January 28, 2023) – Sarah-Jade Cyr and Étienne Lacasse of Quebec City highlighted the pairs and ice dance finals on Saturday with a Canadian record performance at the 2023 Skate Canada Challenge Pre-Novice/Novice.

Cyr and Lacasse took the pre-novice pairs crown with 105.24 points, a Canadian record for the category. Julia Xiao and Keith Lau of Winnipeg won the silver with 94.90 and Siyul Back and Gavin Mahoney of Barrie, Ont., were third at 91.22.

‘’We are very proud because we knew we could do it,’’ said Cyr. ‘’We improved in both the short and long program and that’s a good feeling for us.’’

In pre-novice ice dancing, Tasha Lai and Mickey Becker-Pos of Vancouver won the gold medal with 94.49. Anna MacKenzie and Juel Kowalczyk of Toronto were second at 85.60 and Kadynn Morrison and Wesley Lockwood of Brockville, Ont., were third at 82.91.

‘’We’re surprised but we’ve trained hard, and it’s paid off,’’ said Lai, headed to the upcoming Canada Winter Games with her partner. ‘’We were kind of nervous and messed up some stuff but overall, not too bad.’’

In novice competition, Charlotte Chung and Axel Mackenzie Toronto won the ice dance with 111.00. Victoria Carandiuc and Andrei Carandiuc of Montreal were second at 109.80 and Chloé Mentha and Emile Deveau of Pointe-aux-Trembles, Que., third at 100.76.

Quebec teams were 1-2 in ice dancing. Alexane Jean and Charly Laliberté-Laurent were the champions with 118.90 followed by Beau Callahan and Benjamin Leduc in second at 111.86. Annika Behnke and Kole Sauve of Edmonton were third at 103.19.

Full results: https://skatecanada.ca/2023-skate-canada-challenge-pre-novice-novice/#starting-orders–results