Duhamel and Radford win bronze at ISU World Figure Skating Championships

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SAITAMA, Japan – For the second straight year, Meaghan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., won the bronze medal in pairs on Thursday posting personal best scores at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships.

Olympic bronze medallists Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany took the gold with 224.88 points. Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were second at 215.92 and Duhamel and Radford followed at 210.84.

“In some ways I think that this bronze medal feels even better than the last one,” said Radford, seventh with his partner at the Olympics. “This season was just a lot more difficult and we had a lot more downs. We had to really pull ourselves together after the Olympics.”

Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto produced the third best long program to climb from sixth to fourth at 205.52.

“That felt awesome,” said Moore-Towers, fifth with Moscovitch in Sochi. “I felt that we really knocked off the elements one by one. We stayed calm. Probably with about four elements left I had to really tell myself not to get ahead. Because I was excited, and all I ever want in skating is that final moment.”

Paige Lawrence of Kennedy, Sask., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., were 12th.

In the women’s short program, Kaetlyn Osmond of Marystown, N.L., stands eighth with Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket, Ont., 14th

“I was really excited with the program,” said Osmond. “It was really comfortable and to be able to pull off the (triple) flip, (triple) toe and the (triple) Lutz in a short program for the first time (in competition), it meant a lot to me to be able to do that here at worlds. Even with a slip up on the spin, I’m really happy with the program.”

Duhamel/Radford, Moore-Towers/Moscovitch and Osmond helped Canada earn the silver medal in the team event at the Olympics.

Competition continues Friday with the men’s free skate and the short dance.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/wc2014/index.htm.

Louis Daignault

Duhamel and Radford second after short program at world championships

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SAITAMA, Japan – Meaghan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., will chase for gold at the ISU Word Figure Skating Championships after placing second in Wednesday’s pairs short program.

Olympic bronze medallists Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany hold a slim lead at 79.02 just ahead of the Canadian champions at 77.01 – a season’s best score. Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia are third at 76.15. Less than eight points separate the top-five.

‘’It was amazing,’’ said Radford, who took world bronze last year with Duhamel. ‘’We wish we could skate like that all the time. Most of this season, we tried so hard to please everyone and fight for every point. Today we were a lot more relaxed and it’s put us in a perfect spot heading into the free skate.’’

At the Games, Duhamel and Radford helped Canada to the silver medal in the team event and were seventh in pairs.

‘’We came back from the Olympics feeling like we had achieved all our goals,’’ said Duhamel. ‘’We feel very settled but from this point on we’re going to be competing for ourselves and not worry about every little point.’’

Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto are sixth at 69.31 and Paige Lawrence of Kennedy, Sask.,  and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask.,  12th at 59.84. There were 23 entries. All three Canadian pairs competed at the Winter Olympics last month in Sochi.

Moore-Towers and Moscovitch also contributed to Canada’s team silver at the Olympics and were fifth in pairs. On Wednesday, the highlight was achieving a level three death spiral for the first time.

‘’We’ve worked hard all season to get our death spiral to a level three,’’ said Moore-Towers. ‘’It was nice to skate the program clean one last time. All those run-throughs paid off.’’

‘’I felt great, calm and confident,’’ added Moscovitch. ‘’The skate felt good. Our goal is to skate to clean programs and we are half-way there.’’

For Lawrence and Swiegers it is another valuable international experience.

‘’We’ve never been to the worlds before so it was an exciting prospect for us,’’ said Lawrence. ‘’It’s something we’ve been working towards for a long time now. In the free skate we want to carry the crowd’s interest from beginning to end and take them on a little journey.’’

In men’s competition, Tatsuki Machida of Japan stands first after the short program at 98.21 with Javier Fernandez of Spain second at 96.42 and Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan third at 91.24.

Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C., is 15th, world junior champion Nam Nguyen of Toronto 16th and Elladj Balde of Pierrefonds, Que., 22nd.

