DEBRECEN, HUNGARY (February 27, 2025) – Sandrine Gauthier of Saint-Constant, QC, and Quentin Thieren of Montreal, QC, earned Canada’s top result of the day at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships, placing eighth in the final ice dance standings on Thursday in Debrecen, Hungary. Their teammates, Chloe Nguyen and Brendan Giang, both of Burnaby, B.C., finished just behind with a solid ninth place.
The Canadian duo, who was ranked eighth after the rhythm dance, earned the seventh best score in the free dance to finish the event with a total of 150.74.
“We think we delivered two solid routines yesterday and today,” said Thieren. “We are really proud and happy with our performances, even if we made slight mistakes here and there. We have learned a lot this year; we didn’t necessarily have a target score in mind for the World Championships, the important thing was to skate to the best of our abilities.”
National champions Chloe Nguyen and Brendan Giang received a score of 88.81, which placed them in ninth with a cumulative score of 146.27.
“It’s a great way to end the season,” said Nguyen following the competition. “We are very proud of the way we skated and we believe we are now ready for what’s to come at the senior level. The competition was extremely tough here at the World Championships and we just wanted to skate as we expected.”
In the women’s event, Lulu Lin of Oakville, ON, punched her ticket for the free program by placing 22nd in the short program. The 15-year-old skater, who has been recovering from an injury which occurred earlier this season, scored 53.97 points for her routine. The top 24 skaters in the short program will skate the free program on Saturday.
“I wanted to stay calm while being confident during my routine,” Lin said. “I’ve worked very hard in the last few months to get here. It wasn’t so bad today. Overall, I’d say it went well.”
Kara Yun of Vancouver, B.C., placed 28th with a score of 52.91, which was unfortunately not enough to advance to Saturday’s competition.
The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships continue on Friday with the pairs short program, as well as the men’s free program. Full results are available here.