Kelowna’s own Prospera Place played host some of the world’s top figure skaters this weekend as the 2019 Skate Canada International competition rolled through. Of the 60 skaters, 18 hailed from our great nation.
The event marked the second of six competitions for the annual International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix of Figure Skating series.
Skaters brought their best against one another for an opportunity to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final which will take place in Torino, Italy this December.
The competition portion of the event wrapped up on Saturday night with Canadian athletes earning a decent showing throughout the entire series.
Ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier earned the most heartwarming moment of the weekend after claiming their first career gold in nine seasons together.
Gilles and Poirier also set personal bests across the board with an impressive 209.01 points. The Toronto team overthrew defending Grand Prix Final champions, Madison Hubbell and Zarchary Donohue of the US, who came in second with 206. 31 points.
“This is such a special moment,” said Poirier. “Our mentality every single day is to push ourselves in order to win. We felt really united this week and that gives us the confidence we need to skate our best.”
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Britain gained bronze with 195.35 points.
The Russian duo of Aleksandra Boikova and Dimitrii Kozlovskii took home the gold with a score of 216.71 in the pairs program with Ontario’s Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro earning a shining silver and 208.29 points.
“We’ve been training a lot better than that,” said Moore-Towers. “We worked really hard on our jumps so there was some unforeseen mistakes and we’re glad we didn’t let them snowball. But it was probably our worst run of this program in six weeks.”
Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of Russia placed third with 202.29.
World junior champions Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., finished up in sixth and Kelowna’s own Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker of Burnaby in tenth.
Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu was just one point away from the men’s world record with 322.59, earning him first place.
Canadian champion Nam Nguyen, 21, broke records of his own this weekend with a personal best of 262.77, finding himself in second place.
“I felt pretty good,” Nguyen said. “There was a moment backstage while I was waiting I was kind of freaking out a little bit. But once I put my skates on, I pretty much calmed down. I basically watched Yuzu’s entire program, and I was able to channel that energy.”
Nicolas Nadeau of Blainville, Que., was seventh and Roman of Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont. was tenth.
Sadly in the women’s competition, our Canadians did not make it to the podium. Alexandra Trusova of Russia won the gold medal, Japan’s Rika Kihira took silver with Young You of South Korea claiming bronze.
Ontario Olympian Gabrielle Daleman made it to tenth with Alicia Pineault and Veronik Mallet of Quebec occupying eleventh and twelfth.
“It was good to get some more mileage on this program,” said Daleman. “Training has been going well this week and it was a thrill to compete in front of the home crowd.”
With this portion of the circuit concluded, the series moves on to Grenoble, France next weekend. Click here to see the full results from the competition.
Congratulations to all of the incredible skaters!