‘’ I was feeling good going into the opening combination,’’ said Reynolds. ‘’ It was a little bit shaky and I just over-rotated it. I fought through the performance and I was fairly pleased. I’m going to do the best I can in the free and hopefully fight my way back up to the top ten.’’

Competition continues Thursday with the pairs free skate and women’s short program.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/wc2014/index.htm

Louis Daignault

Adult skaters descend on Regina for 2014 Skate Canada Adult Figure Skating Championships

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OTTAWA, ON: Regina, Sask., will host hundreds of adult figure skaters this week as the 2014 Skate Canada Adult Figure Skating Championships takes place from March 28-30, at the Co-operators Centre at Evraz Place. Adult skaters from across the country will compete in four disciplines: free skate, interpretive, ice dance and synchronized skating.

“The Skate Canada Adult Figure Skating Championships is a fantastic showcase for our adult skaters. These individuals have truly embraced the skating for life principle, which reflects in their positive healthy lifestyle. Skate Canada and the City of Regina are looking forward to celebrating the accomplishments that these skaters have worked so hard to achieve,” said Leanna Caron, President, Skate Canada.

Tickets for the general public will be available for purchase at the Co-operators Centre at Evraz Place, at the registration desk. All-event tickets are $25.00 for adults and $15.00 for children 12 and under and seniors. Daily passes are $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for children 12 and under and seniors. Children five and under are free of charge.

Sky is the limit for newly-crowned world junior champion Nam Nguyen

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As far as fleeting moments go, Nam Nguyen’s first – and to date, only – encounter with three-time world champion Patrick Chan was about as brief as they come.

Two years have passed since Nguyen, then a pint-sized 13-year-old competing as a senior for the first time at the national championships in Moncton, N.B., had a chance encounter with Chan in a hallway following practice.

“He asked me where the clock was,” the newly-crowned world junior men’s champion told reporters this week.

Cue the laughter.

“It was around the corner.”

With a world junior title now in his back pocket, thanks to a pair of dazzling programs in Sofia, Bulgaria, the skating prodigy – also the youngest Canadian to win national titles at the juvenile, pre-novice, novice and junior levels – is creating headlines of his own these days. There are even some inevitable whispers, as premature as they may be, that Nguyen could one day be Chan’s heir apparent.

“Some people say I might be the next Patrick Chan, and I think that’s a huge honour,” he adds with a wide smile.

“He’s the three-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist. That’s amazing.”

“When I saw the score, it was unbelievable, that’s the highest score I’ve ever (had) internationally,” said Nam, referring to the 217.06 total score he posted last weekend.

“When I sat down, there were so many things going on in my head. I saw the score and thought, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe it.’”

Less than a week after claiming the world junior title in Bulgaria, Nguyen will be back on a plane Saturday when he makes the trek across the Pacific for next week’s ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo. Making the trip with him will be Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, the gold medallist from the Sochi Winter Olympics, and world bronze medallist Javier Fernandez of Spain. Nguyen trains with Hanyu and Fernandez at the Toronto Cricket Club under two-time Olympic silver medallist and 1987 world champion Brian Orser.

If recent history is any indication, Orser is becoming the coach with the Midas touch. Not only does he have Hanyu, Fernandez and Nam in his stable, but Orser also coached Yuna Kim to women’s gold at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010.

Orser’s been around long enough to know with the Sochi Games now in the rear-view mirror, it will likely signal a changing of the guard in men’s skating.

“This is going to be the new guard,” said Orser, referring to the top finishers last weekend in Bulgaria. “The top four or five – these are the guys we’re going to see down the road.

“There is a change now happening and it’s happening sooner than anybody thought.”

In Sofia, Nguyen skated a near-flawless free program punctuated with a pair of double Axels, but when he makes the jump to seniors –whenever that may be – Orser and Nguyen know they will have to up the ante. In the coming months, they plan on working on the quad before rolling it out next season.

