It seems as if skating and skaters never sleep! No sooner has one event concluded than another one gets under way. In the case of this past week, Skate Ontario skaters have been doing their thing at the ISU Junior World Championships in Taipei City, Taiwan.

Skaters from the Skate Ontario footprint are no strangers to success at this event. Junior World Champions from Ontario have included: Andrei Rogozine 2011, Nam Nguyen 2014, in Men’s, Carolyn Skoczen in 1977 in Women’s, Sherri Baier and Robin Cowan 1976, Josee France and Paul Mills 1977, Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini 1978 in Pairs, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir 2006 in Ice Dance. There were lots of other medals for Ontario skaters to be sure, but these Junior World Champions deserve special mention.

Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys

Two-time Olympic Ice Dance champion-turned coach Scott Moir is especially equipped to discuss results at this event having the Junior World title as one of his countless accolades. Scott is part of the coaching team responsible for national Junior champions Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys from Ilderton who were impressive in their Junior World debut. They climbed from 11^th place in the Rhythm Dance with a 7^th place in the Free Dance to finish in 8^th place overall. “They dig in every day in training and have really developed as athletes and people this year, so the 8^th place at Junior Worlds is the ‘cherry on top’ of a great year,” said Scott. “I’m still beaming with pride, as is the whole coaching team, at them having the performances they had here.”

Lulu Lin

Another national Junior champion from Skate Ontario, Lulu Lin from Canadian Ice Academy was impressive in her 6^th place free skate, where she overcame a 15^th place finish in the short program to finish in 10^th overall. That kind of movement is the result of great training with coaches Paul Parkinson and Andrew Evans leading the way and legendary choreographer David Wilson creating the programs. “This result shows how we have all been working – Lulu, the team and support system, and the system is paying off,” said Andrew. “We hope that it’s just the start and her consistency throughout her training and competing will allow her to reach new heights next season.”

Alisa Korneva and Kieran Macdonald

Alisa Korneva and Kieran Macdonald, Canadian national Junior bronze medalists from the Kitchener Waterloo Skating Club were also on hand in Taipei City for the ice dance event and finished in a very respectable 17^th place in their Junior Worlds debut. Their primary coach is Carleigh MacDonald whose coaching partner Paul MacIntosh summarized their performance to Skate Ontario. “First of all, Carleigh has done an amazing job with this team, and she reported to me that they felt they skated very well and performed as planned.” Are there lessons learned from an event like this?  “I imagine they will have watched the other couples and gained new knowledge and renewed confidence in their own skating,” continued Paul.

Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov

Let’s take a moment to highlight Canadian national Junior Pair champions Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov, who finished in 6th place for the second consecutive year at the Junior World Championships. You may well remember this team from their outstanding silver medal at the recent ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in December. Coached by Kevin Dawe and Lee Barkell, they had among their choreographers Olympic (ice dance ) coach Carol Lane who described the team this way. “These two were so much fun to work with, so talented and so very involved in collaborating in the creation of their free program. They have so much potential and are just at the start of their journey.”

Potential. The word of the day to describe the Junior Worlds results and performances from the athletes in Taiwan from Ontario. #SkateOntarioProud.

#SKATEONTARIOPROUD Team Ontario Report Card

Supporting Skate Ontario athletes is easy – follow us on social media and don’t forget the hashtag #skateontarioproud. See you at the Skate Ontario Provincial Championships in Brampton March 20 – 22, 2024. Visit our website for more information: skateontario.org.