B.C. Centre of Excellence skaters continued to shine on the international stage.
National junior ice dance champions Zhao Kai Pang of Burnaby and his partner Madeline Edwards finished on the podium for a second straight time in a junior Grand Prix event.
This weekend, the pair finished third in the junior ice dance in the Czech Republic following second-place scores in both the short and free programs.
Pang and Edwards garnered a total score of 133.39, just a point behind American runners-up Rachel and Michael Parsons and less than two points shy of overall winner Betina Popova and Yuri Vlasenko of Russia, who were fourth heading into the long skate.
Last month, Pang and Edwards placed second in their first Grand Prix event this season in Mexico.
Danielle Wu and Spencer Soo of Burnaby also finished in fifth spot in the junior ice dance in the Czech Republic with an overall score of 127.78.
Another Burnaby ice dance team, Timothy Lum and Brianna Delmaestro, also placed fifth in an earlier Grand Prix event in Poland.
Last month, Simon Fraser University student Jeremy Ten placed third at the Nebelhorn Trophy senior men’s figure skating competition in Obertsdorf, Germany on Sept. 28.
Ten was third after the short program, finishing the long skate with a 205.56 score behind overall winner Nobunari Oda of Japan and Jason Brown of the U.S.
“This is quite exciting,” said the 24-year-old Ten in a Skate Canada press release. “I’ve worked really hard over the summer and it’s great to finally see it pay off this early in the season. Today I wasn’t at my best, so I know there’s a lot of room to grow.”
Ten, who finished in eighth place at last season’s national championships, is vying for one of Canada’s three available spots at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
“This off-season, I just needed to have a reset and reevaluate where I was in my career. … I remembered the reasons I was skating and fell back in love with the sport.”
– Tom Berridge