But Nguyen’s handlers insist he isn’t on any sort of fast track.

“Winning a junior world title is not the end – it’s the start,” reasons Skate Canada High Performance Director Mike Slipchuk.

“I think this is a big building block for Nam.”

Stealing the show seems to be in the kid’s DNA. Four years later, and people are still talking about Nguyen’s memorable cameo in the gala at the Vancouver Olympics. At recent national championships, Nguyen has won over the crowd with his ear-to-ear grin and infectious enthusiasm.

But Orser says that persona needed a makeover to introduce a big-boy image, and not only because Nguyen has grown almost a foot, give or take, in the past year and a half.

“I told him ‘OK, enough of the cute factor’,” reasons Orser.

“It was fun and it was cute, and everybody was like, ‘Oh my god, he’s so cute.’ But now you’ve got to be a big boy and you’ve got to skate like that. There has to be maturity.’”

Nguyen says Orser helps keep his feet planted firmly on the ground, and that isn’t going to change with the world junior title.

But 15-year-olds are allowed to dream, and this kid isn’t any different.

“I want to be the Olympic champion, 2018,” he says, eyes lighting up. “I want to be the first Canadian men’s champion for the Olympics.

“That would be cool.”
Marty Henwood

Canada sends eleven entries to Japan for 2014 ISU World Figure Skating Championships

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OTTAWA, ON: Skate Canada will send eleven entries for a total of 17 skaters to the 2014 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan, from March 24-30. Canada will have three entries each in men’s, pair, and ice dance, and two entries in ladies.

Three-time Canadian silver medallist Kevin Reynolds, 23, Coquitlam, B.C., is the first of three entries in the men’s discipline. The 2013 ISU Four Continents champion is coming off a 15th place finish at the Olympic Winter Games in men’s and a silver medal in the inaugural team competition. Last season, he placed a career-best fifth at the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships. He is coached by Joanne McLeod at the BC Centre of Excellence.

Elladj Baldé, 23, Pierrefonds, Que., representing Club de Patinage des Deux-Rives, will be the second entry in the men’s category, and will be competing at this event for the first time. This season, he placed seventh at Skate Canada International, and 11th at the ISU Four Continents championships. He trains out of the Detroit Skating Club with coaches Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen.

Rounding out the men’s entries is newly crowned 2014 Junior World Champion Nam Nguyen, 15, Toronto, Ont. This will also be his first time competing at this event. This season, Nguyen earned a fifth place finish at the 2014 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in the senior category and placed 10th at the 2014 ISU Four Continents championships. He is coached by Brian Orser at the Toronto Cricket Skating & Curling Club.

Two-time Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond, 18, Marystown, Nfld. & Sherwood Park, Alta., is one of two entries in ladies. Last season, she placed eighth at this event. Most recently, she earned a 13th place finish at the Olympic Winter Games in the ladies event, and a silver medal in the team event. Osmond is coached by Ravi Walia and represents the Ice Palace Figure Skating Club.

Gabrielle Daleman, 16, Newmarket, Ont., will be the second Canadian entry in ladies. The two-time Canadian silver medalist won bronze earlier this season at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Gdansk, Poland, and placed fourth at the ISU Junior Grand Prix Tallin, Estonia. She also competed at the Olympic Winter Games, placing 17th. Daleman is coached by Andrei Berezintsev and Inga Zusev and trains at the Richmond Training Centre in Richmond Hill, Ont.

Three-time Canadian champions Meagan Duhamel, 28, Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford, 29, Balmertown, Ont., are the first of three pair teams representing Canada. The representatives of Walden FSC and CPA Saint-Léonard won bronze at this event last season, placed fifth in 2012, and seventh in 2011. Most recently, they placed seventh at the Olympic Winter Games in pair, and won silver in the team event. They are coached by Richard Gauthier and Bruno Marcotte at CPA Saint-Léonard.

