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Canadians lead after short dance at ISU Junior Grand Prix

COURCHEVEL, France – World junior championships bronze medallist Madeline Edwards of Port Moody, B.C., and ZhaoKai Pang of Burnaby, B.C., are in first place after Friday’s short dance at the opening stop on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit in figure skating.

Edwards and Pang, ranked seventh in Canada at the senior level, tabulated a 51.84 score.  Alla Loboda and Pavel Drodz of Russia are second at 50.10 and their compatriots Anastasia Shpilevaya and Grigory Smirnov third at 47.94.

Melinda Meng and Andrew Meng of Montreal are eighth.

In the women’s final, Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia was the winner with 179.55 points.  Rin Nataya of Japan was second at 158.76 and Amber Glenn of the U.S. third at 148.08.

Larkyn Austman of Coquitlam, B.C., produced the eighth best long program to climb from 13th to 10th overall. Roxanne Cournoyer of Sorel-Tracy, Que., was 11th.

In Thursday’s men’s short program, Bennet Toman of St-Lazare, Que., and Daniel-Olivier Boulanger-Trottier of Montreal were 10th and 13th.  Both are making their international debuts.

Competition ends Saturday with the free dance and men’s free skate.

Edwards and Pang earn silver at ISU Junior Grand Prix

COURCHEVEL, France – Madeline Edwards of Port Moody, B.C., and ZhaoKai Pang of Burnaby, B.C., won the silver medal in a close ice dance battle on Saturday to conclude the first stop on the ISU Junior Grand Prix figure skating circuit.

Alla Loboda and Pavel Drozd of Russia took gold with 132.44 points. Edwards and Pang followed at 129.62 and Anastasia Shpilevaya and Grigory Smirnov of Russia were third at 121.41.

“We are extremely happy with how we skated,” said Edwards, 18, in her seventh season with Pang. “We were really comfortable and relaxed which is a feeling we really wanted to improve over last season.”

The Canadians held a slight lead over Loboda and Drozd after Friday’s short dance and skated third to last on Saturday.

“We felt it was possible our score could hold,” said Edwards. “But still anything can happen, the talent here is very deep. The result was something we were trying not to be overly worried about at this point in the season. We just wanted this new program to show our maturity and personalities.”

Edwards and Pang were third at the junior world championships last year and Saturday’s performance was their fifth career medal on the circuit.

“Our big objective is to return to the world juniors and hopefully improve our result,” said Pang, 19. “This is exactly the kind of start we wanted to our international season. What stood out for me wasn’t any particular move but the energy we displayed from start to finish.”

Melinda Meng and Andrew Meng of Montreal were seventh.

In the men’s final; Bennet Toman of St-Lazare, Que., and Daniel-Olivier Boulanger-Trottier of Montreal were 12th and 13th. Both were making their international debuts. June Hyoung Lee of South Korea won the gold medal.

The second stop on the circuit is August 28-30 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.