Tag Archive for: 2018 Finlandia Trophy

Soucisse and Firus edged off podium in ice dancing at Finlandia Trophy

ESPOO, Finland – Carolane Soucisse of Chateauguay, Que., and Shane Firus of North Vancouver missed a berth on the podium by three points on Sunday to conclude the Finlandia Trophy figure skating competition.

Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin of Russia won the gold with 200.78 points. Olivia Smart and Adrian Diaz of Spain were second at 180.07 and Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac of France were third at 175.46.

Soucisse and Firus, were third after the short dance and delivered the fifth best free dance to drop a notch and finished at 172.27.

‘’Overall it was a step in the right direction,’’ said Firus. ‘’We upped our technical especially in the short. There were a couple of mistakes in the free but the performance level was still high.’’

In women’s competition, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia won the gold with Elizabet Tursynbaeva of Kazakhstan second and Viveca Lindfors of Finland third.
Véronik Mallet of Sept-Iles, Que., in her first international event since 2016, climbed from seventh to sixth with the fifth best free skate.

‘’It feels good to get back into international competition,’’ said Mallet, who has been battling a painful foot injury since October 2016. ‘’I felt good about both programs, I was confident and that really helped.’’

Canada ends the competition with one silver medal earned on Saturday by Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., in pairs.

Full results:CS Finlandia Trophy Espoo 2018

Moore-Towers and Marinaro win free, take silver at Finlandia Open

ESPOO, Finland – Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., won Saturday’s free skate to earn the silver medal in pairs at the Filandia Open figure skating competition.

Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of Russia won the gold with 198.98 points. The Canadians, third after Friday’s short, followed closely at 193.93 and Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii of Russia were third at 188.54.

“We felt good about our competition but we had mistakes in both programs,” said Moore-Towers. “Our goal was to was have an improvement from the Autumn Classic International (at which they also placed second two weeks ago in Oakville) and we definitely did that. We’ll follow the same path to be ready for Skate Canada International (October 26-28 in Laval, Que).”

In men’s competition, Nicolas Nadeau of Blainville, Que., was less than four points from the podium finishing fourth with 227.76. Mikhail Kolyada of Russia was the winner with 250.58, Junhwan Cha of South Korea second at 239.19 and Morisi Kvitelashvili of Georgia third at 231.19.

“I only have one quad in the long so I need to execute it better,” said Nadeau. “Also a big mistake on my triple Axel which is my best jump which was disappointing after landing the first one in the long and also in the short.”

In the short dance, Carolane Soucisse of Chateauguay, Que., and Shane Firus of North Vancouver stand third with 70.79, less than two points out of second spot.

On Friday, Véronik Mallet of Sept-Iles, Que., was seventh after the women’s short.

Competition ends Sunday with the free dance and women’s free skate.

Full results Filandia Open: CS Finlandia Trophy Espoo 2018

So close to podium for Conrad Orzel at ISU Junior Grand Prix

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Conrad Orzel of Woodbridge, Ont., came within 0.01 points of reaching the podium on Friday in a fourth place finish in men’s competition at the sixth stop on the ISU Junior Grand Prix figure skating circuit.

Petr Gumennik of Russia won the gold medal with 219.25 points. Tomoki Hiwatashi of the U.S. was second at 215.16 and Koshiro Shimada of Japan was third at 212.95. Orzel, fifth after Thursday’s short program, followed at 212.94 with the fourth best free skate.

Both Orzel’s overall score and free skate score were personal international bests. He was fourth at his other Junior Grand Prix assignment in Austria last month. In his free skate to music from Romeo and Juliet, he landed the quad Salchow and quad toe as well as two triple Axels including one in combination.

In ice dancing after the short dance, Ellie Fisher and Simon-Pierre Malette-Paquette of Montreal are fifth less than three points out of third place. Alicia Fabbri of Terrebonne, Que., and Paul Ayer of Brossard, Que., are sixth less than seven points off a podium position.

In the women’s short program, Aurora Cotop of Thornhill, Ont., placed 11th.

Competition ends Saturday with the free dance and women’s free skate.

Full results ISU Junior Grand Prix: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1819/jgpslo2018/

Canadians in medal hunt in Finland

ESPOO, Finland – Action got underway Friday at the Finlandia Open in Espoo, Finland.

