Tag Archive for: Marjorie Lajoie/ Zachary Lagha

Top Ice Dance Moments from the 2023/2024 Season

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The 2023/2024 figure skating season came to a crowd-roaring conclusion at the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships at home in Montreal, Quebec. From the junior to senior level, Canada’s ice dancers impressed this season, capturing a total of 14 international medals.

Here are some of the top ice dance moments from the season.

The king and queen of Canadian ice dance, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier continue to impress year after year, and what a year it was for this dynamic duo! Gilles and Poirier posted their best-ever finish at the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, winning the free dance and capturing the silver medal. Their road to the silver medal included their first championship gold medal at the 2024 ISU Four Continents Championships, a bronze medal at Grand Prix Final, and their fourth title win at Skate Canada International.

Not only did Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha overcome adversity this season, but they also found their place in the upper ranks of Canadian ice dance. After winning two silver medals on the Grand Prix circuit and making their first appearance at Grand Prix Final, Lajoie suffered a concussion that sidelined the duo for months. Finally in the clear to train again just before the World Championships, these previous Junior World Champions (2019) wowed the home crowd to place 5th in Montreal. A huge leap from their previous 11th place finish in 2022.

On the topic of impressive comebacks, Paul Ayer and Alicia Fabbri also had career highlighting moments this year. After being sidelined the previous season due to Ayer’s shoulder injury, Fabbri and Ayer captured their first podium finish – a bronze medal – at Nationals in Ayer’s hometown of Calgary, Alberta. They finished their season strong by winning the first senior international medal of their career, a bronze at the 2024 Challenge Cup.

Skate Canada’s junior teams also shone brightly this season. Ontario’s Layla Vellion and Alexander Brandys claimed their first national title, rising from their fifth-place finish at Nationals the year before. While Chloe Nguyen and Brendan Giang, the newly formed team from British Columbia, took home a silver medal on the junior Grand Prix circuit at the Cup of Austria. Both teams also had standout performances at the 2024 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships, placing in the top-10.

The future of Canadian ice dance is looking strong as we approach the halfway mark to the 2026 Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina. Make sure to stay tuned to skatecanada.ca and sign up for the Fan List to be the first to know about the 2024/2025 Grand Prix assignments and who’s named to the National Team in the months ahead.

Bronze for Pair Skaters Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps at ISU Grand Prix Final

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Beijing, China (December 8, 2023) – Canadian skaters captured their first medal of the ISU Grand Prix Final on Friday with Deanna Stellato-Dudek of Chicago, USA and Maxime Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., winning a bronze medal in the senior pair competition.

The pair was sitting in second following their short program on Thursday, and despite no major mistakes, some small execution errors dropped them into third in the free skate to finish the competition with bronze and an overall score of 204.30.

“We were the top team by, like, 10 points so we know this is way below expectations,” said Stellato-Dudek about their performance and the fact that they were the top-team coming into this competition. “But we are still scoring really competitively with mistakes on almost all the big elements, so if we can just clean it up, we’re know going to get higher than what we got at Skate Canada.”

Deschamps added: “After coming back from the Cup of China, we have been working on a lot of stuff and we were able to perform it today. We are so proud overall of the week and also what we wanted to make better this week.”

Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany also had some small mistakes in their program, and have been battling illness, but hung on to win the gold medal with a total score 106.43, while the Italian team of Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii had the best free skate of the day to move up to take the silver medal with a total score of 205.88

Lia Pereira of Milton, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Brantford, Ont., who were competing in their first Grand Prix Final, finished sixth with a total score of 185.16.

“We’re proud of what we did today,” said Pereira. “Coming from a not-so-good short – we haven’t had to do that yet, we’ve been fortunate to skate good shorts in most of our competitions so far, so that was a setback mentally and I think we did a really good job recovering from that today, and wanting to continue to push ourselves and have new experiences.”

While the senior pair competition wrapped up, competition began for senior ice dance, and saw strong performances from all six teams. Piper Gilles of Toronto, Ont., and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., the reigning Grand Prix Final Champions are the top Canadian team, sitting in third with a score of 85.17 for their rhythm dance.

