SAITAMA, Japan – Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje produced Canada’s best result at the 2019 ISU World Figure Skating Championships on Saturday with a fifth place finish in the ice dancing event.

All three Canadian ice dance teams cracked the top-10.

Gabrielle Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France earned a fourth world crown in five years with 222.65 points. Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia were second at 211.76 and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the U.S. were third at 210.40.

Weaver and Poje, from Waterloo, Ont., remained fifth at 205.62. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto moved from eighth to seventh with 200.92 and Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen of Montreal stayed in 10^th at 188.10.

Weaver and Poje skated to a piece from the Quebec rock opera Starmania in honor of the late Dennis Ten of Kazakhstan. The 2014 Olympic bronze medallist was killed in a car jacking last year.

“We felt so free and calm and that’s exactly the place we wanted to perform this program in,” said Weaver. “This program is more than about the levels and the score.”

Still the Canadians were less than five points from the podium.

“We’ve been in the top-five for a long time,” said Poje. “And it feels like just finding those little details, those little extra special things that make you unique and try and bring those out in the performances.”

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier

Gilles and Poirier performed their international admired program to Don McLean’s hit song Vincent (Starry, Starry Night).

“It wasn’t our best performance of the season,” said Gilles. “We put pressure on ourselves because we wanted to move up in the standings. Still we’re going to miss this program but we need to keep progressing going towards the next Olympics.”

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen

For Fournier Beaudry and Sorensen, their first worlds were a success.

“It was amazing to skate this program,” said Sorensen. “We felt good. Everything we’ve been working on came together quite well and it’s nice to do a clean skate you can be proud of.”

In men’s competition, Nathan Chen of the U.S. successfully defended his title with 323.42 points. Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan was second at 300.97 and Vincent Zhou of the U.S. was third at 281.16.

Keegan Messing

Keegan Messing of Sherwood Park, Alta., was 15^th and Nam Nguyen of Toronto 16^th.

“I lost my head out there,” said Messing. “The mistakes came from not thinking properly. That’s why it hurts a little bit.”

Nam Nguyen

Nguyen also struggled.

“The Axels kind of got away from me,” he said. “It was kind of weird because they had been solid for me in practice. But other than that I felt good about the performance.”

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1819/wc2019/

SAITAMA, Japan – Canadians Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro placed seventh in pairs on Thursday at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships.

Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China won the gold medal with 234.84 points. Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of Russia were second at 228.47 and their compatriots Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert third at 217.98.

Moore-Towers and Marinaro, skating to a Pink Floyd medley, tabulated 200.02. It was clear at the end of their skate they were not pleased.

“It wasn’t our day, I suppose, we’re not really sure,” said Moore-Towers, from St. Catharines, Ont. “We were so prepared. Our mindset was perfect all week. We were so ready and excited. Our warm-up was perfect. Unfortunately it didn’t work out.”

Evelyn Walsh and Trennt Michaud

Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., completed their worlds debut in 12^th with 174.40, a season’s best score.

“We’re very pleased we delivered our best,” said Walsh. “It’s been a long season and we wanted to peak at the right time. Everything for us this year was a first and we just wanted to soak it all in.”

The Americans are 1-2 after the men’s short program. Defending champion Nathan Chen leads with 107.40 and Jason Brown is second at 96.81. Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan is third at 94.87.

Canadian champion Nam Nguyen of Toronto is 13^th and Keegan Messing of Sherwood Park, Alta., is 14^th.

“The way I’ve been training the short program all year has been consistent and strong,” Nguyen said. “There were a couple of shaky elements but overall I’m proud I was able to put out a decent performance.”

Messing fell on his opening quad toe.

“The quad has been a very consistent element for me all year,” said Messing. “I guess it wasn’t on today so I left it behind me and proceeded to fight for every element afterwards.”

Competition continues Friday with the rhythm dance and the women’s free skate. The event is streamed live at CBC.ca starting at 11 p.m. (EDT) Thursday evening. (12 p.m. Friday in Japan)

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1819/wc2019/

OTTAWA, ON: Skate Canada will send 10 entries, for a total of 15 skaters to the  2019 ISU World Figure Skating Championships. The event will take place from March 18-24, 2019, in Saitama City, Japan. Canada will have three entries in women and ice dance, and two entries in men and pair.

