RIGA, LATVIA (August 23, 2025) – Canadian skaters got off to a strong start this weekend at the first stop of the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit in Riga, Latvia, bringing home three medals.
Pair team Ava Kemp (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Yohnatan Elizarov (Winnipeg, Manitoba), as well as ice dancers Layla Veillon (London, Ontario) and Alexander Brandys (London, Ontario) earned top honours in their respective categories.
Kemp and Elizarov were the first to achieve the feat after taking first place in both of their programs. The team secured their victory with an impressive free skate score of 113.24, bringing their total to 175.91 points, a personal best for the pair.
“We were confident from the start. Everything was going well in training. We’re very happy that all the hard work over the last few weeks has paid off,” said Elizarov.
“We’re happy with the win, but more than anything, we wanted to show that we’ve improved. We’ve learned from the competitions that didn’t go so well in recent seasons,” added Kemp.
In ice dance, Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys finished second after the rhythm dance, behind France’s Dania Mouaden and Theo Bigot. However, the Canadians closed the gap on Saturday in the free dance, climbing to the top of the podium with an overall personal best score of 161.83.
“It’s a little surreal for us, we’ve worked so hard to achieve a result like this,” commented Veillon. “We wanted to have fun and that’s what we were able to do, in addition to being successful on the ice.”
In the men’s competition, Grayson Long (Oakville, Ontario) also set a personal best this weekend in Riga, with a total of 221.71 points, earning him the silver medal, just behind Japan’s Rio Nakata.
“I was able to handle the pressure well, especially since I was in medal contention after the short program,” he said. “I’m always extremely nervous when I compete, and I thought I was going to be sick after the short program. On the ice, everything went well. I focused on each element, and it paid off.”
Also representing Canada this weekend in Riga, Camila Volkova (Lac-Brome, Quebec) finished 15th in the women’s competition with a score of 129.31 points. The Quebec native, who was competing in her first ISU Junior Grand Prix, was 12th after the short program, where she scored 48.81.
“I was very nervous at the start of the short program, but I managed to pull through anyway. It wasn’t necessarily any easier in the free skate, but I learned to have more confidence in myself for the future.”
View the full competition results here.