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ISU Junior Grand Prix #4 in Turkey Showcases NextGen Canadian Skaters
September 17, 2024/by Skate Canada

OTTAWA, ON (September 17, 2024) – The upcoming ISU Junior Grand Prix in Ankara, Turkey will see five young Canadian skaters make their debuts on the Junior Grand Prix circuit while the pair team of Jazmine Desrochers and Kieran Thrasher will look to climb onto the podium for the second time this season.

The competition, taking place from September 18-21, 2024 is the fourth stop on the Junior Grand Prix circuit.

Coming off a recent silver medal win at the Junior Grand Prix in Latvia, Desrochers and Thrasher will be the team to watch in the pair competition. The duo will be looking to reclaim their place in the Junior Grand Prix Final after taking home the bronze medal from last year’s competition.

The ice dance team of Laurence Brière and Julien Lévesque will look to apply their learnings from their last event in Czechia that saw them finish 12th overall, while Sophia Gover and Billy Wilson-French will make their Junior Grand Prix debut after finishing seventh at the Lake Placid International Dance Competition earlier this season.

The women’s and men’s singles competition will see Megan Woodley, William Chan, and John Kim compete at their first Junior Grand Prix – they placed eighth, 11th and 16th respectively at the Cranberry Cup International this season.

For the full competition schedule, entries and results, please click here.

Team Canada 
Name | Age | Hometown | Coach   

Men 
William Chan | 15 | Vancouver, BC | Angela Duffy
John Kim | 18 | Mississauga, ON | Jonathan Mills

Women
Megan Woodley | 15 | Oro-Medonte, ON | Paul Parkinson

Pairs
Jazmine Desrochers | 18 | Mississauga, ON & Kieran Thrasher | 20 | Amherstburg, ON | Bruno Marcotte

Ice Dance 
Sophia Gover | 19 | Minesing, ON & Billy Wilson-French | 21 | Barnsley, GBR | Juris Razgulajevs
Laurence Brière | 16 | Carignan, QC & Julien Lévesque | 18 | Boucherville, QC | Mylène Girard

Team Leaders – Manon Perron & Shae Zukiwsky
Officials – Nicole Leblanc-Richard & Guylaine Seguin
Medical Team – Paige Larson & Ghislaine Robert

Desrochers and Thrasher Win Pairs Gold in Turkey
September 21, 2024/by Skate Canada

Ankara, TUR (September 21, 2024) – Jazmine Desrochers and Kieran Thrasher showed they are the pairs team to beat on the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) circuit this season as they won gold on Friday at the fourth stop on the circuit in Ankara, Turkey.

Desrochers of Mississauga, Ont., and Thrasher of Amherstburg, Ont., posted a new personal best score of 59.41 in their short program to sit on top of the leader board heading into the free skate where they again showed their form, finishing first again to take the win with a new personal best total score of 159.77.

“We’re happy with how our long program went, although there were a few bobbles and mistakes along the way. I think we have a lot to work on, but overall, we’re happy with this event and it’s just getting better and better each time which is all we can really ask for,” said Desrochers who together with Thrasher brought home a silver medal from the first stop on the JGP circuit this season in Latvia.

Olivia Flores and Luke Wang of the USA took silver (147.80), while Sae Shimizu and Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda of Japan took bronze (140.19).

In the men’s competition, Canadian skaters William Chan of Vancouver, B.C., and John Kim of Mississauga, Ont., both made their JGP debuts and finished fifth (178.93) and sixth (176.62) respectively.

“I’ve been training these programs pretty well in practice and I was able to bring it for the Turkish crowd, and in front of all of these international competitors I was able to put out a pretty good performance and I’m very proud,” said Chan who put down a solid free program to move from eighth following his short program to fifth.

Jacob Sanchez of the USA won gold with a total score of 220.25, while Shunsuke Nakamura of Japan took silver (205.49), and Arlet Levandi of Estonia took bronze (196.08).

Megan Woodley of Oro-Medonte, Ont., who was also competing in her first Junior Grand Prix, had a fantastic short program in the women’s competition that had her sitting in fourth heading into the free program. She finished 10th in the free skate to finish 9th overall with a total score of 156.88.

Yuseong Kim of Korea and Ami Nakai of Japan battled for gold with Kim taking the win with a total score of 198.63, while Nakai took silver with a total score of 191.61. Stefania Gladki of France captured the bronze with a total sore of 182.32.

Laurence Brière of Carignan, Que., and Julien Lévesque of Boucherville, Que., were the top performing ice dance team for Canada, laying down two new personal best scores for their rhythm dance (47.51), and their free dance (79.13) to finish 11th overall with a new personal best total score of 126.64.

Sophia Gover of Minesing, Ont., and Billy Wilson-French of Scarborough, Ont., who were competing in their first JGP, finished just behind Brière and Lévesque in 12th with a total score of 121.58.

Darya Grimm and Michail Savitskiy of Germany captured their third medal of the season, winning gold with a total score of 158.20. Iryna Pidgaina and Artem Koval of Ukraine took silver (157.01), while Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukhin of the USA took bronze (155.96).

The fifth Junior Grand Prix of the season takes place next week in Gdansk, Poland from September 25-28, 2024 and will feature Canadian athletes in all four disciplines.