Canadian skaters gain valuable experience at ISU Junior Grand Prix

RIGA, Latvia – Justine Brasseur of Brossard, Que., and Mathieu Ostiguy of Ste-Angèle-de-Monnoir, Que., took sixth spot in in pairs to complete their international debut on Friday at the second stop on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit.

Renata Oganesian and Mark Bardei of Ukraine won gold with 144.29 points, Anastasia Poluianova and Stepan Korotkov of Russia were second at 138.75 and their compatriots Ekaterina Borisova and Dmitry Sopot were third at 135.42.

‘’We made two mistakes that cost us a higher placing,’’ said Brasseur, 14. ‘’Still we are very pleased with our first showing at the Junior Grand Prix. We have some goals we want to meet in terms of our scoring this season and we know what we need to do to improve.’’

In women’s competition, Maria Sotskova of Russia was the winner with Kaori Skamoto of Japan second and Da Bin Choi of South Korea third.

Sarah Tamura of Burnaby, B.C., produced the eighth best long program to jump from 21^st to 13^th overall.

‘’I had a disastrous short program and I wanted to bounce back from that,’’ said Tamura, 14. ‘’I wanted to go out there and skate my long program like I do every day in training and I achieved that.’’

In ice dancing earlier Friday, Melinda Meng and Andrew Meng of Montreal are fifth after the short dance and Hannah Whitley of Creemore, Ont., and Elliott Graham of Angus, Ont., sixth.

Men’s competition got underway Thursday. Canadian junior champion Nicolas Nadeau of Boisbriand, Que., stands second after the short program.

The free dance and men’s free skate are on Saturday.

Full results: 2015 Riga Cup