Canadian ice dancers skate personal best for fourth at ISU Junior Grand Prix
MINSK, Belarus – Canadians Ashlynne Stairs and Lee Royer posted a personal best to finish fourth this weekend in ice dancing at the fourth stop on the ISU Junior Grand Prix figure skating circuit.
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko of the U.S., won the gold medal with 150.05 points with Anastasia Skoptcova and Kirill Aleshin of Russia second at 143.64 and Arina Ushakova and Maxim Nekrasov of Russia third at 142.94
Stairs and Royer, from Calgary and St. Albert, Alta., skated to music by Sean Lennon and followed at 126.97 to improve upon their fifth place at the second Junior Grand Prix earlier this month.
‘’We skated really well,’’ said Stairs. ‘’We improved our footwork a lot and got higher levels. Everything was just a lot better.’’
Nina Mizuki and Veniamins Volskis of Burnaby, B.C., were 12th.
Russian couples swept the medals in the pairs event with Daria Pavliuchenko and Denis Khodykin taking the gold.
Chloe Panetta Laval, Que., and Steven Lapointe of Laval, Que., soared from 10th to sixth while Lori-Ann Matte and Thierry Ferland of Levis, Que., were eighth.
Meanwhile at the Ondrej Nepela Trophy in Bratislava, Slovakia Natasha Purich of Sherwood Park, Alta., and Davin Portz of Calgary placed fifth in pairs; Nicolas Nadeau of Blainville, Que., sixth in men’s singles and Larkyn Austman of Coquitlam B.C. was 12 in women’s singles.
Full results Junior Grand Prix: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1718/jgpblr2017/index.htm
Full results Ondrej Nepela Trophy: http://www.kraso.sk/wp-content/uploads/sutaze/2017_2018/20170921_ont/