MOSCOW – Alaine Chartrand of Prescott, Ont., took a giant step in her career on Saturday as she won the bronze medal in women’s competition to conclude the Rostelecom Cup, the fourth stop on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit.

World junior champion Rika Hongo of Japan earned the gold medal with 178.00 points followed by Anna Pogorilaya of Russia, the Skate Canada International champion two weeks ago, in second at 173.43.

Chartrand, the leader after Friday’s short program, was third with a personal best 172.00 for her first international medal.

‘’Definitely I reached a new level today to win a medal in my first season on the senior Grand Prix,’’ said Chartrand, 18.  ‘’I didn’t feel any extra pressure today because I had won the short program.  I’m always nervous anyway.’’

Despite the medal, Chartrand wasn’t thrilled with her free skate.  While she stayed on her feet from start to finish she did have to fight hard for some of her successful landings.

‘’There is definitely room for improvement,’’ she said.  ‘’But it was certainly better than at Skate Canada (where she finished seventh).’’

In men’s competition, Javier Fernandez of Spain took the gold with Sergei Voronov of Russia second and Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic third.  Jeremy Ten of Vancouver was 10th.

Despite the result, Ten was pleased with his achievements this weekend.

‘’I came here to introduce may quad jump into the program and for me that was a success,’’ said Ten.  ‘’I gained confidence that it’s a jump that I have the ability to land, hopefully at my next competition. I was also pleased with how I came back with a strong triple Axel today as well.’’

Next weekend, the circuit heads to Bordeaux, France for the Trophee Eric Bompard.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/gprus2014/index.htm