Pairs skaters Anastasiia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore made history, claiming Australia’s first ever medal at the prestigious International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix series, whilst competing in the Skate Canada event in Halifax, Canada.
The two-time World Junior Championship medallists made a great start to the event, recording a career best score of 64.81 points in the opening short program which put them in third place after the opening round.
In the final free skate event, the pair scored 121.33 points, giving them a final ranking of third with a total score of 186.14 points to secure Australia’s first ever medal at the ISU Grand Prix series, improving on their two fourth place finishes in the previous season.
Taking the win in their home event were 2024 World Champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada on 197.33, with Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitrii Chigirev of Uzbekistan in second.
“We feel honoured and very proud to be able to say that we claimed the first ever Grand Prix medal for Australia, hopefully it’s the first of many” said the 22-year-old Giotopoulos Moore from Sydney.
“Being our first competition of the season it was quite challenging both physically and mentally, we are a little bit disappointed with our performance as we know it’s not the best we could’ve done, but we accept what it is and are ready to train hard and improve on the mistakes we made.”
The ISU Grand Prix series commenced in 1995, Australia had medalled previously at the Skate Canada Event wen it was a part of the ISU Challenger Series, with Stephen Carr and Danielle McGrath claiming bronze in 1992.
The pair will next compete at the Finlandia Trophy ISU Grand Prix event in Helsinki, Finland, on November 15-17.
Also competing for Australia at the ISU GP in Canada were Ice Dance couple Holly Harris and Jason Chan, who finished in tenth place.
The two-time World Junior Championship medallists made a great start to the event, recording a career best score of 64.81 points in the opening short program which put them in third place after the opening round.
In the final free skate event, the pair scored 121.33 points, giving them a final ranking of third with a total score of 186.14 points to secure Australia’s first ever medal at the ISU Grand Prix series, improving on their two fourth place finishes in the previous season.
Taking the win in their home event were 2024 World Champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada on 197.33, with Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitrii Chigirev of Uzbekistan in second.
“We feel honoured and very proud to be able to say that we claimed the first ever Grand Prix medal for Australia, hopefully it’s the first of many” said the 22-year-old Giotopoulos Moore from Sydney.
“Being our first competition of the season it was quite challenging both physically and mentally, we are a little bit disappointed with our performance as we know it’s not the best we could’ve done, but we accept what it is and are ready to train hard and improve on the mistakes we made.”
The ISU Grand Prix series commenced in 1995, Australia had medalled previously at the Skate Canada Event wen it was a part of the ISU Challenger Series, with Stephen Carr and Danielle McGrath claiming bronze in 1992.
The pair will next compete at the Finlandia Trophy ISU Grand Prix event in Helsinki, Finland, on November 15-17.
Also competing for Australia at the ISU GP in Canada were Ice Dance couple Holly Harris and Jason Chan, who finished in tenth place.
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