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Six NextGen Athletes Close Out the Junior Grand Prix Series in Italy
October 6, 2022/by Skate Canada
OTTAWA, ON (October 6, 2022) – Six Canadian athletes are heading to Egna, Italy for the last stop of the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, taking place from October 12-15, 2022, following a hugely successful season that saw Canada claim five medals in pair and ice dance. The Canadian team will be comprised of one man, one woman, as well as two ice dance teams.
Competing in her first ISU Junior Grand Prix will be 15-year-old Rose Theroux. Theroux is no stranger to international competition, having competed at the 2022 Cup of Austria where she narrowly missed the podium by 3 points.
Aleksa Rakic will be competing at his second ISU Junior Grand Prix of the season, having previously finished seventh in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Last season, Rakic claimed a silver medal at both the 2021 Ice Challenge and 2022 Skate Canada Challenge in senior men.
Junior Grand Prix silver medallists Sandrine Gauthier and Quentin Thieren will be looking to add another medal to their collection, while promising ice dancers Marianne Hubert and William Oddson will aim to improve upon their 10th place result earlier this season.
Competition kicks off on Thursday, October 13 with the men’s short program and rhythm dance. Friday, October 14 will see women skaters take the ice for their short programs and ice dancers complete their free programs. The event concludes on Saturday with the men’s and women’s free programs.
Two top-five finishes for Canada at ISU Junior Grand Prix
October 13, 2022/by Skate Canada
EGNA, Italy – Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., took fifth spot in the men’s competition on Saturday while ice dancers Sandrine Gauthier of St-Constant, Que., and Quentin Thieren of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que., were also fifth at the seventh stop on the ISU Junior Grand Prix figure skating circuit.
In men’s competition, Lucas Broussard of the U.S. earned his second victory this season with 211.14 points. He edged Japan’s Shunsuke Nakamura second at 211.01 while his compatriot Takeru Amine Kataise was third at 201.35.
Rakic, 18, improved on his seventh place at the JGP stop in Czechia last month scoring 197.56. He posted a personal best international score for his short program on Thursday with 71.50.
Canada had two entries in ice dancing with Gauthier and Thieren totalling 144.05 and Marianne Hubert of Trois-Rivieres, Que., and William Odson of Calgary placing 10th with 130.70.
Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek of Czechia won the gold with 173.00. Hannah Lim and Ye Quan of South Korea were second at 158.25 and Leah Neset and Artem Markelov of the U.S. third at 156.36.
Gauthier and Thieren won the silver medal last month at the Junior Grand Prix stop in Riga and were hoping to reach the podium again to qualify for the Grand Prix Final in December.
‘’There are things we need to work on but for the fitness, performance and interpretation we saw an improvement on our last showing,’’ said Gauthier. ‘’It’s our first year on the circuit so the Final wasn’t our goal but it would have been a bonus to go.’’
Hana Yoshida of Japan also won her second Junior Grand Prix event placing first in women’s competition. Rose Théroux of Ste-Victoire-de-Sorel, Que., was 14th out of 44 entries.
