Canadian Skaters Gain Valuable Experience at Junior Grand Prix in Japan
September 16, 2023/by Skate Canada
Osaka, Japan (September 16, 2023) – The fourth ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating competition wrapped up Saturday in Osaka, Japan with lots of lessons learned and experience gained for the seven Canadian athletes that competed.
Chloe Nguyen, 18, of Vancouver and Brendan Giang, 19, of Burnaby, B.C., were hoping to get on the podium again after bringing home a silver medal from the second Junior Grand Prix event in Austria at the beginning of September, but despite two good performances, they ended up sixth overall – the top Canadian result from the event. Layla Veillon, 17, and Alexander Brandys, 18 of London, Ont., finished just behind in seventh with a score of 133.15.
“The rhythm dance went pretty well and our free for the most part was pretty good, but we had a few small mistakes that we’re going to improve for next time,” said Nguyen, who, along with Giang finished with a total score of 138.35. “We were super excited to come compete here, we’ve never been in Asia before, either of us, so we were super excited to come and compete here. There are a lot of really big skating fans, so it was really nice to see a full crowd supporting us.”
Leah Neset and Artem Markalov of the USA won gold with a total score of 167.51, while Elizabeth Tkachenko and Alexei Kiliakov of Israel took silver with a score of 166.16. Celina Fradji and Jean-Hans Fourneaux of France took bronze with a score of 151.13.
David Shteyngart, 17, of Ottawa, Ont., was the top Canadian in the men’s event, finishing 13th overall with a score of 164.74, while fellow Canadian, Anthony Paradis, 16, of Boisbriand, Que., finished 16th with a total score of 162.11.
“This was an experience that took a lot of effort out of me this week,” said Paradis who is the 2023 junior national bronze medallist. “There was a lot of noise, but I really liked my experience. The Japanese were really warm with the Canadians and it’s much appreciated.”
François Pitot of France won gold with a score of 219.86. Juheon Lim of Korea grabbed the silver with a score of 217.95, while Daniel Martynov of the USA rounded out the podium, taking home the bronze with a score of 207.98.
Rose Theroux, 16, of Ste-Victoire-de-Sorel, Que., the lone Canadian in the women’s competition, was sitting in eighth after her short program, but had a difficult free skate and finished 14th overall with a total score of 139.81.
Japanese skaters almost swept the women’s podium with Mao Shimada and Yo Takagi taking home gold and silver with scores of 213.86 and 188.15 respectively. Yu-Feng Tsai of Chinese Taipei took the bronze with a score of 178.62 – just nudging Japanese skater Ikura Kushida into fourth.
The next Junior Grand Prix of the season takes place this upcoming week in Budapest, Hungary from September 20-23, 2023 and will feature 10 NextGen skaters for Canada – one woman, one man, two pair teams, and two ice dance teams.
Nakamura 37.82
Lim 35.56
Li 34.75
Pitot 34.43
Martynov 34.35
Paradis 33.71