“I think we’re pleased. We’ve made quite a few changes in the program since the Cup of China to try to boost the energy, and we’re really proud of that skate. We just enjoyed the moment,” said Gilles.

Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen of Montreal, Que., had a small touch in their side-by-side twizzles that put them in fifth with a score of 74.82, while Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., the youngest team in the competition, are sitting just behind in sixth with a score of 74.74.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA are sitting in first with a score of 89.15, while Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy sit second with a score of 85.82.

The ISU Grand Prix Final concludes Saturday with the free dance for the senior ice dance teams, and the free program for the junior pair skaters.

For full results please click here

Canadian Pair and Ice Dance Teams Golden again at Cup of China

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Chongqing, China (November 11, 2023) – It was a golden weekend for Canadian ice dance skaters Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier and pair skaters Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps who both won gold again at the ISU Grand Prix Cup of China that wrapped up Saturday in Chongqing, China. Both teams also won gold at Skate Canada International in early November.

Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha also captured silver in the ice dance competition. All three teams have now qualified for the ISU Grand Prix Final which will take place in Beijing, China in early December.

Gilles of Toronto, Ont., and Poirier of Unionville, Ont., were sitting in second behind Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., after the rhythm dance on Friday, but rebounded on Saturday with a strong free dance to score 126.79 points for a total of 207.83 points to win the gold.

“It was an interesting week here,” said Gilles. “The rhythm dance didn’t go as planned which was costly, but I think what we were really going for was stronger energy and a stronger performance – I think I got a little carried away with that and mistakes happened, but I think we’re really proud of what we did overall. There is still more we can do technically to prepare for Beijing but we’re really happy.”

Lajoie and Lagha set new personal best scores for both their rhythm and free skates to total 206.02 points – winning their second silver medal on the ISU Grand Prix circuit this season. Caroline Green and Michael Parsons of the USA took the bronze with a total score of 189.33.

“It was a great week for us,” said Lajoie. “The rhythm dance was pretty amazing, we were very, very happy. The free dance was a bit more challenging but we’re happy with how we handled it. Overall, it was a very good week for us.”

Stellato-Dudek of Chicago, USA and Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., battled through fatigue to win their third straight gold medal of the season in the pair competition with a total score of 201.48. Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini of Italy captured silver (191.00), while Cheng Peng and Lei Wang of China took bronze (178.06).

“It’s been a long three weeks, and everything was a fight today. This week was to test our mental and physical strength since I knew it was going to be difficult, and it was,” laughed Stellato-Dudek following the competition.

Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., finished fifth in the women’s competition with a total score of 179.58. Hana Yoshida and Rinka Watanabe of Japan had a battle for gold with Yoshida taking the win after she set a new personal best score in the free skate to take the win by just 0.75 points. Her final total score was 203.97 to Watanabe’s 203.22. Loena Hendrickx of Belgium was in the lead after the short program but fell to third after her free program to end the day with a total score of 201.49.

Next up for Canadian skaters on the ISU Grand Prix circuit is the Grand Prix Espoo taking place in Espoo, Finland from November 17-19, 2023.

For full results please click here: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2324/gpchn2023/

Lajoie and Lagha win second Grand Prix medal this season

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SHEFFIELD, England (November 13, 2022) – Canadian ice dancers Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha stepped on the podium for the second time this season on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit finishing third Sunday at the MK John Wilson Trophy.

Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy, the winners at last week’s Grand Prix in France, took the gold again at this week’s fourth stop with 213.74. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain were second at 205.56.

Lajoie, from Boucherville, Que., and Lagha, from St-Hubert, Que., followed at 198.95.  The 2019 world junior champions were less than four points off their international best set earlier this season in one of their two victories on the ISU Challenger circuit.

‘’We are happy with our four Grand Prix performances this season (two short and two free skates),’’ said Lajoie, a bronze medallist with her partner at Skate Canada International last month, their other Grand Prix assignment. ‘’There were some little errors but nothing too costly.’’

Alicia Fabbri of Terrebonne, Que., and Paul Ayer of Brossard, Que., were eighth and Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker of Langley, B.C., ninth.

Mai Mihara of Japan took the women’s gold with Isabeau Levito of the U.S. second and Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia third.