Canadian gold medallist Nam Nguyen, 20, Ajax, Ont., is the first of two Canadian entries in the men’s category. This will be his fifth time competing at this event; he earned his best result in 2015, finishing fifth. Most recently, he finished 10^th at the ISU Four Continents Championships. The four-time Canadian medallist is coached by Robert Burk in Richmond Hill, Ont.

Canadian bronze medallist Keegan Messing, 27, Sherwood Park, Alta./Brantford, Ont., will be the second Canadian entry in men’s. This will be his second time competing at this event, having finished 8th in 2018. Messing placed fourth at the ISU Four Continents Championships in February. He is coached by Ralph Burghart in Anchorage, Ak, USA.

Canadian gold medallist Alaine Chartrand, 22, Prescott, Ont., is the first of three Canadian women competing at the event. Chartrand recently finished 16^th at the ISU Four Continents Championships. This will be her third time competing at this event. She is coached by Tracey Wainman and Grzegorz Filipowski at York Region Skating Club.

Canadian silver medallist Aurora Cotop, 16, Thornhill, Ont., will be the second Canadian entry in the women’s discipline. This will be her first time competing at this event. Most recently, she finished third at the 2019 Bavarian Open. Cotop is coached by Ravi Walia in Edmonton Alta.

Gabrielle Daleman, 21, Newmarket, Ont., will be the final Canadian entry in women’s. She finished fifth at the 2019 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in January. This will be her sixth time competing at this event, having finished 7^th in 2018 and winning bronze in 2017. She is coached by Lee Barkell and Brian Orser in Toronto, Ont.

Canadian gold medallists Kirsten Moore-Towers, 26, St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro, 27, Sarnia, Ont., will be the first of two Canadian entries in pair. The two are coming off a silver medal finish at the ISU Four Continents Championships. This will be their third time competing at this event, having finished sixth in 2018. They are coached by Bruno Marcotte, Richard Gauthier and Sylvie Fullum in Saint-Leonard, Que.

Canadian silver medallists Evelyn Walsh, 17, London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud, 22, Trenton, Ont., will be the second pair representing Canada. They finished 7th at the ISU Four Continents Championships in February. This will be their first time competing at this event. The two are coached by Alison Purkiss in Brantford, Ont.

Canadian champions Kaitlyn Weaver, 29, Toronto, Ont. and Andrew Poje, 32, Waterloo, Ont., will be the first of three entries in ice dance. The two finished second at the 2019 ISU Four Continents Championships. This will be their 11th time competing at this event; last season they won their third world medal with a bronze medal performance. The three-time world medallists are coached by Nikolai Morozov, Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Camerlengo in Hackensack, New Jersey/Novi, Michigan, USA.

Canadian silver medallists Piper Gilles, 27, Toronto, Ont., and Paul Poirier, 27, Unionville, Ont., will also represent Canada in ice dance. The two won a bronze medal at the ISU Four Continents Championships in February. This will be their seventh time competing at this event, having finished in the top ten the past five consecutive years. They are coached by Carol Lane, Juris Razgulajevs and Jon Lane in Scarborough, Ont.

Canadian bronze medallists Laurence Fournier Beaudry, 26, Montreal, Que., and Nikolaj Sorensen, 30, Montreal, Que., will be the third Canadian entry in ice dance. At their first international event representing Canada, the two finished sixth at the ISU Four Continents Championship. They are coached by Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haguenauer in Montreal, Que.

Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada High Performance Director and Cynthia Ullmark of Canmore, Alta., will be the team leaders at the event. Dr. Lee Schofield of Toronto, Ont., and physiotherapist Sylvia Ciurysek of Berwyn, Alta., will be the Canadian medical staff onsite. Cynthia Benson of Quispamsis, N.B., and André-Marc Allain of Ottawa, Ont., will be the Canadian officials at the event.

Emma Bowie, Skate Canada Communications Manager, will be the media attaché at the event. She can be reached onsite at [email protected].

For results and full entries, please visit isu.org or wfc2019.jp.

Canadian Entries at 2019 ISU World Figure Skating Championships