Also competing in the pair discipline are Kirsten Moore-Towers, 21, St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch, 29, Toronto, Ont. This will be their third time competing at this event, having placed fourth last season, and eighth in 2011. Moore-Towers and Moscovitch placed fifth at the Olympic Winter Games in pair, and won silver in the team event. The duo trains at the Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club with coaches Kris Wirtz and Kristy Wirtz.

Paige Lawrence, 24, Kennedy, Sask., and Rudi Swiegers, 26, Kipling, Sask., will be Canada’s third entry in the pair category. This will be their first time competing at this event. Representing Wawota FSC, the four-time Canadian bronze medallists placed 14th at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Lawrence and Swiegers train in Melville, Sask., and Virden, Man., and are coached by Patricia Hole and Lyndon Johnston.

Kaitlyn Weaver, 24, Waterloo, Ont., and Andrew Poje, 27, Waterloo, Ont., are the first of three Canadian entries in ice dance. This will be their sixth time competing at this event. Last season, Weaver and Poje placed fifth at the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships. This season, they placed seventh at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Representing Sault FSC and Kitchener-Waterloo SC, the seven-time Canadian medallists are coached by Pasquale Camerlengo and Angelika Krylova in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Alexandra Paul, 22, Barrie, Ont., and Mitchell Islam, 24, Barrie, Ont., are the second Canadian entry in the ice dance category. This will be their first time competing at this event. Most recently, the two-time Canadian bronze medallists Paul and Islam placed 18th at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Paul and Islam train at the Detroit Skating Club with coaches Pasquale Camerlengo, Angelika Krylova, and Massimo Scali.

Piper Gilles, 22, Toronto, Ont., and Paul Poirier, 22, Unionville, Ont., will also represent Canada in ice dance. Last season, they placed 18th at this event. This season, Gilles and Poirier won silver at the 2014 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. They are coached by Carol Lane and Juris Razgulajevs at Ice Dance Elite in Scarborough, Ont.

The team leaders for the event will be Skate Canada Director High Performance Mike Slipchuk, and Petra Burka of Toronto, Ont. Dr. Laura Cruz of Toronto, Ont., and physiotherapist Josiane Roberge of Sillery, Que., will be the Canadian medical staff travelling with the team. Beth Crane of Burnaby, B.C., Susan Heffernan of Roberts Creek, B.C., Leslie Keen of Vancouver, B.C., and Benoit Lavoie of Baie St-Paul, Que., will be the Canadian officials at the event.

Canadian Lori Nichol elected to World Figure Skating Hall of Fame

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OTTAWA, ON: Skate Canada is pleased to congratulate world-renowned choreographer Lori Nichol on her induction into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame (WFSHF) for  2014.

The announcement was made by the hall on Friday, March 14.  She joins Switzerland’s Denise Biellmann as this year’s inductees to the Hall, based in Colorado Springs, CO.

In making the announcement, the WFSHF nominating chair, Lawrence Mondschein, said “I am thrilled to have two outstanding additions to the World Hall of Fame. Lori Nichol is a choreographic genius who for well over a decade has, and continues to be, an inspiration to all who have been touched by her work. Denise Biellmann, the first Swiss woman to be inducted into the hall, perfected one of the most admired spins in all of figure skating.”

Leanna Caron, President, Skate Canada, acknowledged Nichol’s far-reaching contribution to the sport of figure skating. “Lori’s skills as a choreographer have reached well beyond our national boundaries, and she has truly been revolutionary to the sport.  Her approach to choreography is unique; creating technically difficult programs that seamlessly integrate with the musical nuances and yet reflect each individual skater or team is truly remarkable. We are proud that she is now not only a member of Skate Canada’s Hall of Fame, but the World Hall of Fame as well.”

Nichol has choreographed programs for 10 Olympic medalists, including three gold, representing five nations. Two of her famous signature programs include Jamie Salé and David Pelletier’s 2002 free program Love Story and Joannie Rochette’s 2010 free program to Samson and Delilah. She was named to the Skate Canada Hall of Fame in November of 2012.

 

Alaine Chartrand climbs to fifth at ISU World Junior Figure skating Championships

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SOFIA, Bulgaria – Alaine Chartrand of Prescott, Ont., climbed from seventh to fifth spot in women’s competition Sunday at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Elena Radionova led a Russian medal sweep with Serafima Sakhanovich second and Evgenia Medvedeva third.

Chartrand, seventh after Friday’s short program, took charge in the free skate to finish with 164.35 points. She placed eighth at this event last season. The 17-year-old was fifth at the 2014 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships and most recently, seventh at the 2014 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.

“This was a great result for Alaine in a very strong field,” said Mike Slipchuk, High Performance Director, Skate Canada. “‎Overall it was a tremendous week for our skaters with many stand out performances.”

Larkyn Austman of Coquitlam, B.C., was 16th in her world juniors debut.  The 15-year-old finished eighth at her first international assignment on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit in Estonia earlier this season. The 2013 Canadian junior champion also earned a 10th place finish at the 2014 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships, competing in the senior category.

Canada ends the world juniors with two medals.  Nam Nguyen of Toronto won the gold medal Saturday in men’s competition and Madeline Edwards of Port Moody, B.C., and ZhaoKai Pang of Burnaby, B.C., took bronze in ice dancing on Friday.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/wjc2014/index.htm

Louis Daignault

Canada’s Nam Nguyen wins world junior figure skating title

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SOFIA, Bulgaria -Nam Nguyen of Toronto landed two triple Axels and won the gold medal Saturday in men’s competition at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Nguyen posted the top score in both the short and free programs to finish with 217.06 points.

“That was the best free skate I have ever had,” said Nguyen. “It was the first time I’ve ever done two triple axels in one program and I hope to continue to do that.”

Adian Pitkeev of Russia was second at 212.51 and Nathan Chen of the U.S., third at 212.03.

Performing to music by Bach, Nguyen produced a triple Axel-double toe, another triple Axel as well as six more triples including a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination. The 15-year-old collected a level four for the footwork and the three spins and with 144.19 points improved his seasons best by almost eight points.

“I just told myself to take one element at a time,” said Nguyen about his approach to Saturday’s free skate. “Just before I went into my starting position I told myself just to have fun. This was my third junior worlds so I really didn’t have anything to lose. I enjoyed it very much.”

Nguyen is coached by two-time Canadian Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser.

“Nam really skated for it,” said Orser.  “Doing Four Continents (in January) was one of the best things for him. That was his first senior international competition and first time competing against the senior men. He stepped it up getting ready for that event. ”

Nguyen, 12th at last year’s world juniors, now heads to Japan for the senior worlds later this month.

Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., was 13th.

Nguyen’s win was Canada’s second medal of the competition. On Friday Madeline Edwards of Port Moody, B.C., and ZhaoKai Pang of Burnaby, B.C., won the bronze in ice dancing.

Competition ends Sunday with the women’s free skate.

Full results at: http://www.isuresults.com/results/wjc2014/index.htm

Canadian coach Brian Orser creating champions in Toronto

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There was a time, years ago, when Brian Orser carried a flag into an Olympic Games opening ceremonies, all red and white and befringed.

Proud moment of his life, that day at the Calgary Olympics. The days that followed were more difficult. He had expected to win gold. He won silver.

He’s carrying flags still, but in another role that he never anticipated: coach. And now he’s coach of two Olympic champions in back-to-back Games. He’s now guiding others to do what he did not. Orser, the most entertaining coach at the boards, has now become a hot commodity, a Canadian maestro of edges and packaging, and strategies.

Being a coach wasn`t part of Orser’s big plan when he competed, and then when he skated on tours for 17 years. When asked, Orser would always say he did not see himself coaching. He didn`t know if he had the patience for it.

