By: Dylan Nazareth

To say Toronto’s Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov got off to a hot start this year would be an understatement. The two-time national junior pairs champions kicked off the season with Golden skates at Junior Grand Prix events in Riga and Ankara, setting personal bests at both competitions.

And they’re just getting started. This weekend, Kemp and Elizarov are trying their hand at their first senior competition, as the lone pairs entrants at a Sectional Series event in Barrie.

“We’re excited to start skating seniors, just to push us in a different way,” said Kemp. “We’ve been skating junior for a while, so we’re excited to kind of step into that this season.”

In switching to seniors, the two-time junior national champions have been working on adding a third lift to their free program, and increasing the difficulty of some of their elements, including a triple salchow instead of a double axel in their short. It’s been a new challenge introducing these components, so they’re keen on seeing how they pull it off outside of practice.

“I think our goal for sectionals is to see how a senior program feels out in competition, doing that third lift under pressure,” Elizarov said. “When we get feedback after Barrie, we’ll use that for our next competition.”

Kemp and Elizarov have been training in Toronto for over two years now, since making the move from Winnipeg to follow longtime coach Kevin Dawe. Dawe has worked with the pair for over a decade since they were both singles skaters and was honoured they opted to join him in Ontario when he had to make the move.

“I truly appreciated that,” he shared. “Their continued trust in me to keep pushing them forward.”

So far with medals aplenty, it’s worked out great over the past two seasons for the young pair. And after they didn’t skate the way they felt they could at junior worlds last year, Dawe said he was impressed to see them show up even more driven this season.

“Their dedication and intensity of practice has been phenomenal,” said Dawe. ”They came in with plans. They came in with a hunger each day. You can just see them growing and growing each week, and they continue to do that, which is great. They have a fire within them right now and it’s just nice to see them improve.”

Along with Dawe, Kemp and Elizarov train with coach Lee Barkell at the Granite Club, where they’ve found a home and a community since their move.

“Everyone has been so helpful,” said Kemp. “Having CSIO and Skate Ontario, there are just so many resources that we’re using a lot and that have helped with injuries and everything like that. It’s great.”

In Ontario, they’ve also had the chance to see some of the country’s best skaters up close. At the Granite Club they train alongside Stephen Gogolev, and they’ve also had a few run-ins with top Ontario pairs skaters Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud.

“Lia and Trennt have been really cool to watch over the years,” said Elizarov. “They started skating together like three years ago and it’s been cool to see them develop and become a really good senior pair. We definitely strive to kind of do the same.”

Aiming to make their debut at senior nationals this season, it might not be long until we see Kemp and Elizarov take the ice alongside the likes of Pereira, Michaud, and Canada’s best. But for now, they’re focused squarely on their senior debut this weekend, looking to put their best foot forward with an opportunity to prove themselves at the highest level.