Sports
Richmond High's Annie Lin, who trains with the local Connaught Figure Skating Club, is competing for Chinese Taipei at this week’s ISU Junior Grand Prix at Minoru Arenas. Skaters from 24 nations are competing, including many of the stars of tomorrow.
Photo by Don Fennell
Junior Grand Prix puts Richmond in skating spotlight
The next wave of figure skating has come to Richmond.
Many of the sport’s stars of tomorrow are
competing at the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating, hosted by Skate Canada in
partnership with the International Skating Union, through Saturday at Minoru
Arenas.
With the ladies’ free skate programs set to
begin at 2 p.m. this afternoon (Friday), a pair of Russian skaters sit first
and second. Having earned 65.07 points during Thursday’s short program, Anna
Shcherbakova is less than a full point ahead of teammate Anastasia Tarakanova
who was awarded a score of 64.56. The pair are ahead of two Korean skaters,
Jihun To and Young You, themselves separated by less than a 10th of a point.
Canada’s top skater is Hannah Dawson who sits
ninth after earning a score of 54.02 in the short program, while Canadian junior
silver medallist Sarah-Maude Blanchard, 17, of Quebec is 11th (50.67 points)
after the short program.
Yu-Hsun (Annie) Lin, who trains at Richmond’s
Connaught Figure Skating Club, is representing Chinese Taipei at the
competition. She sits 18th after a solid short program garnered her a score of
36.77.
Tomoki Hiwatashi of the U.S. leads the men’s
standings after the short program, after judges awarded him a score of 76.81
points. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama is second and Canada’s Iliya Kovler third.
Skating for Canada, Richmond’s own Beres
Clements is a strong ninth going into Saturday’s men’s free skate, scheduled to
begin at 12:30 p.m. The former Connaught skater who now trains with Joanne
McLeod at the Centre of Excellence in Burnaby, earned a score of 60.78 in the
short program. Clements placed 12th at his first ISU assignment of the season
in Austria.
Current Connaught skater Micah Kai Lynette,
who resides in Bellingham, Wash., sits 12th after scoring 58.27 points. Lynette
is representing Thailand.
After earning gold at his first ISU
assignment last month in Slovakia, Stephen Gogolev, 13, of Toronto sits seventh
after the short program with 63.63 points. He is coached by Brian Orser and Lee
Barkell.
Today (Friday) also marks the ice dance
competition at 7 p.m., and features two-time Canadian junior champions Marojie
Lajoie, 17, and Zachary Lagha, 19, both of Quebec. The duo was fourth at the
2018 world junior championships.
Canadian novice silver medallists Miku
Makita, 15, of Anmore and Tyler Gunara, 16, of Burnaby are also set to compete.
The event concludes with the junior pairs
free skate at 4 p.m. Saturday. Canadian junior pairs silver medallists Patricia
Andrew, 13, of London, Ont. and Paxton Fletcher, 19, of Rodney, Ont. will be
among the competitors. The pair was fourth at their first assignment in
Slovakia earlier this season.
Tickets, $10, are general admission, and free
for children 12 and under.
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