DEBRECEN, HUNGARY (February 28, 2025) – Friday at the ISU World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, Martina Ariano Kent (Montreal, Quebec) and Charly Laliberté Laurent (Boucherville, Quebec) delivered the fourth best short program of the day in pairs.

The pair who finished fifth at the World Juniors last year scored 55.81 points. Georgians Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Beruluva, reigning world junior champions, are provisionally in the lead with a score of 69.18. Ukrainians Sofiia Holichenko and Artem Darenskyi (57.40) and Chinese Jiaxuan Zhang and Yihang Huang (57.38) are slightly ahead of the Canadians before the free program.

“We feel good about this short program! We gave it our all. Our training has been going really well lately and I’m happy with what we’ve been able to accomplish,” said Ariano Kent.

Jazmine Desrochers (Mississauga, Ontario) and Kieran Thrasher (Amherstburg, Ontario) follow in fifth place provisionally, at 55.05, while Ava Kemp (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Yohnatan Elizarov (Winnipeg, Manitoba) are 10th (50.20).

Earlier at the Fonix Arena, Anthony Paradis (Boisbriand, Quebec) finished 16th in the men’s event at his second ISU World Junior Championships. Paradis, the 2025 national senior silver medalist, received a score of 122.21 on Friday, good for a total of 190.58. Japan’s Rio Nakata was crowned junior world champion with a cumulative score of 248.99. South Korean Minkyu Seo (241.45) and Slovak Adam Hagara (233.93) completed the podium.

“I’m a little disappointed, I was doing better during training, but in general, I’m still happy with what I’ve done,” shared Paradis.“I’ve worked very hard all season to get this far. Even though I’m not satisfied, I’m happy to be here.”

David Bondar (Richmond Hill, Ontario) finished 17th, after earning 128.56 points for his free program and a total of 190.29.

The free program events for pairs and women will take place on Saturday at the ISU World Junior Championships. Full results are available here.