Canadian pair eye figure skating Grand Prix gold

Canadian pairs team Eric Radford and Meagan Duhamel have their sights set on a first Grand Prix gold at Skate Canada this week in Kelowna, British Columbia.
A week after Russians Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov won the Skate America pairs crown with an impressive quadruple throw Salchow, Radford and Duhamel hope a similar quadruple will propel them to the title in the second Grand Prix of the season.
"We have several goals for this season," Duhamel told icenetwork.com. "The first one is to win finally a Grand Prix, because up to now, we have only won silver and bronze medals."
The pair are two-time world championships bronze medalists and winners of the last three Canadian national pairs title.
They're favored to win their home Grand Prix, being held this year in the resort town some 200 miles (320 kilometers) east of Vancouver.
"I have wanted to perform the quad since 2011, but our coaches, Bruno Marcotte and Richard Gauthier, were afraid that I could be injured," Duhamel said. "Now, after the Olympic Games, they allowed us to learn it."
Their challengers for pairs gold figure will include the Chinese duo of Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China and France's Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres.
Competition begins Friday and concludes on Saturday.
After Elena Radionova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva won gold and silver for Russia in the Skate America ladies competition, former world silver medalist Alena Leonova and 16-year-old Anna Pogorilaya will try to put Russia on the podium again.
Two-time US champion Ashley Wagner will launch her Grand Prix campaign, but the field will be without Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond, who broke her right leg in training in September.
World silver medalists Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje give Canada another strong medal chance in ice dance.
The men's event looks to be wide open, with the field including Spain's two-time world bronze medalist Javier Fernandez, Czech Michal Brezina and Japan's Takahiko Kozuka and Takahito Mura.
Home hopes in men's competition were dented when Canadian silver medalist Kevin Reynolds withdrew because of continuing foot injuries and boot-fitting troubles.
The six-leg ISU series will continue after Skate Canada with stops at the Cup of China, the Cup of Russia, the Trophee Bompard in France, and the NHK Trophy. The top six in each discipline qualify for the Grand Prix final in Barcelona December 11-14.
Source: AFP