Skating is one thing. Teaching is another. But during the odd seminar with young skaters, Orser began to get great feedback about his style of teaching, his ability to relate to the kids. He got the teaching bug and he started to understand how to teach it.

When first presented with the opportunity of becoming director of skating at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club in Toronto, Orser’s first reaction was: “No.” He was living in Ottawa at the time, and he wasn`t sure if he had the tools to run a program.

The clincher was a call from long-time friend, Tracy Wilson, who asked him if she did it with him, would he consider it? Orser said: “Sure.”

“If I’m going into uncharted waters, I need to have somebody with me, in everything in life,” he said. He’s surrounded by a talented team: Wilson and world renowned choreographer David Wilson and now also 2008 world champion Jeffrey Buttle, and who brings a different energy into the mix, because he’s still out in the world, skating.

One of Orser’s first students was Yuna Kim, a skater with loads of jumping talent, who originally came to the Cricket Club to work with David Wilson. While there, she asked Orser to look at her work and she stayed.

While it’s great luck to land such a talented world skater, it’s almost more of a challenge to coach one, Orser said. “If you mess that up, then you`re not a very good coach,” he said.

His job was to shore up Kim`s weaknesses and take her skating to another level. She wasn`t the happiest skater when she arrived, Orser said. “I don’t think she was happy in her life,” he said. “I don’t think she really knew what she was, other than an athlete.” She had no identity outside of skating. Orser and his team decided their mandate was to find some happiness for her through skating. “Bit by bit, we started peeling off the layers of the onion.”

It worked. And Orser proved he was no one-hit wonder, by transforming Christina Gao from an okay junior skater to a top-notch skater, who found her passion. When Gao was accepted into Harvard University, Orser was like “a proud papa,” he said. He also worked with two-time world junior champion Adam Rippon.

Now, Orser is proud of his latest accomplishments: turning Yuzuru Hanyu from a kid with wild passion into an Olympic champion at age 19, and guiding Javier Fernandez to become a two-time European champion – because he believed in the Spanish skater.

Orser remembers seeing something special about Hanyu in the years before he taught him, although “it was just a little out of control,” he said. Orser never saw the same choreography from him twice. “He would just kind of wing it,” Orser said. “He was more of an emotional skater.”

Hanyu bought into what Orser and his team offered: breaking down the skating to the basics, building a foundation that fosters trust. “It’s all about balance and power and just effortless skating,” Orser said.

Orser treads a fine line with Hanyu: the passion is more controlled, but Orser doesn’t want Hanyu to lose it, either. Being Olympic champion has not gone to Hanyu’s head, Orser said. He’s been showing off his medal in the change room, but then he’s willing to go back to the ice to work on a crossover and work on basics for an hour. “We’re paying attention to every single little transition,” Orser said.

Transitions? They are not just part of the program component mark. They are what skating is all about, Orser says. Skaters can use the transitions to gain speed, to get down the ice or around a corner, rather than having to push.

For a couple of years now, Orser has had to switch team jackets between Spain and Japan, and at the Sochi Olympics, it reached a fever pitch when both skaters competed in the same group. But at the world championships in Japan this month, Orser will wear a third: Canada (finally!). It’s like coming home, almost. He’ll be guiding 15-year-old Nam Nguyen, who has been skating in the same rink as Fernandez and Hanyu, and looking up to them. Now he’ll be sitting at the same draws.

Orser and his crew must be doing something right. And people are recognizing it. Every week, Orser will get two or three messages in his email inbox from a skating parent sending him a YouTube video, saying: “Here`s my daughter. Have a look.” They come from everywhere. Even from Russia.

Beverley Smith

Comeback bronze for Edwards and Pang at world junior championships

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SOFIA, Bulgaria – Madeline Edwards of Port Moody, B.C., and ZhaoKai Pang of Burnaby, B.C., won the bronze medal in ice dancing Friday at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean- Luc Baker of the U.S., took the gold with 157.12 points.  They edged Russians
Anna Yanovskaya and Sergey Mozgov in second at 155.16.

