Music: {allcanada} CANADIANS PURICH AND SCHULTZ PLACE FOURTH IN SHORT PROGRAM

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

{allcanada} CANADIANS PURICH AND SCHULTZ PLACE FOURTH IN SHORT PROGRAM

GANGNEUNG, South Korea - Canadians Natasha Purich and Raymond Schultz stand fourth after the pairs short program Wednesday at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

China's Wenjing Sui and Cong Han lead the field, ahead of Japan's Narumi Takahashi and Mervin Tran, and Russia's Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov.

Purich, from Sherwood Park, Alta., and Schultz, from Toronto, are the reigning Canadian junior champions and have won two bronze medals on the ISU junior Grand Prix circuit.

Brittany Jones of Toronto and Kurtis Gaskell of Guelph, Ont., are seventh.

Russia is in command in ice dancing after the short dance with Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin in first and Ekaterina Pushkash and Jonathan Guerreiro in second.

Canada's reigning junior champions, Nicole Orford of Burnaby, B.C., and Thomas Williams of Okotoks, Alta., are ninth. Kelly Oliveira of Toronto and Jordan Hockley of Whitby, Ont., are 14th. Both couples are making their world junior debuts.

Competition continues Thursday with the junior men's short program featuring Andrei Rogozine of Richmond Hill, Ont., a two-time junior Grand Prix winner this season and the pairs free skate.