News: 2005-2006

Virtue and Moir, Chan capture gold in Montreal

(September 26, 2005)

Dance Medallists
(L-R) Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev (RUS) - Silver, Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir (CAN) - Gold, Mylene Lamoureux / Michael Mee (CAN) - Bronze

It was a great day for Canadian skating, as Canadian skaters captured three medals in the final day of competition at the 2005 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Montreal.

Combined with Michelle Cronin and Brian Shales’ bronze medal in the pair event from Saturday night, Canada brought home a total of four medals from the event.

Taking home their second gold medal from the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit were Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Virtue and Moir, who won all three portions of the event in Montreal, finished the competition with a spectacular free dance that increased their lead over the competition and resulted in a gold medal. Achieving level 3 and 4 difficulty levels in all their elements combined with strong program component scores gave Virtue and Moir 80.21 points for the free dance and a total of 169.06 points overall. The duo had a 31.55-point lead over their closest competitors, Russians Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev, who won the silver medal.

Taking home the bronze medal in the Ice Dance event was the team of Mylene Lamoureux and Michael Mee. Lamoureux and Mee placed sixth in the compulsory dance and third in the original dance to stand in sixth-place after the original dance. Lamoureux and Mee moved up to the bronze medal position with a dramatic and powerful free dance in which many of their elements were rated a level 3 or 4. Their points total of 61.83 for the free dance vaulted them into third-place with an overall total of 128.04 points.

Alice Graham and Andrew Poje skated a passionate free program to place sixth in that portion of the event and eighth overall with a total of 118.65 points.

Patrick Chan with coach Osborne Colson

Canada’s second gold medal of the day came in the Men’s event.

Patrick Chan, the 2005 Canadian Junior Men’s Champion, came from second-place after the short program to place first in the free skate and first overall with a total of 167.83 points overall.

The evening belonged to Chan, who was last to skate in the Men’s competition. He accumulated 115.01 points for his free skate, which was highlighted by six triple jumps, including an outstanding triple flip-triple toe loop combination, a triple loop and a triple Lutz-double toe loop combination. Chan also received high marks for his strong skating skills, interpretation and performance.

Joey Russell skated a strong free skate program, which included a triple Salchow-double toe loop combination and three other triple jumps, to climb into fifth-place overall with a total of 137.18 points.

Jamie Forsythe placed 10th overall with a total of 112.10 points.

In the Ladies event, moving up from sixth-place after the short program was Canada’s Kathryn Kang. Kang began her program with a double Axel and followed it up with an effortless triple Salchow-double toe loop combination. She also executed a second triple Salchow and a double Axel-double toe loop combination. Her total of 67.48 points in the free skate gave her an overall total of 105.43 points and a fifth-place finish.

Erin Scherrer moved up from 14th after the short program to place seventh in the free skate and ninth overall with a combined total of 93.68 points.

Cecilia Gauvin was ninth in the short program and 12th in the free skate to finish 11th overall with a total of 89.29 points.

Skate Canada congratulates all the skaters who competed in the ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Montreal.


Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir	Mylene Lamoureux / Michael Mee	Alice Graham / Andrew Poje

Patrick Chan	Joey Russell	Jamie Forsythe

Kathryn Kang	Erin Scherrer	Cecilia Gauvin

Men's Medallists (L-R) Takahiko Kozuka (JPN) - Silver, Patrick Chan (CAN) - Gold, Craig Ratterree (USA) - Bronze	Ladies Medallists (L-R) Megan Oster (USA) - Silver, Akiko Kitamura (JPN) - Gold, Laura Dutertre (FRA) - Bronze	Photos: F. Scott Grant

See complete results.