For the past three seasons, Olivia Gran has been one of the elite young figure skaters in B.C. On Monday at Lakewood Dental Arena, she showed she's also one of the best in the country.
Gran, an 11-year-old from Kelowna, was the top-ranked skater in the Canada Winter Games pre-novice female short program. This is her first season at the pre-novice level but, in a field of 19 athletes, she was awarded the highest score, a total of 41.37 points. Gran, the juvenile ladies provincial champion in 2013 and 2014, was the only skater to break the 40-point barrier.
Heading into Wednesday's free skate, Gran leads second-place Sarah-Maude Blanchard of Quebec (39.02) and Casey Bertholet of Manitoba (33.54). Alberta's Jolie Chiem (31.75) and B.C.'s Alisa Lyesina (31.68) round out the top five.
Wednesday's free skate will start at 5:35 p.m.
In pre-novice pairs, Team Ontario's Hannah Dawson and Daniel Villeneuve have the lead over Quebec skaters Samantha Couillard and Nelson Sanchez Leemet after Monday's short program. Dawson and Villeneuve were awarded 29.51 points for their performance, while Couillard and Sanchez Leemet scored 24.55 points. The free skate is Wednesday starting at 4:50 p.m.
In pre-novice dance, Quebec's Arianne Bonneau and Oliver Zhang are in first place after Monday's pattern. They received 28.09 points from the judges, a total that has them in front of Han Na Kim and Corey Circelli of Ontario (22.48) and Tori Shmon and Alexander Hopkins of Saskatchewan (20.03).