After the short programs, Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., are third in pairs; Nicolas Nadeau of Blainville, Que., is fourth in men’s competition and Véronik Mallet of Sept-Iles, Que., is seventh after the women’s short.

Full results Filandia Open: CS Finlandia Trophy Espoo 2018

Twelve Canadian Skaters head to Europe for two international competitions

Ottawa, ON: Team Canada will be competing at two skating events this week in Europe. The senior skaters will be competing at the Finlandia Trophy, in Espoo, Finland from October 4-7. The junior skaters will be competing in the sixth ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from October 3-6.

Finlandia Trophy

This year marks the 23rd edition of the Finlandia Trophy, it is also one of the competitions on the International Skating Union’s (ISU) Challenger Series.

In the men’s field, Nicolas Nadeau, the 2016 world junior silver medalist and the 2015 Canadian National Junior Champion will compete at this event for the first time.

Véronik Mallet will be making her Finlandia debut in the ladies’ field after taking two years off to recover from injuries. Her last competitive event was the 2016 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships, were she finished fourth.

In the pair discipline, Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro will be the only pair team representing Canada at this competition. They are coming off of a second place finish at the 2018 Autumn Classic International that took place at the end September in Oakville, Ont.

Carolane Soucisse and Shane Firus are the lone ice dancers competing for Canada. They competed earlier this year at the 2018 Autumn Classic, winning the bronze medal.

CANADIAN ENTRIES AT 2018 FINLANDIA TROPHY

DISCIPLINE NAME AGE HOMETOWN CLUB COACH
Men Nicolas Nadeau 20 Boisbriand, Que. CPA Boisbriand Yvan Desjardins
Women Véronik Mallet 24 Sept-Iles, Que. CPA Sept-Iles Annie Barabe
Pair Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro 26/26 St. Catharines, Ont. / Sarnia, Ont. St. Catharines SC / Point Edward SC Inc. Bruno Marcotte, Richard Guathier, Sylvie Fullum
Ice Dance Carolane Soucisse / Shane Firus 23/24 Châteauguay, Que. / North Vancouver, B.C. SC Repentigny / SC Repentigny Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon

Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada High Performance Director, will Canada’s team leader at the event. Physiotherapist Pat Stanziano, of Oakville, Ont. will be the Canadian medical staff onsite. Karen Howard of Regina, Sask. and Andre-Marc Allain of Ottawa, Ont. will be the Canadian officials at the event.

For more information, please visit www.isu.org.

JGP Ljubjana

In the men’s competition, Conrad Orzel will be looking to reach the podium after finishing fourth at the JGP Austria earlier this season.

Aurora Cotop will be competing at her first junior grand prix of the season in Slovenia. Last season she placed seventh and ninth at her two junior grand prix events.

Among the two pairs heading to Europe are Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer, they finished fourth at JGP Bratislava earlier this season.

Ellie Fisher and Simon-Pierre Malette Paquette are coming off of a fourth place finish at the 2018 Canadian championships and the event in Ljubjana will be their first international event of the season.

CANADIAN ENTRIES AT 2018 ISU JGP #6 – LJUBJANA, SLOVENIA

DISCIPLINE NAME AGE HOMETOWN CLUB COACH
Men Conrad Orzel 18 Woodbridge, Ont. Toronto Cricket, Skating & Curling Club Lee Barkell
Women Aurora Cotop 16 Thornhill, Ont. Thornhill FSC Ravi Walia
Ice Dance Alicia Fabbri / Paul Ayer 15/20 Terrebonne, Que. / Brossard, Que. CPA Terrebonne / Calalta Calgary Julien Lalonde
Ice Dance Ellie Fisher / Simon-Pierre Malette Paquette 17/20 Montreal, Que. / Montreal, Que. CPA Loraine / CPA Loraine Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, Romain Haguenauer, Pascal Denis

Bev Viger of Abbotsford, BC. and Ilan Yampolsky of Ottawa, Ont., will be Team Canada’s team leaders at the event. Physiotherapist Karen Seymour, of Toronto, Ont., will be the Canadian medical staff onsite. Andrew Bosco, of Thorold, Ont., and Ron Conacher, of Toronto, Ont., will be the Canadian officials at the event.

For more information, please visit www.isu.org. All events on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit will be livestreamed on the ISU Junior Grand Prix YouTube channel.