Gold and silver for Canada at Grand Prix Final in Barcelona
Olympic ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje have repeated as ISU Grand Prix Final champions in Barcelona, giving Canada two medals from the competition.
Leading after the short dance on Friday, Weaver and Poje completed their triumph the next night with a total of 182.66 points. Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States (177.55) and Italians Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte (176.37) round out the top three.
On Friday Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford had won silver in pairs (more on this below).
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje during the free dance at the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona on December 12, 2015.
Following the short program, Weaver had said, “there’s something very familiar and pleasant about being back in Barcelona. The crowd feels like they’re with us every step of the way.”
That momentum carried on to Saturday where Weaver and Poje’s routine once again topped the field. Their score was just shy of their personal best of 182.93 at the ISU World Team Trophy in April of this year. Last season Weaver and Poje won the Grand Prix Final with 181.14 points.
Silver in pairs
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford at the ISU Grand Prix Final during the free skate on December 11, 2015 in Barcelona.
World champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford grabbed the first medal for Canada – silver – at the ISU Grand Prix Final of figure skating on Friday in Barcelona.
The top Canadian pairs team had a difficult short program that saw them in third place heading into Friday’s free skate. From there, Duhamel and Radford climbed up to take second place with 216.67 points, behind Russia’s Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov (229.44). Another Russian pair, Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov (206.59) completed the podium.
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford embrace at the ISU Grand Prix Final following the free skate on December 11, 2015 in Barcelona.
The silver for Duhamel and Radford ends a string of nine consecutive international triumphs, which included winning this title last season. They’ll want to restart a new streak next year, with the rest of the 2015-16 season being fine tuned with the World Championships in mind.
The second Russia medal was grabbed just ahead of another Canadian duo that’s giving maple leaf waving figure skating fans excitement for the future. Julianne Séguin and Charlie Bilodeau (last year’s junior pairs champions in Barcelona) completed their first season on the senior Grand Prix circuit with a fourth place finish in pairs, which included a personal best score (200.98) that was less than six points off the podium.
Canada had a chance at a third medal in the men’s competition, however Patrick Chan finished fourth overall.