Edwards and Pang, fifth after the short program, earned the third best free dance score to climb into the medals with 139.65.

“It was a really emotional free dance,” said Pang. “We didn’t leave anything out. We put it all on the ice and we were really happy with the way we skated.  We were gassed at the end.”

Edwards and Pang were 12th last year at junior worlds

“We could not be more excited with our placement,” said Edwards. “Last year I remember watching the podium at junior worlds and just thinking that we want our flag to be up there and how cool would that be to be on the podium.  And to see that come true was just amazing.”

Mackenzie Bent of Uxbridge, Ont., and Garrett MacKeen of Oshawa, Ont., were 12th.

In women’s competition Alaine Chartrand of Prescott, Ont., eighth at the world juniors last year, is seventh after the short program.  Larkyn Austman of Coquitlam, B.C., the 2013 Canadian junior champion, is 18th.

Russia stands 1-2-3 led by Elena Radionova.

Competition continues Saturday with the men’s free skate.  Nam Nguyen of Toronto is first after Thursday’s short program.

Louis Daignault

Canada’s Nam Nguyen first after short program at world juniors

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SOFIA, Bulgaria – Nam Nguyen of Toronto is in first place in men’s competition after Thursday’s short program at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Nguyen, 15, earned 72.87 points with Jin Boyang of China second at 71.51 and Uno Shoma of Japan third at 70.67.

“The short program felt awesome,” said Nguyen, who is coached by Brian Orser.  “I was feeling very relaxed throughout the whole program. I took one element at a time and that really paid off.”

The highlight was landing the triple Axel.

“The triple Axel felt really big,” he said. “I think it was one of the best ones I’ve ever done, especially in competition. So it was really good that I was able to deliver it out here.”

Nguyen won’t change a thing for the free skate.

“I’m looking forward to delivering the same performance and to just keep doing what I do in practice,” he said.

Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., had a personal best short program and sits 14th.

In pairs, Xiaoyu Yu and Yang Jin of China won the gold medal.

Mary Orr of Brantford, Ont., and Phelan Simpson of Lunenburg, Sask., were sixth and Tara Hancherow Tisdale, Sask., and Wesley Killing of Woodstock, Ont., seventh.

In Wednesday’s short dance, Madeline Edwards of Port Moody, B.C., and ZhaoKai Pang of Burnaby, B.C., are fifth less than a point from third.

Mackenzie Bent of Uxbridge, Ont., and Garrett MacKeen of Oshawa, Ont., are ninth.

Competition continues Friday with the free dance and the women’s short program.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/wjc2014/index.htm

 

Junior ice dancers Edwards and Pang ready for the challenge in Bulgaria

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There was a time when Sofia, Bulgaria tried to bid for the 2014 Olympics. It wasn’t accepted as a candidate. If it had, it would have been decidedly wintry.

But from March 10 to 16, it will stage the world junior figure skating championships instead. And there will be no less drama than in Sochi.

The Canadian team includes eight entries, 12 skaters in all, starting on their paths to future world championships and Olympics. Just because the word “junior” is attached to the front of this world event, doesn’t mean it’s easy to win.

Palm trees aside, the event in Sofia will be an Olympics of sorts for Madeline Edwards and ZhaoKai Pang, a fetching young Canadian dance team that has sent goosebumps up the sleeves of Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Virtue and Moir won the 2006 world junior championship, then the next year, finished sixth at the world (senior) championship, an impressive debut. Both Edwards and Pang look up to Virtue and Moir.

And well they might. They have a little something. Like Virtue and Moir, they are expressive. They dance for each other. They have a lightness that comes from their knees. They have miles to go, but it’s there.

