Duhamel and Radford open season with gold at Autumn Classic International

BARRIE, Ont. – World champions Meagan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., won the gold medal in pairs on Thursday at the Autumn Classic International figure skating competition.

Duhamel and Radford earned 202.61 points in their season opener. Marissa Castelli and Mervin Tran of the U.S. took the silver at 177.86 and their compatriots Jessica Pfund and Joshua Santillan were third at 149.25.

Brittany Jones and Joshua Reagan of Toronto were fourth at 144.55 and Hayleigh Bell of Acton, Ont., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., were fifth at 135.43.

Meagan Duhame / Eric Radford - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Brittany Jones / Joshua Reagan - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Castelli / Tran - 2015 Autumn Classic International

It was a 1-2 Canadian finish in ice dancing with Nicole Orford of Burnaby, B.C. and Asher Hill of Pickering, Ont., a new partnership this season, winning the gold with 146.65.  Andréanne Poulin of Ile-Bizard, Que., and Marc-André Servant of Vaudreuil, Que., surged from fourth after the short dance to the silver at 132.35.

‘’Our programs are coming together really well,’’ said Orford. ‘’So well, that sometimes we forget we are a new team. We are both perfectionists because our previous partnerships were so successful so we need to remind ourselves we’ve only skated for three months.’’

Nicole Orford / Asher Hill - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Adreanne Poulin / Marc Andre Servant - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Karina Manta / Joseph Johnson - 2015 Autumn Classic International

Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan won the gold medal in men’s singles with 277.19 points. Canadian champion Nam Nguyen of Toronto took the silver at 241.10 and Sean Rabbitt of the U.S. was third at 201.70.

Bennet Toman of St. Lazare, Que., was sixth and Mitchell Gordon of Vancouver 10th.

Men - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Yuzuru Hanyu - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Nam Nguyen - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Sean Rabbit - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Bennet Toman - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Mitchell Gordon - 2015 Autumn Classic International

In women’s competition, Roxanne Rhéault of Victoriaville, Que., was fifth. Elizabet Tursynbayeva of Kazakhstan won the gold.

Roxanne Rheault - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Elizabet Tursynbayeva - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Haruka Imai - 2015 Autumn Classic International
Angela Wang - 2015 Autumn Classic International

Canadian junior women win two medals

In junior women’s singles, Amanda Stan of Romania finished ahead of three Canadians for the gold with 130.46.  Alicia Pineault of Montreal was mere 0.01 points from victory for the silver at 130.45.  McKenna Colthorp of Fort St. James, B.C. took the bronze at 129.25 and Alexis Dion of Ottawa fourth at 127.65.

Alicia Pineault - 2015 Autumn Classic International
McKenna Colthorp - 2015 Autumn Classic International

Full results: 2015 Autumn Classic International

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