Canadian figure skater Stephen Gogolev wins gold in junior Grand Prix debut
Becomes the first Canadian to land a quad Lutz in competition
Stephen Gogolev landed three quadruple jumps en route to a golden performance in men's competition Friday at the season-opening stop on the ISU Junior Grand Prix figure skating circuit.
In his skate to excerpts from the "Sherlock Holmes" soundtrack, Gogolev also became the first Canadian to land a quad Lutz in competition.
Gogolev, a 13-year-old from Toronto, totalled 226.13 points for the victory with Mitsuki Sumoto of Japan second at 210.31 and Daniel Grassl of Italy third at 199.26.
"To land those three quads really brings up my confidence," said Gogolev, who is coached by Brian Orser and Lee Barkell."I still need to get some runs though done so I can improve the second half of my skate."
Aleksa Rakic, also 13, from Burnaby, B.C. was eighth in 180.13.
Russian couples swept the medals in pairs competition. Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov were first, Apollinarria Panfilova and Dmitry Rylov second and Ksenila Akhanteva and Valerii Kolesov third.
Patricia Andrew of London, Ont., and Paxton Fletcher of Rodney, Ont., were fourth with a clean free skate and Brooke McIntosh of Toronto and Brandon Taste of Mississauga, Ont., were fifth.
In ice dancing after the short dance, Alicia Fabbri of Terrebonne, Que., and Paul Ayer of Brossard, Que., are fourth at 58.91 less than two points behind third spot. Nadiia Bashynska of Markham, Ont., and Peter Beaumont of Unionville, Ont., are ninth.
In Thursday's women's short program, Alison Shumacher of Tecumseh, Ont., was eighth.
The women's free skate and the free dance are on Saturday.