Russia and Finland dominate, Canadians trail at ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Russia and Finland’s two teams grabbed the top-four places in Friday’s short program at the ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships while Canada’s entries are sixth and seventh.

Team Russia 1 stands first at 62.55 points followed by Team Russia 2 in second at 62.34. Team Finland 1 is third at 61.55 and Team Finland is fourth at 57.72.

Les Suprêmes from St-Léonard, Que., is sixth at 55.53 and Nexxice from Burlington, Ont., are seventh at 54.78. There are 19 entries.

‘’The atmosphere felt really great and welcoming,’’ said Emiko Marr of Nexxice. ‘’That gave us the mindset to go out and perform the best we could. We persevered really well through the program and we want to keep that level of focus for the free skate.’’

Also skating for Nexxice were Isabella Del Villar, Alycia Giro, Abbey Glumpak, Sarah Hayman, Taylor Johnston, Amanda Kauffman, Kaitlin Lees, Anna Ljunberg, Carolyn Matheson, Shayna McFadden, Jessica Morgan, Scarlet Panning-Stinson, Angie Qie, Nicole Suszek, Emily Van Berkel, Emily Wright and Olivia Xie.

Les Suprêmes were world junior bronze medallists in 2015.

‘’Our performance felt great,’’ said Alessia Arsenault, team captain for les Suprêmes. ‘’The crowd gave us so much energy and it was really exciting. We want to improve for the final and keep working together. If we duplicate what we do in practice it will go well.’’

Also skating for les Suprêmes were Jessica Allaire, Amélie Béland, Julia Bernardo, Véronik Boisvert, Rachel Cecere, Lynnson Ceneston, Alice Côté, Ariane Conn, Marie-Ève Deschênes, Olivia Di Giandomenico, Giulia Hart-Lewis, Jessica Iacono, Anélie Jalbert-Tousignant, Grace Le Touzel, Andréanne Paradis, Florence Poulin, Julia Spilak, Anne-Laurence Trudeau and Sarah Verville.

Nexxice and Les Suprêmes earned their entries to the world junior championships winning gold and silver respectively at Skate Canada Central Ontario’s annual Winterfest competition in January.

Competition ends Saturday with the free skate at 3 p.m. (EST)

Full Results: 2017 ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships