Kemp and Elizarov leading the charge

Three Canadian and three Chinese pairs will face-off at the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final this week in Nagoya, Japan, with Winnipeggers Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov leading the charge for Team Canada.

The reigning national junior champions come into the event — exclusive to the six best junior teams in the world — as the top-ranked couple, the only one to win both their JGP events.

The two other Canadian pairs — one from Ontario, another from Quebec — qualified for the Final in fourth and fifth spots.

Kemp and Elizarov arrived in Japan two days ahead of the event to allow time to shake off the jet lag and maybe even celebrate Elizarov’s 22nd birthday today.

Elizarov conceded their international rivals will enjoy “a bit of an advantage” given the 14-hour time difference the Canadian contingent has to contend with versus one hour for the Chinese.

Putting their situation into context, however, he added, “We’ve never competed in Japan, but we’ve competed in China and Taipei (Taiwan) and it’s a similar time difference. Taipei, all our practices were good. We’ve done it before; we know we can do it again.”

Doing more time-zone math, the schedule will see the Canadians competing in the wee hours of Thursday and Saturday mornings Winnipeg time.

“Coffee will help,” Elizarov joked.

After winning silver at the 2023 Junior Final and then missing the entire 2024 Grand Prix season due to injury, Kemp, 17, and Elizarov have gold in mind this time around.

The former Skate Winnipeg athletes, who have trained in Toronto for two seasons, first appeared on the international scene in 2022. They were new to pairs skating, but hungry to reach the podium.

“When you’re first starting pairs, we really liked being the hunters because we’re super competitive. We really wanted to catch up, become a better pair team,” Elizarov said.

“This year, we kind of transitioned to being the hunted which is different, obviously. But I think we handled ourselves well in the Grand Prixes when we knew we were favourites to win, and we have strategies to understand those feelings and not let that overtake us and affect our performance.”

Making the transition from hunter to hunted can prove difficult for elite figure skaters. It’s a topic 2024 world-champion pair Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps have spoken about often in recent years.

The Canadian senior champions, who are competing in the senior Grand Prix Final this week in Nagoya, resumed the role of hunters this 2026 Olympic season after a frustrating 2025 campaign that closed with them surrendering their crown after sliding to fifth place on the world stage.

The senior and junior Grand Prix Finals coincide, affording Kemp and Elizarov a golden opportunity to observe the world elite in action before they compete against Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps for the first time at the Canadian championships in early January.

The Winnipeg duo began their 2025-26 season in the junior ranks, then transitioned to training for senior competition for two months beginning in September. After a successful senior launch in Austria last month, they trained up their junior programs again for the final.

The pair didn’t mind taking the step back.

“Having one less lift makes it easier, obviously, and we feel we can focus more on the quality — tidying things up, improving our (body) lines, where we look, just stuff like that to draw everyone into the program,” Elizarov said.

Kemp added, “Junior programs we’ve been doing for years, so we know what to expect.”

Skate Canada’s NextGen director, André Bourgeois noted competing at the senior level in Austria was an opportunity for Kemp and Elizarov to build confidence and identify their training priorities leading up to the final.

“Despite having done extremely well in their two junior grand prixes, there’s still room for improvement,” said Bourgeois who will be rinkside in Japan.

“They need to focus on what they can control – their programs, the elements one at a time – and they’ll be fine. It’s not unusual for people to think a little too far ahead (during competition) but they’ve got a coaching team to help them through that process so, hopefully, it all works out.”

He added, “It’s a common lesson to learn in sport, and in life. We forget what we need to focus on to get to the long-term goal.”

Twice world silver medallist ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier and a junior ice dance couple complete the Canadian team in Nagoya. No Canadian singles skaters — junior or senior — qualified for the event.