Canada's Laurin, Éthier 5th in pairs figure skating at Four Continents championship

Canada's Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier finished fifth in pairs figure skating on Saturday at the Four Continents Championships in Beijing, China.

Laurin of St-Jerome, Que., and Ethier of St-Alphonse-de-Granby, Que., earned a personal best score of 122.59 in the free program and 188.27 points overall.

"We are really happy with the score, and I think that just goes to show all the work that's been done. Even with the mistakes, we scored pretty high for us," said Éthier.

Canada's Laurin and Éthier score top-5 result at Four Continents Championships

Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov of the United States climbed to the top of the podium, beating reigning Olympic champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China. Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi of Japan were third.

Two-time Canadian Junior Grand Prix Final medallists Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov, both from Winnipeg, moved up to eighth place overall (159.20) after the free skate in their Four Continents debut.

In the men's short program, 2026 national silver medallist Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., scored 79.96 and sits in ninth place.

"Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the performance and happy with the crowd response and I enjoyed the moment," said Sadovsky.

Americans Efimova and Mitrofanov claim pairs title at Four Continents

Wesley Chiu of Richmond, B.C., returning to international competition after an injury last season, is in 15th place with 73.61, followed by Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., in 16th with 68.83 points.

It was a podium sweep for Japanese skaters in the men's short program. They were led by former world junior champion Kao Miura, who will be competing at the Milan Cortina Olympics next month. Kazuki Tomono and Sota Yamamoto sit in second and third