Silver Saturday for Canadian ice dancers at Junior Grand Prix

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Ice dancers Brianna Delmaestro of Port Moody, B.C., and Timothy Lum of Burnaby, B.C., earned their first career medal on the ISU Junior Grand Prix figure skating circuit on Saturday placing second overall.

Daria Morozova and Mikhail Zhirmov of Russia won the gold medal with 131.54 points just ahead of the Canadians at 131.30, a personal best score. Holly Moore and Daniel Klaber of the U.S., took third at 129.26.

‘’It was the presentation that really got us the medal,’’ said Lum, 19. ‘’We showed strong technical skills but it was the performance that made the difference. It feels great and now we can start thinking about potentially going to the Junior Grand Prix final and world juniors.’’

The couple have only been together for just over a year.

‘’We are both committed to the partnership and the programs and those are our strengths,’’ said Delmaestro, 18. ‘’Today we knew that a medal was a possibility if we skated our best.’’

Valerie Taillefer and Jason Chan of Montreal were ninth.

In women’s competition, Selena Zhao of Varennes, Que., took 10th spot overall in her international debut with Julianne Delaurier of Kelowna, B.C., 17th. Serafima Sakhanovich of Russia won the gold medal.

‘’I was O.K. with the performance but I had to fight through everything,’’ said Zhao, 16, seventh after the short program. ‘’I was happy that I didn’t give up. There are a lot of points that have the ability to go out there and get. My goal is to have two solid programs by the end of the season.’’

In Friday’s men’s competition, Anthony Kan of Richmond Hill, Ont., was sixth and Mitchell Gordon of Vancouver seventh.

Kan was third after the short program on Thursday and was hoping to fare better in the final.

‘’The long program didn’t start the way I started and I had a mental blockage from there on in particularly with the jumps,’’ said Kan, 19. ‘’I need to work on improving and refining my presentation and by the end of the season I would like to have a consistent triple Axel and quad toe.’’

Gordon roared from 13th place after the short.

‘’I’m not as comfortable with the short program as the long right now,’’ said Gordon. ‘’It was nice to come back in the long and I really stick with the plan from start to finish. Still, I need to get my triple Axel back working and work harder on that short program.’’

The next stop on the circuit is September 5-6 in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/jgpslo2014/index.htm