Pair Skaters Pereira & Michaud Narrowly Miss Podium at Nebelhorn Trophy Event

Oberstdorf, Germany (September 23, 2023) – Canadian pair skaters Lia Pereira, 18, of Milton, Ont., and Trennt Michaud, 26, of Trenton, Ont., narrowly missed the podium at the Nebelhorn Trophy ISU Challenge Series event which wrapped up Saturday in Oberstdorf, Germany, finishing fourth with a total score of 188.94 – just 0.07 points behind the bronze-medal winning team from Germany.

“We were really excited to be here, and we were really looking forward to putting out both of our new programs,” said Pereira who together with Michaud were bronze medallists at the 2023 Canadian National Championships. “We’ve put a lot of work into the skating side of things, and we think we really accomplished that this week. The whole experience was really enjoyable and we’re happy with both of our programs and the outcome.”

Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany won gold with a total score of 194.96, while Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise of Italy took silver with a total score of 191.71. Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel took the bronze with a total score of 189.01.

Kelly Ann Laurin, 17, of St-Jérôme, Que., and Loucas Éthier, 23, of Deux-Montagnes, Que., the 2022 Skate America bronze medallists, finished a strong sixth overall in the pair event with a total score of 175.73.

In the men’s event, Aleksa Rakic, 19, of Burnaby, B.C., who was skating in his first senior challenger event, fell on his quad toe jump in his short program, but skated a clean free skate to finish fifth overall with a total score of 209.88.

“With the short program – I’m very happy with how I bounced back after a pretty hard fall on the quad toe. It wasn’t necessarily what I was expecting and what I was training, so I’m happy I was able to show that in the long program. Overall, this has just been a great experience, and it’s been amazing to see some of the top skaters in the world and how they skate and perform and that will help push me and help me know what I need to do in training,” said Rakic following the competition.

Adam Siao Him Fa of France won gold with a total score of 279.57, while Kazuki Tomono of Japan captured silver with a total score of 265.78, and Koshiro Shimada, also of Japan, took home bronze with a total score of 247.73.

Sara-Maude Dupuis, 18, of Montreal, Que., finished 9th overall in the women’s event with a total score of 145.36. American skater Isabeau Levito won gold with a total score of 198.79, Kimmy Repond of Switzerland took silver with a total score of 191.94, and Minchae Kim of Korea took bronze with a total score of 184.03.

“For the short program, I’m pretty happy I controlled myself. Obviously, I’m a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to show the new combination I’ve been working on – the triple lutz, triple toe, but all in all I was happy I got a pretty good score. For my free skate, I’m pretty disappointed and frustrated. I know I can do much better so I’m definitely going to go back home and work out what wrong here and correct this in time for Skate Canada,” said Dupuis who was the bronze medallist at the 2023 Skate Canada Challenge event earlier this year.

The Canadian ice dance teams of Alicia Fabbri, 20, of Terrebonne, Que., and Paul Ayer, 25, of Brossard, Que., and Molly Lanaghan, 24, of Doncaster, GB, and Dmitre Razgulajevs, 26, of Ajax, Ont., finished 9^th and 10^th with total scores of 167.14 and 157.81 respectively.

The British team of Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson won gold with a total score of 207.84, while Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius of Lithuania captured silver with a total score of 190.55. Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis of Finland took bronze with a total score of 183.63.

The ISU Challenger Series moves to Slovakia next week for the Ondrej Nepela Memorial event which takes place from September 28-30 in Bratislava and which will feature six Canadian skaters.

For full results please click here