Canada’s Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier secured a fifth-place finish in pairs figure skating at the Four Continents Championships held in Beijing, China. Hailing from St-Jerome, Que., Laurin and Ethier from St-Alphonse-de-Granby, Que., achieved a personal best score of 122.59 in the free program, resulting in a total score of 188.27.
Reflecting on their performance, Éthier expressed satisfaction with their score, attributing it to their hard work despite facing some errors. Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov from the United States claimed the top spot, surpassing the reigning Olympic champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China, with Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi of Japan securing the third position.
Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov, both hailing from Winnipeg and two-time Canadian Junior Grand Prix Final medallists, moved up to the eighth position overall with a score of 159.20 in their debut at the Four Continents. In the men’s short program, Roman Sadovsky, the 2026 national silver medallist from Vaughan, Ont., scored 79.96, placing him in ninth position.
Sadovsky expressed contentment with his performance, highlighting his enjoyment of the moment and the positive crowd response. The men’s free skate event is set to conclude the competition on Sunday. Wesley Chiu from Richmond, B.C., marked his return to international competition after a previous injury and currently holds the 15th position with a score of 73.61, followed by Aleksa Rakic from Burnaby, B.C., in 16th place with 68.83 points.
Japanese skaters dominated the men’s short program, led by former world junior champion Kao Miura, who is set to compete in the upcoming Milan Cortina Olympics. Kazuki Tomono and Sota Yamamoto secured the second and third positions, respectively, in the men’s short program.