Two-time Olympian Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket, Ont., was eighth.

The fifth stop on the circuit is the NHK Trophy this Friday and Saturday in Sapporo, Japan.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2223/gpgbr2022/

Roman Sadovsky places sixth at ISU Grand Prix

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SHEFFIELD, England (November 12, 2022) – Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., placed sixth Saturday in men’s competition at the MK John Wilson Trophy, the fourth stop on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit.

Daniel Grassl of Italy took the gold medal with 264.35 points. Deniss Vasiljevs of Latvia won the silver with 254.56 and Shum Sato of Japan was third with 249.03.

Sadovksy was first after a brilliant short program on Friday but he struggled in his free skate. The 23-year-old Olympian was fifth at the season opening stop at Skate America last month.

In ice dancing, Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy, the winners last week in France, lead after the rhythm dance with 86.30 points.
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain are second at 85.37 and Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of St-Hubert, Que., are third at 81.09.

Their dance to Cha Cha and Samba included level-four twizzles and a level-four rotational lift.

‘’We were both in the present moment even though we were very stressed,’’ said Lajoie, third with her partner two weeks ago at Skate Canada International.
‘’It was fun and I think the crowd really helped us.’’

Alicia Fabbri of Terrebonne, Que., and Paul Ayer of Brossard, Que., are eighth and Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker of Langley, B.C., are ninth.

Mai Mahara of Japan is first in the women’s event after the short program. Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket, Ont., is eighth.

Competition ends Sunday with the women’s free skate and the free dance.
Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2223/gpgbr2022/

Nine Canadians Make the Trip Across the Pond for the MK John Wilson Trophy

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OTTAWA, ON (November 8, 2022) – After a successful start to the season that saw Canadians win six medals, the ISU Grand Prix now heads to Sheffield, Great Britain from November 11-13, 2022 for the MK John Wilson Trophy. Team Canada will be comprised of nine skaters, including one entry in women, two entries in men and three entries in ice dance. 

2018 Olympian and 2022 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships bronze medallist Gabrielle Daleman will be the sole Canadian entry in the women’s discipline. Daleman kicked off her season a few weeks ago at Skate Canada International, where she placed second in the short program and finished 10th overall.  

Beijing 2022 Olympian Roman Sadovsky will be competing in his second Grand Prix of the season after putting in a solid performance at Skate America that earned him a 5th place finish. He will be joined by 2022 Skate Canada Challenge bronze medallist Corey Circelli, who will be making his senior Grand Prix debut. 

Olympians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha will be headlining the Canadian entries in ice dance. Lajoie and Lagha are no strangers to the podium, having won gold at the 2022 Budapest Trophy and the 2022 Ondrej Nepela Memorial, as well as a bronze medal on home ice at Skate Canada International. First-year National Team members Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer will be competing at their first ISU Grand Prix after finishing 4th at the 2022 Budapest Trophy. Rounding out the team will be Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker, who placed 5th at the 2022 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic earlier this season.   

Pairs team Lori-Ann Matte and Thierry Ferland were assigned to the event but have pulled out due to injury.   

The competition starts on Friday, November 11 with the men and pair short programs. Saturday will see the rhythm dance and women’s short program, as well as the first medals awarded following the men and pair free programs. The event concludes on Sunday with the women’s free program and ice dance free dance.   

Team Canada
Name | Age | Hometown | Coach | Training Location 

Women 
Gabrielle Daleman | 24 | Newmarket, Ont. | Lee Barkell | Toronto, Ont. 

Men  
Corey Circelli | 20 | Toronto, Ont. | Brian Orser | Toronto, Ont.
Roman Sadovsky | 23 | Vaughan, Ont. | Tracey Wainman & Grzegorz Filipowski | Richmond Hill, Ont. 

Ice dance 
Alicia Fabbri | 19 | Terrebonne, Que. & Paul Ayer | 24 | Brossard, Que. | Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon | Montreal, Que.  
Marjorie Lajoie | 22 | Boucherville, Que. & Zachary Lagha | 23 | Saint-Hubert, Que. | Romain Haguenauer | Montréal, Que.
Haley Sales | 25 | Kelowna, B.C. & Nikolas Wamsteeker | 26 | Langley, B.C. | Scott Moir | London, Ont. 

