TAIPEI CITY, TAIWAN (March 2, 2024) – Canada’s next generation of figure skating talent closed out the 2024 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Taipei City, Taiwan on Saturday with several top-10 performances, and many new personal best scores in the ice dance and men’s competitions.

Chloe Nguyen of Vancouver, B.C., and Brendan Giang of Burnaby, B.C., had the top result of the day finishing sixth overall with a new personal best total score of 151.09 in the ice dance competition – a solid improvement from their 14^th-place finish at last year’s competition.

“We’re very happy with both of our performances at this event. We put in a lot of work and it paid off,” said Giang following their free dance which also scored a new personal best for the team of 89.87.

Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys of London, Ont., weren’t far behind Nguyen and Giang, finishing eighth overall with a new personal best total score of 147.40. Alisa Korneva and Kieran MacDonald of Waterloo, Ont., finished the competition in 17^th with a total score of 130.18.

Leah Neset and Artem Markelov of the USA won gold (169.76), while Elizabeth Tkachenko and Alexei Kiliakov of Israel captured silver (162.68), and Darya Grimm and Michaii Savitskiy of Germany took bronze (162.13).

The men’s competition closed out the event and saw Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., finishing as the top Canadian in eighth place with a new personal best total score of 211.74, despite some small challenges with his free skate.

“The short was amazing with a new personal best and I’m really proud of that and making the final group,” said Rakic who skated a brilliant short program to set a new personal best on Thursday. “The long, I have mixed feelings. I gave my all, which you can’t be that upset with, but losing the levels on the spins at the end was costly, and that’s disappointing because I don’t usually make that mistake.”

Anthony Paradis of Boisbriand, Que., set new international best scores in both of his programs to finish with a score of 130.42 that saw him finish 15^th overall.

Minkyu Seo of Korea won the junior men’s world championship title with a total score of 230.75. Rio Nakata of Japan came back from a disappointing short program to win the free skate and take silver overall (229.31), while Adam Hagara of Slovakia took bronze (225.61).

For full results please click here.

TAIPEI CITY, TAIWAN (February 29, 2024) – The pair competition at the 2024 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships concluded on Thursday in Taipei City, Taiwan with Martina Ariano Kent and Charly Laliberté-Laurent and Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov finishing fifth and sixth respectively.

Ariano Kent of Mount Royal, Que., and Laliberté-Laurent of Boucherville, Que., had a strong start to the competition on Wednesday to finish third in the short program with a score of 55.67. After earning a score of 85.89 to finish sixth in the free skate, the pair closed out the competition fifth overall with a total score of 141.26.

“I felt really good about it,” said Ariano Kent of the short program. “It was a lot better than how we were doing in practice, so I was really happy that we were able to improve and do a good performance.”

Kemp and Elizarov, both from Winnipeg, Man., finished fifth in both the short program (54.86) and the free skate (85.81) to finish sixth overall with a total score of 140.67, short of their personal best score of 168.83.

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia continued their dominant season to win gold with a total score of 179.32. Olivia Flores and Luke Wang of the USA took silver (166.89), while Naomi Williams and Lachlan Lewer, also of the USA, captured bronze (146.00).

The women’s competition started on Wednesday with 2024 Canadian junior national champion Lulu Lin of Mississauga, Ont., posting a new personal best short program score of 57.12 to finish the day in 15^th – the top Canadian result of the day. 2024 Canadian senior women’s champion Kaiya Ruiter of Calgary, Alta., was close behind in 19^th with a score of 54.62. Both skaters qualified for the free skate which takes place on Friday.

Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., laid down an impressive short program in the men’s competition on Thursday, scoring a new personal best of 77.74 to finish the day in fourth place. Anthony Paradis of Boisbriand, Que., also posted a new personal best international score of 63.19 to finish in 21^st – both skaters have qualified for the free skate which will close out the competition on Saturday.

For full results please click here.