Lucky 13 to skate on at nationals

The Champs International Skating Centre of B.C. is sending a large and energized team to the 2020 Skate Canada Canadian Tire National Championships next month in Mississauga, Ontario Jan 13th –19th.

Thirteen athletes have earned their positions in the national competition, which runs Jan. 13 to 19.

Champs’ skating director Joanne McLeod says the level of skill making the trip is impressive.

“This is an exciting year; we have many athletes going for podium placements.”

This success has followed in suit of our Skate Canada BC/YK Section grassroots development programs.

Under McLeod’s leadership, team coaches Neil Wilson and Megumu Seki have worked hard for the past seven months to prepare this team of athletes. The skaters will train hard over the Christmas holidays to fine tune their programs, conditioning, and technical elements. 

One of the premier figure skating schools in North America, the Burnaby-based Champs International Skating Centre of BC has consistently earned the title of top skating club at the BC provincial championships, including this past year.

Earning positions at the nationals in senior men division are Burnaby native Aleksa Rakic, Alexander Lawrence and Beres Clements. The senior women competitors include Burnaby’s Sarah Tamura, Emily Bausback and Amanda Tobin, while in the respective junior competitions are Emily Millard (women’s) and Gabriel Blumenthal and Shuma Mugii (men’s). Lacing on the skates to challenge in the novice men’s division are Terry Jin, Shohei Law and Brendan Wong, while Emma Szeto will compete in novice women’s.

CHAMPS SCORES BIG AT SUPER SERIES

Last month, a number of Champs International Skating Centre of B.C. athletes paved their path to the nationals with their performances at the 2020 Belairdirect Skate Canada B.C./Yukon Sectionals super series in Kelowna.

Leading the way with first-place results in their respective divisions were senior men’s Aleksa Rakic, novice men’s Shoei Law, juvenile men’s Alex Wang, pre-juvenile’s Elia De Pangher, and juvenile women’s Kara Yun.

Rakic posted a two-event score of 197.53 to claim the sr. men’s top spot, ahead of clubmates Alexander Lawrence (2^nd – 179.11) and Beres Clements (3^rd – 167.35).

Law’s total of 122.17 in novice men’s event edged Connaught’s David Li by 12 points, also ahead of Champs’ Terry Yu Tao Jin, who finished third at 104.44.

Here are more Champs results: MEN’s, Sr. – 1^st Aleksa Rakic, 197.53; 2^nd Alexander Lawrence, 179.11; 3^rd Beres Clements, 167.35. Junior – 2^nd Gabriel Blumenthal, 184.07; 3^rd Shuma Mugii, 152.70. Novice – 1^st Shohei Law, 122.17; 3^rd Terry Yu Tao Jin, 104.44; 4^th Brendan Wong, 97.64. Pre-novice – 2^nd Ron Vainer, 80.32. Juvenile – 1^st Alex Wang, 30.00; 4th Nathan Feng. Pre-juvenile – 1^st Elia De Pangher, 22.24.

WOMEN, Sr. – 3^rd Sarah Tamura, 120.47. Junior – 4^th Emily Millard, 129.75; 6^th Melody Zhu; 8^th Phoebe Yan. Novice – 2^nd Emma Szeto, 114.57; 4^th Faith Benko, 107.30; 13^th Angela Chen; 20^th, Emma Shih. Pre-novice – 3^rd Luka Miyake, 88.25; 8^th Jessica Lang; 9^th Yena Oh; 13^th Rachel Wang; 20^th Julia Datsky. Juvenile u14 – 4^th Nayali Liu, 28.99; 7^th Emily Wang; 15^th Kaili Dalley. Juvenile u12 – 1^st Kara Yun, 32.16; 3^rd Angelina Yinlin Guan, 30.65; 5^th Sanuli Loku; 12^th Alyssa Yip. Pre-juvenile u11/group 1 – 4^th Jasmine Coetzee; 8^th Ashley Peng. Group 2 – 5^th Sabina Lim; 7^th Annie Zheng.