RIGA, LATVIA (Aug. 29, 2026) – Following last weekend’s season-opening event, where Summer Homick (Tillsonburg, Ont.) and Nicholas Buelow (Barrie, Ont.) captured bronze, 11 Canadian skaters took to the ice in Riga, Latvia, for the second stop of the Junior Grand Prix Series.

In junior pairs, three Canadian teams made their Junior Grand Prix debut, with all three teams placing among the top 10 in their category.

Marykim Ranzi (Blainville, Que.) and Enryck Legault (Sainte-Sophie, Que.) set a personal best score to earn a fifth-place finish. The duo earned 48.15 points for their Batman-inspired short program and 76.02 points in the free program, for a total of 124.17 points.

“We did what we had to do, Legault said after the competition. I think we’re going to take home that it’s never finished, that we can push through everything even though there are some little accidents that might happen through our solos.”

Miroslava Oreshkin (Montreal, Que.) and Vladimir Furman (Montreal, Que.) followed close behind in sixth place in their first international appearance. The pair received scores of 41.55 points for their short program, and 81.35 points for their free program, for a total score of 122.90 points.

“The long was great, so we’re really happy,” Oreshkin said, reflecting on this first competition. “Overall I think it’s a success and we’re going to work even harder for the next competition.”

“It was a great first international experience together,” Furman added. “I think we’re both pretty happy about it.”

Also making their international debut, Amy Ritchie (Port Coquitlam, B.C) and Mitchell Dunn (Richmond, B.C) finished seventh overall, scoring 39.22 points in the short program and 78.68 points in the free program, for a total of 117.90 points.

“I think both programs were good learning experiences for us in different ways, Dunn explained after the competition. Even just how to recover from a mistake in a program. That’s the biggest takeaway for me.”

China’s Yuxuan Chen and Yinbo Dong (153.51) walked away with the gold medal in this category. Reagan Moss and Jakub Galbavy secured silver with a total score of 145.28 points, and Czechia’s Debora Anna Cohen and Lukas Vochozka took bronze with 143.49 points.

Representing Canada in junior men’s, 2026 NextGen silver medallist William Chan (Vancouver, B.C) finished sixth overall with 203.53 points, setting three personal bests along the way. He scored 79.09 points in his short program, set to Harry Styles’ “Fine Line,” and followed it with a 124.44-point free program.

“I’ve worked really hard in the past few weeks, after NextGen, and I think it sort of paid off today, he said after his free skate. Obviously, I think there’s more stuff I can work on, but I’m overall pretty happy with this performance.”

“Riga is really nice, he added when asked about his experience competing this past weekend. I like this environment, it’s very peaceful. It’s fun skating with these very talented skaters.”

Korea’s Habin Choi (246.41) and Jaekeun Lee (229.77) won gold and silver, respectively, and Swiss skater Ean Weiler (221.73) rounded out the junior men’s podium with bronze.

In ice dance, sibling team Victoria Carandiuc and Andrei Carandiuc (Saint-Constant, Que.) finished sixth overall, scoring 50.85 points in the rhythm dance and 82.54 points in the free dance for a total of 133.39 points.

“This was our fourth Grand Prix and I think it’s the only one I wasn’t very stressed about, Victoria said after the pair’s free dance. I was thinking about just doing a show for everyone, and not thinking about others, just myself.”

Making their international debut as a team, Laurence Brière (Carignan, Que.) and Earl Jesse Celestino (Dollard-Des-Ormeaux, Que.) finished fourth overall. Both skaters came into the weekend with previous Junior Grand Prix experience, having competed on the circuit with their former partners.

The pair climbed three places in the standings after sitting seventh following the rhythm dance, where they scored 53.43 points. They earned 87.34 points in the free dance for a total score of 140.77 points.

France’s Dania Mouaden and Theo Bigot captured gold with 162.57 points, while Americans Aneta Vaclavikova and William Lissauer took silver with 159.04 points. Germany’s Eniko Kobor and Zoard Kobor claimed bronze with 142.33 points.

The ISU Junior Grand Prix Series continues next week in Bangkok, Thailand, from September 3-5.

The full competition results can be found here.