Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha were fourth after the rhythm dance on Friday night, but they gave it their all in the free dance to earn their place on the third step of the podium.
Posted at 9:56 p.m.
Lajoie and Lagha trailed Americans Caroline Green and Michael Parsons by 0.19 points before their last performance. It was a fierce battle between the two pairs of dancers on Saturday, but the Quebecers earned a score of 119.55 for the free dance and they were the ones who left Mississauga with the bronze. Lajoie and Lagha received a total score of 195.49 while Green and Parsons finished the competition with 194.19 points.
“We feel really good. It’s a very stressful competition, especially since it’s in Canada in front of our parents and friends. I’m really happy that we managed such a great performance,” said Lajoie.
“Our program went really well today. We were very connected together. I think we couldn’t have put on a better performance today,” added Lagha.
Winning a medal is always special for Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha. To have the chance to achieve this feat in Canada in front of their loved ones is even more so in their eyes.
“Usually, we compete on the other side of the world and our families have to listen to us on a small screen, it’s not the same. This time, I know that they are here somewhere and that they had this experience with me. I’m really happy,” said Lajoie.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier also took advantage of the home court advantage to win the gold medal. They edged out Brits Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson by 6.52 points to finish with the win.
As for them, Quebecers Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac finished the day in fifth place with a total of 189.07 points.
In the pairs, Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier took advantage of the free program to move up from eighth to seventh place. The Quebec pair finished the competition with 152.09 points and said they were extremely proud of their accomplishments.
“It may have been a little more difficult on certain elements, but it was definitely better than yesterday in the short program. It’s interesting for the future and we’re happy with us, ”said Laurin from the start.
“We are often harsh on ourselves, we haven’t had a lot of time to prepare for this competition and I think we may have set the bar a little too high because we wanted to improve. compared to our last competition. Under the circumstances, we are really proud of ourselves,” added Éthier.
The Japanese Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won the gold medal in the discipline with their 212.02 points. They beat Americans Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe (186.48 points) and Italians Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (186.18 points).