How figure skaters Desrochers and Thrasher became one of Canada's top young pairs

Kieran Thrasher and Jazmine Desrochers didn't grow up dreaming of figure skating glory at the Olympics. Yet today, it's something they can suddenly aim for.

Thrasher remembers being a hockey-crazed 10-year-old and begrudgingly lacing up his figure skates because his mom forced him to join his sisters in lessons.

"Growing up, I hated figure skating," said Thrasher. "Wanted absolutely nothing to do with it."

Thrasher, 20, couldn't have imagined that he and Desrochers would become one of Canada's most promising young pairs a decade later.

The Canadian duo claimed bronze at the Junior Grand Prix Final for the second consecutive year in December.

They'll compete in the senior event at this weekend's Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval, Que., taking on another challenge after shattering expectations for the past two years.

In his hometown rink in Amherstburg, Ont., outside Windsor, Thrasher stickhandled his way up the ranks as a hockey player. Despite his reluctance, figure skating also grew on him.

He was juggling both sports at 15, playing defence for the Sun County Panthers U16 AAA hockey team in southern Ontario while skating pairs part-time in Oakville, Ont., with prominent coach Bruno Marcotte.

"He would come sometimes on Monday morning and sometimes Friday morning, and then he would take the train back just in time to make it for his hockey practice or game," Marcotte said. "Skating was kind of like an afterthought."

It was a hectic routine he couldn't continue. At some point, Thrasher knew he would have to commit to one sport and he let the 2020 Ontario Hockey League draft decide his path.

"I was like, if I get drafted, I'll do hockey. If I don't, I'll do skating," he said. "I didn't get drafted, as you