LODZ (POLAND) February 28, 2026 — Fifteen Canadian junior and advanced novice skaters were in Lodz, Poland this past week, representing their country in six different disciplines at the 2026 Maria Olszewska Memorial. It was almost a clean sweep for this group of talented young athletes, as Canadians clinched the top spot in nearly every discipline in which they competed.

Early in the week was advanced novice ice dance, with Skate Canada Trophy novice gold and silver medallists Florence Beausoleil and Rémi Thibault taking second and Kayleigh Chao and Jonathan Ma placing third.

Beausoleil and Thibault put up scores of 33.71 and 38.28 in the pattern dance segments, and 54.53 in the free dance, earning an overall score of 126.52. The duo wasn’t sure what to expect coming into this first international competition together, so this outcome is a welcome surprise.

“We weren’t really expecting much, but this is more, actually, than what we were expecting,” Thibault said. “It really represents how hard we worked this season.”

Chao and Ma scored 33.89 and 36.90 in the pattern dances, and 48.80 in the free dance, scoring 119.59 overall.

France’s Lou-Bella Lemaire and Maël Quinquis placed first with an overall score of 131.78.

In junior ice dance, Madelaine Ann Breau and Kurtis Che took gold with scores of 49.95 and 83.32 in the rhythm dance and the free dance, and an overall score of 133.27.

“At this competition, everything felt a lot smoother than at previous ones, it flowed pretty well,” explained Breau.

Italy’s Anna Bodrone and Nicholas Sebastian Ying (132.83) finished second, and Hungary’s Aletta Lanyi and Huba Gallai (118.07) finished third.

Canada dominated the rankings in the advanced novice men’s discipline, with all four skaters finishing at the top of the standings. Bowen Yan, competing for the first time internationally, took first place with 122.31 points overall.

“I feel good,” he said. “I’m surprised. Coming into this competition, I didn’t think I was going to win and now that it’s finished, I feel a lot lighter, it’s less stressful.”

Art Tyomkin and Alexander Ge rounded out the podium in second and third place, with 117.34 and 116.71 overall points, respectively. Colton Moness finished fourth overall, with a total score of 111.01.

Junior Canadian champion Lia Cho blew past the competition in the advanced novice women’s discipline, earning a new personal best with scores of 52.73 in the short program and 108.53 in the free program, and an overall score of 161.26 points.

“It went really well,” Cho said after the competition. “I’m very happy with my performance in both programs and I’m very proud of myself.”

Skate Canada Trophy novice gold medallist Téa Hébert finished in second place with scores of 44.02 in the short program and 77.14 in the free program, and an overall score of 121.16.

Ukraine’s Adriana Shevtsova (100.87) placed third.

In junior pairs, new Canadian novice record holders Marykim Ranzi and Enryck Legault made their international debut. They scored 41.45 in the short program and 59.36 in the free program, earning 100.81 points overall.

Wrapping up the competition, NextGen Team member Uxia Gonzales-Abraldes won gold in the junior women’s category. She received scores of 54.71 for her short program and 92.46 for her free program, earning a total 147.17 points.

“I was a little bit nervous because I wanted to maintain my placement,” she said. “But I think that it went well and I’m very happy with my skate.”

Italy’s Elenora Ciferri (144.61) finished second, and Poland’s Aleksandra Janikowska (139.71) placed third.

For full competition results, please click here.