The dynamic duo of pairs skating, Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers, showed their talent yet again on the international stage as the two young athletes competed at the Cup of Russia competition.
Hosted in Moscow, the pair made the trip to the Russian capitol to show the Canadian flag in the international meet, which took place Saturday, Nov. 20.
Paige and Rudi, who entered the ranks of adult professional athletes just over a year ago, previously competing internationally in the junior categories, were attending the meet by virtue of their performance in the spring of this year.
The sole Canadian pairs team on the ice at the meet, Lawrence and Swiegers faced stiff competition from the other pairs, including three Russian, two from the U.S., and one team each from Japan and Italy.
Overall, the weekend meet in Russia proved to be a good one for Canada, with Toronto-based skater Patrick Chan taking the silver for mens singles, though the ice dance team of Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam had been unable to compete due to a rib injury Paul suffered in training earlier in the month.
As for Lawrence and Swiegers, they finished in fifth place at the end of the event.
The duo hold promise of achieving much more over the next while, based on the strength of their sets in Moscow.
A strong and emotive performance by the two young skaters had launched the two towards what could have conceivably been a winning set, however a technical error marred their final marking.
"I guess we got a little too excited at the end because it was going so well,'' said Swiegers in an interview with Skate Canada."Our lifts are always consistent but we lost focus for just a split second and let the position slip."
"It happens so rarely, even in practice."
With the error occurring on the very last lift of the program, the effect on the outcome of the judging was apparent, as the final score, some argue, does not adequately reflect the quality of the program up until the error.
"There were lots of good moments in the program and we need to build on that," Lawrence said optimistically during her interview.
The pair had finished second at the Skate Canada Challenges in Mississauga, ON, in December of 2009, and sixth in the senior pairs at the Canadian National Championships in London, ON, in January of this year.
The two are felt to be strong contenders for the next Canadian Olympic team.
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