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Keegan Messing wins gold at Nebelhorn Trophy

OBERTSDORF – Keegan Messing of Sherwood Park, Alta., is off to a flying start in the 2018-19 season as he won the gold medal in the men’s event on Saturday at the Nebelhorn Trophy figure skating competition.

Messing interpreted a Charlie Chaplin routine in his free skate and collected 257.16 points. Alexander Majorov of Sweden was second at 226.64 and Artur Dmitriev of Russia third at 225.31.

“To finish on top at my first international of the season feels fantastic,” said Keegan, eighth at the world championships last season. “Right now I feel like I have a really good plan with my coach. We didn’t have the quad Lutz today but we hope to have it ready at Skate Canada (October 26-28 in Laval). We want to play it smart this season.”

In pairs, Elisa Efimova and Alexander Korovin of Russia finished ahead of two American couples for the win.

Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., were seventh in their international debut at the senior level.

“It was definitely an eye-opening experience for us,” said Walsh. “We had a lot of fun and learned about the senior category and about each other. We need to go home and work super hard for Skate Canada.”

Canada ranked second in the team standings. The U.S. was first and Germany third.

On Friday, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto won the gold in ice dancing.

Full results: Nebelhorn Trophy 2018

Gilles and Poirier win gold at Nebelhorn Trophy

OBERTSDORF, Germany – Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto won the gold medal Friday at the Nebelhorn Trophy figure skating competition.

The Canadian Olympians earned 194.12 for the victory with the best scores in both the short dance and free dance. Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons of the U.S. were second at 180.95 and their compatriots Christine Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko were third at 177.49.

In women’s competition, Alina Zagitova won the gold medal, Mai Mihara of Japan was second and Loena Hendrickx Belgium third.

Alaine Chartrand of Prescott, Ont., was eighth.

“Disappointing result,” said Chartrand. “I wasn’t happy with the points or the placement. There were still a lot of positives from this week though. I had a lot of great practices and I’m confident all the changes in the off season are going to pay off. I can do so much better.”

Keegan Messing of Brantford, Ont., is first in the men’s standings after Friday’s short pogram with 90.63. Artur Dmitriev of Russia is second at 81.06 and Alexander Majorov of Sweden third at 78.86.

In Thursday’s pairs short program, Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., are fifth but less than seven points from third place.

Competition ends Saturday with the men’s and pairs free skates.

Full results: Nebelhorn Trophy 2018

Sixteen Canadian Skaters in Europe for two international events

OTTAWA, ON: Team Canada will be competing at two skating events this week in Europe. Senior skaters will be at the 2018 Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany and junior skaters will be at the fifth stop on the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

The 2018 Nebelhorn Trophy is the sixth stop on the International Skating Union’s (ISU) 2018 Challenger Series. Canada will have one entry per discipline in men, women, pair and ice dance, at the event which runs from September 26-29, 2018 in Oberdorf, Germany.

CANADIAN ENTRIES AT 2018 NEBELHORN TROPHY

DISCIPLINE NAME AGE HOMETOWN CLUB COACH
Men Keegan Messing 26 Sherwood Park, Alta. & Brantford, Ont. Sherwood Park FSC Ralph Burghart
Women Alaine Chartrand 22 Prescott, Ont. York Region Skating Academy Tracey Wainman, Grzegorz Filipowski
Pair Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud 17/22 London, Ont. / Trenton, Ont. London SC / Trenton Skating Club Alison Purkiss
Ice Dance Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier 26/26 Toronto, Ont. / Unionville, Ont. Scarboro FSC / Scarboro FSC Carol Lane, Juris Razgulajevs

Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada High Performance Director, will be the Canadian team leader at the event. Physiotherapist Karen Seymour, of Toronto, Ont., will be the Canadian medical staff onsite. Andrea Derby of Windsor, Ont., and Nicole LeBlanc-Richard of Dieppe, N.B., will be the Canadian officials at the event.

For more information and full entries please visit www.isu.org.

Canada will have six entries at the fifth stop on the ISU Junior Grand of Figure Skating series in Ostrava, Czech Republic, which runs from September 26-29, 2018. Canada will have two entries in men, pair and ice dance.

CANADIAN ENTRIES AT ISU JGP #5 – OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC

DISCIPLINE NAME AGE HOMETOWN CLUB COACH
Men Joseph Phan 17 Toronto, Ont. CPA Laval Brian Orser
Men Aleksa Rakic 13 Burnaby, B.C. Champs International Skating Centre of B.C. Joanne McLeod
Pair Gabrielle Levesque / Pier-Alexandre Hudon 15/19 Bridgewater, N.S. / Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies, Que. St. Margaret’s Bay SC / CPA La Pocatière Inc. Charleen Cameron, John Mattatall
Pair Brooke McIntosh / Brandon Toste 13/15 Toronto, Ont. / Mississauga, Ont. Canadian Ice Academy / Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club Andrew Evans
Ice Dance Emmy Bronsard / Aissa Bouaraguia 14/17 Montreal, Que. / Montreal, Que. CPA Gadbois / CPA Gadbois Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, Romain Haguenauer, Pascal Denis
Ice Dance Olivia McIsaac / Corey Circelli 16/16 Burlington, Ont. / Toronto, Ont. Burlington SC / Toronto Cricket Skating & Curling Club Andrew Hallam, Tracey Wilson

André Bourgeois, Skate Canada NextGen Director, and Manon Perron of Boucherville, Que., will be the Canadian team leaders at the event. Dr. Sari Kraft of Toronto, Ont., and physiotherapist Meaghan Shewchuk of Lloydminster, Alta., will be the Canadian team medical staff on site. Laura Carr of Kelowna, B.C., and Sabrina Wong of Toronto, Ont., will be the Canadian officials at the event.

For results and full entries please visit www.isu.org. All events on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit will be livestreamed on the ISU Junior Grand Prix YouTube channel.