Team Leaders – Marie Bowness & Mike Slipchuk
Medical Team – Emma Lis & Lee Schofield
Officials – Glenn Fortin & Patty Klein  

For more information about the event and full schedules, click here. 

The Skating World Converges in Mississauga for Skate Canada International

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OTTAWA, ON (October 24, 2022) – After a successful weekend at Skate America that saw Canadians win three medals, the ISU Grand Prix series stops in Mississauga, Ontario this week for the 48th edition of Skate Canada International. From October 28-30, some of the best skaters from around the globe will compete for a spot on the podium at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre, including Shoma Uno, Young You, Lilah Fear, Lewis Gibson, Riku Miura, Ryuichi Kihara, plus fifteen of Canada’s top talents. 

The men’s team, which will count three entries, will be headlined by veteran and two-time Olympian Keegan Messing. Messing is the current Canadian champion and has gotten off to a stunning start this season, winning gold at the Nebelhorn Trophy. He will be joined by Conrad Orzel, who recently placed 11th at the Finlandia Trophy, as well as Stephen Gogolev, who finished 9th at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic.  

Olympians Madeline Schizas and Gabrielle Daleman will represent Canada in the women’s field. Schizas, the 2022 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships women’s gold medallist, kicked off the competition season with a 5th place at the Nebelhorn Trophy. Teammate Gabrielle Daleman will be competing at her first international event after an excellent domestic season that saw her win gold at the 2022 Skate Canada Challenge and bronze at the 2022 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. 

In the pair discipline, Canada will be sending two young but solid teams, with Brooke McIntosh and Benjamin Mimar setting their sights on the top step of the podium. The pair, who finished third at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships last season, had a breakthrough start to their first senior season, winning bronze at the 2022 Finlandia Trophy earlier this month. Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier will also be competing in the event after winning bronze over the weekend at Skate America. 

Canada will boast three Olympic teams in ice dance. 2021 Skate Canada International gold medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will be looking to defend their title after a successful 2021-2022 season that saw the pair claim the Canadian title. Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha will also be strong contenders for the title, with the team winning two gold medals this year at the Ondre Nepela Memorial and Budapest Trophy. Finally, Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac , who claimed bronze at Skate America, will be replacing Miku Makita and Tyler Gunara due to injury. 

Competition starts on Friday, October 28 with every discipline performing their short program/rhythm dance. All medals will be awarded on Saturday, October 29, as all disciplines will perform their free program/free dance. The event concludes on Sunday with the exhibition gala. The event will be live streamed in Canada via skatecanada.ca.  

Team Canada 

Name | Age | Hometown | Coach | Training Location 

Women 
Gabrielle Daleman | 24 | Newmarket, Ont. | Lee Barkell | Toronto, Ont.
Madeline Schizas | 19 | Oakville, Ont. | Nancy Lemaire & Derek Schmidt | Milton, Ont.   

Men 
Stephen Gogolev | 17 | Toronto, Ont. | Rafael Arutyunyan & Lee Barkell | Irvine, USA
Keegan Messing | 30 | Girdwood, USA | Ralph Burghart | Anchorage, USA
Conrad Orzel | 22 | Toronto, Ont. | Ravi Walia | Edmonton, Alta. 

Pair 
Kelly Ann Laurin | 16 | St-Jérôme, Que. & Loucas Éthier | 22 | Deux-Montagnes, Que. | Stéphanie Valois | Rosemère, Que.  
Brooke McIntosh | 17 | Toronto, Ont. & Benjamin Mimar | 21 | Terrebonne, Que. | Andrew Evans & Alexander Sheldrick | Toronto, Ont. 

Ice Dance 
Piper Gilles | 30 | Toronto, Ont. & Paul Poirier | 30 | Unionville, Ont. | Carol Lane & Juris Razgulajevs | Scarborough, Ont.
Marjorie Lajoie | 21 | Boucherville, Que. & Zachary Lagha | 23 | Saint-Hubert, Que. | Romain Haguenauer | Montreal, Que.
Marie-Jade Lauriault | 25 | Ste-Anne-Des-Plaines, Que. & Romain Le Gac | 27 | Laval, Que. | Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon| Ste-Anne-Des-Plaines, Que.    