Back in 2007, the B.C. section of Skate Canada hired ice dancers Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe to become high performance directors for the dance program. They headed off in search of talent at little regional competitions around the province.  At one of them, Lowe spotted “Maddie,” a bright-faced girl, skating singles. Edwards won a little award for being the most expressive skater. When Lowe talked to her parents, he found out that they were transferring from small-town Rossland, B.C. to Vancouver. “Has she ever done dance?” he asked them. Well, yes, she had taken some tests. So into Wing and Lowe’s dance program she went. And so Wing and Lowe started to build their little dynasty on the west coast.

They found her partner, Pang, a singles skater in Joanne McLeod’s program. Edwards and Pang clicked right away. They were together only a year when they skated in the gala at the 2009 Four Continents championship in Vancouver, a test event for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

They were probably only 11 and 12 years old when they got together – not as young as Virtue and Moir had been – but they rose quickly through the ranks, winning juvenile after being together only a few months, pre-novice in 2010, novice in 2011, and in 2012, they won the junior silver medal. Last year they were junior champions. “I think they were better skaters than Virtue and Moir when they started,” Lowe said boldly. “Just because they had been singles so long. They were decent skaters already, but then they had to learn how to become good dancers.”

Pang had been one of the best pre-novice men in B.C, and competed at the B.C. Winter Games as a singles skater. And he had a personality that boded well for being a dancer. “He was a very expressive little kid,” Lowe said. He loves to perform. And the twosome complement each other very well. They have a great relationship as friends. They are on the same page.

Internationally, Edwards and Pang competed as juniors, finishing second and third at their Junior Grand Prix events this season, but nationally, they competed as seniors for the first time. However, disaster struck in October, after the junior events: Edwards developed an overuse injury on her Achilles tendon, caused by stitching on the back of her boot that dug into the soft tissue. Lowe referred to it as “massive.”

There were days when Edwards could skate only 20 minutes. They worried that they would miss the national championships – where they would be under no pressure, but they could learn and watch skaters trying to get the three Olympic spots, amid all the tension. They missed sectionals and Challenge. They fought hard, with doctors and physiotherapists to get to Ottawa and finally defeated the injury.

In Ottawa, they finished seventh, but had the fifth highest technical mark, ahead of a couple of senior-level teams, not bad for a couple of newbies. It was enough to earn them their second trip to the world junior championships, but more than that: they were chosen as alternates for the senior world championships. Some teams ranked ahead of them hadn’t achieved minimum scores in both portions of the event, as required by the ISU. The youngsters, not yet into their twenties, had the scores.

Edwards and Pang still have one more year of junior eligibility left, and they will take advantage of it next season, to build world standing points that would allow them eventually to get some good senior competitions. They are eyeing the 2018 Olympics, which is only four years away. Lowe doesn’t think it’s a pipe dream. It’s a realistic thought that bears proper planning, he says.

And Sofia is a good step.

And others on the team will, too. Nam Nguyen, only 15, will compete in the men’s event in Sofia, but he’s also been named to the world senior team in Japan. He’ll be travelling with his buddy, Roman Sadovsky, only 14, and a precocious whiz kid on blades. They’ll be up against Jin Boyang of China, 16, who won the Junior Grand Prix Final, and 19-year-old Keiji Tanaka of Japan, who swept his Junior Grand Prix events this year.

Alaine Chartrand, 17, of Prescott, Ont., and Larkyn Austman, 15, Coquitlam, B.C., will compete in the women’s event against a host of Russian women who dominated the Junior Grand Prix Final.

In pairs the teams of Tara Hancherow, 18, Tisdale, Sask., and Wesley Killing, 20, Woodstock, Ont., and Mary Orr, 17, Brantford, Ont., and Phelan Simpson, 18, Lunenburg, N.S., will attended their first junior world’s event together. The pairs event is dominated by Russians, but a Chinese team, Xiaoyu Yu and Yang Jin, defeated them all at the Junior Grand Prix Final.

Beverley Smith