ZhaoKai Pang and Madeline Edwards won a comeback bronze medal in ice dance at the world junior figure skating championships.
Pang and Edwards recorded personal-best scores in the short and free programs to post a career-high 139.65 total points to place third overall behind Americans Kaitlin Hawayak and Jean-Luc Baker and Anna Yanvskaya and Sergey Mozgov of Russia at the International Skating Union championships in Sofia, Bulgaria on March 14.
The B.C. Centre of Excellance pair opened in fifth-place score of 57.92, but moved onto the podium with a third-best free skate of 81.73, leapfrogging two other American pairings in the process.
“It was a really emotional free dance, said Pang, who turned 19 at the competition. “We didn’t leave anything out. We put it all on the ice and we were really happy with the way we skated. We were gassed at the end.”
Pang and Edwards placed 12th at last year’s junior worlds.
“We could not be more excited with our placement,” added Edwards in the Skate Canada press release. “Last year, I remember watching the podium at junior worlds and just thinking that we want our flag to be up there, and how cool would that be to be on the podium. And to see that come true was just amazing.”
Also at the worlds, former Burnaby resident Nam Nguyen, who moved to Toronto to train with two-time Canadian Olympic silver medalist Brian Orser, won gold in the junior men’s program with 217.06 total points, posting the top score in both the short and free programs.
“That was the best free skate I have ever had,” said Nguyen, who landed two triple axels in the long program.