Team Leaders – Carolyn Allwright & Cynthia Ullmark
Medical Team – Tatiana Jevremovic & Agnes Makowski
Officials – Andrea Derby, Veronique Gosselin, Janice Hunter & Lorna Schroder 

For more information about the event and full schedules, click here. To purchase single-session tickets, visit ticketmaster.ca. 

Lajoie and Lagha earn second gold this season on ISU Challenger Series

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BUDAPEST – Canadian ice dancers Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha connected for gold for the second time this season on Sunday with a victory at the sixth stop on the ISU Challenger Series figure skating circuit.

The 2019 world junior champions cracked the 200-point barrier for the first time on international ice totaling 202.40 points placing first in both the rhythm dance and free dance.

It bettered the 193.35 score they earned in their victory two weeks ago at a Challenger Series event in Czechia. It’s also the third straight Challenger Series event Canada has won gold. Last week in Finland, Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen of Montreal were first.

As was the case in their previous win Lajoie, from Boucherville, Que., and Lagha, from St-Hubert, Que., weren’t totally satisfied.

‘’The free dance was a little bit too safe,’’ said Lagha, who’ll compete with his partner at Skate Canada International in two weeks. ‘’But it’s OK. Now we go home, work and get the job done again.’’

Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud of France were second at 192.85 and Katarina Wolfkostin and Jeffrey Chen of the U.S. were third at 180.46.

Alicia Fabbri of Terrebonne, Que., and Paul Ayer of Calgary took fourth spot with 168.85 in their international season debut. There were 15 entries.

‘’We put out a really strong performance in the rhythm dance and connected with the crowd,’’ said Ayer. ‘’We had an unfortunate mistake in our free dance but before and after that it was solid.’’

The two ice dance teams were the only Canadian entries at the competition.

The Challenger Series provides opportunities for senior skaters to compete at an international level and earn world ranking points.

Full results: http://hunskate.hu/external/mukorcsolya/2022_2023/BPTrophy/index.htm

Lajoie and Lagha win gold at ISU Challenger Series event

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (October 1, 2022) – Canadian ice dancers Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha  won their first international senior event Saturday at the Nepela Memorial figure skating competition, a stop on the ISU Challenger Series circuit.

The 2022 Olympians posted an ISU event personal best score 193.35 points bettering the 192.11 they skated at the 2020 Four Continents meet.

Eva Pate and Logan Bye of the U.S. were second at 178.69 and Marie Dupayage and Thomas Nabais of France third at 165.78.

For their first senior victory, Lagha, from St-Hubert, Que., and Lajoie, from Boucherville, Que., the 2019 world junior champions, weren’t screaming off the rooftops.

‘’It was O.K. for a first skate despite a little mistake,’’ Lagha, 23. ‘’We don’t want to do mistakes anymore.’’

Lajoie, 21, was happy to return to competition.

‘’It was a long time since we competed,’’ she said. ‘’You have to get use to that feeling again and for us, we wanted to skate very good and have a good result. But there is a lot to improve.’’

Lajoie and Lagha were the only Canadians at the event.

Full results: Challenger Series Ondrej Nepela Memorial 2022

Two Canadian Skaters to Compete at Ondrej Nepela Memorial 2022

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OTTAWA, ON (September 23, 2022) – The senior figure skating season is well underway after a successful stop in the United States that saw Team Canada finish just shy of the podium. Two Canadian athletes, Ice Dance team Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha, now travel to Bratislava, Slovakia for the Ondrej Nepela Memorial 2022, taking place from September 29 – October 1, 2022.    

Olympians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha will lead the Canadian contingent in ice dance. Lajoie and Lagha had a breakthrough 2021-2022 season, winning bronze at the 2022 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships and placing 13th at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games.  

Friday, September 30th will see the men complete their short program and ice dancers perform their rhythm dance. The competition concludes on the following day with the free dance and the men’s free program. For more information regarding the event, click here.     

