Figure skating: Junior Grand Prix
Figure skating: Junior Grand Prix
Big jump in women’s standings for Canada’s Rika Inoda at ISU Junior Grand Prix
MERANO, Italy – Rika Inoda of Burnaby, B.C., gained 10 spots in the standings to finish 15th in women’s singles on Friday at the second stop on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit. Tarrah Harvey of Vancouver and Keith Gagnon of Surrey, B.C., stand fourth in ice dancing after the original dance and Ronald Lam of Coquitlam, B.C., is fifth after the men’s short program.
In women’s singles, Melissa Bulanhagui of the U.S., won the gold medal with Rumi Suizu of Japan second and Sarah Hecken of Germany third.
Inoda, 15, posted the 10th best long program to jump from 25th to 15th overall. Still she felt she could have done better.
‘’I wasn’t at my best, it was definitely a learning experience,’’ said Inoda. ‘’Watching the competition made me realize what I need to do to be in the top. I was pretty nervous but I was pleased with how I fought through my program. The long program needs improvement and my triple jumps need to be more clean.’’
Vanessa Grenier, 16, of Sherbrooke, Que., was making her international debut.
‘’I’m disappointed, it wasn’t a very good long program,’’ she said. ‘’I certainly didn’t supplicate what I had been doing in practice.’’
In men’s singles, Curran Oi of the U.S., is the leader after the short program at 67.19 points. Nikita Mikhailov of Russia is second at 64.39 and Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic third at 63.52.
Lam stands fifth at 53.40 while Dave Ferland of Metabetchouan, Que., is 18th. Both Canadians are competing at their second career junior Grand Prix.
The compulsory dance and original dance in the ice dancing competition were both held on Thursday. Harvey and Gagnon produced the third best original dance but remained fourth at 73.93. Sophie Knippel of Ottawa and Andrew Britten of Dundas, Ont., are sixth at 67.63.
Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein of the U.S., lead at 82.10 followed by Ekaterina Riazanova and Jonathan Guerreiro of Russia at 79.44 and Lorenza Alessandrini and Simon Vaturi of Italy third at 74.33.
The men’s final and free dance are on Saturday.
Canadian Sport News/Nouvelles-sport canadien
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