The two Quebec duos present at the NHK Trophy, the last figure skating Grand Prix of the season, took seventh places on Saturday in Osaka, Japan. In pairs, Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier collected 160.79 points, while in ice dancing, Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac concluded with a score of 176.26.
Germans Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin (202.51) dominated the pairs competition, finishing ahead of the Italian duos of Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise (190.31) and Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (186.47).
Seventh at the end of the short program, Laurin and Éthier took sixth place in Saturday’s free program.
“It wasn’t our best short program, but today [Saturday] I felt good and confident. It was good,” admitted, from Saint-Jérôme.
His partner from Saint-Eustache was satisfied to finish the competition on a good note in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
“It’s been quite an experience and we’ve never experienced that before. We skated for ourselves in the free skate and to prove to ourselves that we could redeem ourselves. »
Earlier this season, the couple placed fifth at the Skate Canada International Grand Prix held in Vancouver.
In ice dancing, Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac retained their seventh place after their free dance which allowed them to collect 104.91 points, good for a total of 176.26. At the top of the ranking, the British Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (215.19) managed to dethrone the Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (214.56) who were provisionally first after the rhythm dance.
“The crowd was incredible and even though it wasn’t the performance we wanted, we’re happy we took advantage of the moment,” Lauriault said.
The Grand Prix final will begin on December 7 in Beijing and several Quebecers will be present. Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps will skate as a couple, while in ice dancing, the Chinese public will be able to see the duets of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen and that of Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha in action. Ontarians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will also be registered.