Team Canada 

Name | Age | Hometown | Coach | Training Location 

Ice Dance 
Marjorie Lajoie | 21 | Boucherville, Que. & Zachary Lagha | 23 | Saint-Hubert, Que. | Romain Haguenauer | Montreal, Que.  

Team Leader – Mike Slipchuk
Medical Team – Karen Seymour
Officials – Laura Carr & Leslie Keen 

Lajoie and Lagha Produce Season Best Performance in Fifth Place Finish at NHK Trophy

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TOKYO –Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha completed a season’s best performance Saturday in their free dance to finish fifth in ice dancing for Canada’s top result at the NHK Trophy, the fourth stop on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit.

World champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia won the gold medal with 215.44 points. Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. were second at 210.78 and Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain third at 191.91.

Lajoie and Lagha were in a three-way battle for the bronze and produce the fourth best free dance on Saturday but remained fifth overall at 187.38. Their rhythm dance, free dance and total score were all season’s best amongst their four competitions so far.

‘’This is a great way to finish this section of the season,’’ said Lagha, from St-Hubert, Que. ‘’It was like we learned to stay calm while we skated and with the crowd and everything it was a great week overall.’’

The pairs event was won by Russia’s Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov with 227.28. Their compatriots Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov took second with 213.27.

Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Brantford, Ont., remained sixth with 167.98, which was more than 20 points better than their score in an eighth-place result at Skate America last month.

‘’Things that we worked on since Skate America definitely got better,’’ said Michaud. ‘’But there’s still a lot we want to keep working on. There were some different mistakes this time and we are still not where we need to be.’’

Shoma Uno of Japan took the men’s crown for his first top-level international figure skating title in nearly three years, distancing American Vincent Zhou in a battle of Olympic medal contenders.

Two-time Canadian champion Nam Nguyen of Ajax, Ont., remained in 10th spot.

‘’It was a tough week,’’ he admitted. ‘’I’d been working really hard since Skate America leading into this event but unfortunately it didn’t reflect too well this week. When I get back home there’s about 90 percent of the free program I need to deal with.’’

Kaori Sakamato successfully defended her women’s title on Saturday, with a season-best 223.34. Japanese compatriot Mana Kawabe, who started the day 2.68 points back in second, totalled 205.44 to take silver, with South Korea’s You Young rounding out the podium a further 1.84 points behind.

There were no Canadian entries in the women’s event.

The fifth stop on the circuit goes this upcoming Friday and Saturday in Grenoble, France.

http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2122/gpjpn2021/

Lajoie and Lagha Within Striking Distance of Podium ay NHK Trophy

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TOKYO – Ice dancers Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha are less than two points from third place after Friday’s rhythm dance to highlight Canadian performances Friday at the NHK Trophy, the fourth stop on the ISU figure skating circuit.

World champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia are first at 86.33, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. second at 86.02 and Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain third at 76.43.

Three teams are in a heated battle for that third spot. Sara Hurtado and Kirill Khaliavin of Spain scored 76.40 for fourth and Lajoie and Lagha are fifth at 74.45.

It was a season best score for the Canadians competing for the fourth time this season. They were fourth at the Autumn Classic International, seventh at Finlandia Trophy and sixth at Skate Canada International two weeks ago.

In men’s competition, Japan’s Shoma Uno capitalised on injured Olympic figure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu’s absence to lead after the short program with 102.58 points. Vincent Zhou of the U.S. who has won his three previous events this season, is second at 99.51 and Junhwa Cha of South Korea third at 95.92.

Two-time Canadian champion Nam Nguyen of Ajax, Ont., stands 10th. His first jump, a quad Salchow – triple toe loop combination did not go as planned as he doubled the Salchow.

In pairs, Russian world champions Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov lead after the short program with 78.40, ahead of compatriots Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov at 75.78.

Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Brantford, Ont., are sixth at 56.97, over two points better than their score at Skate America in October.

In women’s competition, Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto leads after the short program ahead of compatriot Mana Kawabe and South Korea’s You Young. There are no Canadian entries.

Competition ends Saturday with all four free skates.

http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2122/gpjpn2021/