TALLINN, ESTONIA (March 5, 2026) — Competition resumed at the 2026 ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships at Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallinn, Estonia on Thursday, with Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov (both from Winnipeg, Man.) along with Jazmine Desrochers (Mississauga, Ont.) and Kieran Thrasher (Oakville, Ont.) bringing home gold and silver for Canada in the junior pairs discipline.

This is the country’s first pairs title in almost a half century at the World Juniors Championships, when Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini won gold in 1978.

Kemp and Elizarov came into the free program sitting in second place, just behind teammates Desrochers and Thrasher. Their performance in this segment wasn’t what they hoped for, but it was enough to secure their fate as the new junior world champions, with 105.68 points and an overall score of 167.90.

“There are mixed emotions, I would say,” Kemp said after their skate. “I feel like we’re leaving more motivated than we came. I think there’s lots to work on, but obviously we’re happy that the work paid off somewhat.”

“We felt like we fought until the end,” Elizarov added. “Which is what we’ve been working on for the last couple of months in our programs, so we’re happy that we fought.”

Desrochers and Thrasher finished fourth in the free program with a score of 99.41, earning a silver medal as they finished second overall with a total of 162.25 points.

“We’re proud to be able to have gone home with a silver medal,” Desrochers said. “I think today’s skate definitely could have been better. We can do better and show better, but overall still proud of the short program we were able to put out and grateful for the experience overall.”

Ukraine’s Hannah Herrera and Ivan Khobta finished third overall with a total of 160.15 points.  

National junior champions Julia Quattrocchi (Laval, Que.) and Étienne Lacasse (Sainte-Therese, Que.) finished 8th in the free program, scoring 88.64 points. They finished the competition in 9th overall, with a total score of 139.91.

Canada’s sole skater in the junior women’s category, Megan Woodley (Oro-Medonte, Ont.), also took to the ice on Thursday, skating in the short program and earning 52.17 points for her performance. Unfortunately, it was not quite enough to qualify her for Saturday’s free program.

“I had an unfortunate mistake on the loop,” Woodley said. “But I felt calm and how I feel in training, so I’m happy about that.”

Japan’s Mao Shimada (71.90) and Mayuko Oka (69.77) sit in first and second place overall, respectively. Australian Hana Bath is in third place with 66.95 points.

Tomorrow, David Bondar (Richmond Hill, Ont.) will compete in the junior men’s free program and junior ice dance competition will also get underway. National junior ice dance champions Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys (both of London, Ont.) will take the ice for the rhythm dance segment, joined by national silver medallists Summer Homick (Tillsonburg, Ont.) and Nicholas Buelow (Barrie, Ont.), who finished third at two ISU Junior Grand Prix events this season.

For the complete schedule and results, please click here.