Canadian Juniors head to Estonia for the 2015 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships

OTTAWA, ON: Skate Canada will send nine entries to the 2015 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships this week from March 2-8 in Tallinn, Estonia. The fourteen person Canadian team will compete in all four disciplines: men’s, ladies, pair and ice dance. Competition begins Wednesday with the ladies and pair short programs.

Roman Sadovsky, 15, Vaughan, Ont., placed fourth at the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in senior men’s. He competed on the ISU Junior Grand Prix Circuit winning gold in Czech Republic and then placing fourth in Germany. He qualified for the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final, placing fifth. This will be his second trip to the world juniors; in 2014 he placed 13th. Sadovsky is coached by Tracey Wainman and Gregor Filipowski at the YSRA Winter Club.

Nicolas Nadeau, 17, Boisbriand, Que., is the 2015 Canadian Junior Champion, having won the title earlier this year in Kingston, Ont. Nadeau placed fifth and 10th at his ISU Junior Grand Prix assignments in Japan and Croatia. Training at the École Excellence Rosemère he is coached by Yvan Desjardins.

Selena Zhao, 16, Varennes, Que., – Colorado Springs, USA., will be one of two entries in the ladies category. Zhao won the Canadian junior title in January and place 10th and ninth at her junior grand prix events this season in Slovenia and Germany. She is coached by Christy Krall and Damon Allen in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Kim DeGuise-Léveillée, 17, Sorel-Tracy, Que., competed in senior at the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships and placed fifth. Previously this season she placed eighth and 10th on the junior grand prix circuit in Czech Republic and Germany. DeGuise-Léveillée is coached by Josée Picard and Marc-André Craig in Chambly, Que.

Ice dancers Mackenzie Bent, 17, Uxbridge, Ont., and Garrett MacKeen, 20, Oshawa, Ont., will make their second trip to this event, having placed 12th is 2014. Bent and MacKeen won gold and silver on the junior grand prix circuit in Czech Republic and Estonia, which qualified them for the Final, where they placed fourth. They placed sixth at the national championships this year in senior. Training at Scarboro Ice Dance Elite, they are coached by Juris Razgulajevs and Carol Lane.

The 2014 world junior bronze medallists Madeline Edwards, 18, Port Moody, B.C., and ZhaoKai Pang, 19, Burnaby, B.C., will make their third trip to this event. Their season began at the first ISU Junior Grand Prix event in France with a silver medal performance and then a gold medal in Japan. They qualified for the Final were they placed fifth. At the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships they placed seventh in senior. They are coached by Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe at the Champs International Skating Centre.

In pair Julianne Séguin, 18, Longueuil, Que., and Charlie Bilodeau, 21, Trois-Pistoles, Que., will compete at the world junior championships for the first time. They have had a successful undefeated season internationally. They won gold at both their junior grand prix assignments in Czech Republic and Germany and then went on to win the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final title. They won the bronze medal in senior at the national championships in January. Séguin and Bilodeau are coached by Josée Picard in Chambly, Que.

Mary Orr, 18, Brantford, Ont., and Phelan Simpson, 19, Lunenburg, N.S., are the 2015 Canadian Junior Pair Champions. This will be their second trip to the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships; they placed sixth in 2014. On the junior grand prix circuit this season, they placed sixth and seventh in Estonia and Croatia. Orr and Simpson train at the Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club with coaches Kristy Wirtz and Kris Wirtz.

This will be the second international event for Shalena Rau, 15, Waterloo, Ont., and Sebastien Arcieri, 20, Montreal, Que.; they placed seventh at the junior grand prix event in Estonia earlier this season. In January, they won the silver medal at the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in junior pair. They are coached by Kristy Wirtz and Kris Wirtz at the Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club.

Manon Perron of Boucherville, Que., and Scott Rachuk of Strathroy, Ont., will be the Canadian team leaders at the event. Dr. Bob Brock of Toronto, Ont., and physiotherapist Cathy Striowski of Toronto, Ont., will be the Canadian medical staff onsite. Nicole Leblanc-Richard of Dieppe, N.B., Jeff Lukasik of Calgary, Alta., and Debbie Islam of Barrie, Ont., are the Canadian officials at the event.

Skate Canada High Performance Director Mike Slipchuk will also be traveling with the team.

For results and full entries please visit www.isu.org.

CANADIAN ENTRIES AT THE 2015 ISU WORLD JUNIOR FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS