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LAURIE NEALIN

AVA Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov’s 20-month partnership has been a whirlwind that lifted the rookie pair skaters to unexpected heights on the national and international figure skating scene.

Over the weekend, the Winnipeg duo headed to Calgary to compete at the ISU World Junior Championships — less than two years after deciding to give pair skating a try.

“This season, our goal was just for one international (assignment) and we got to worlds, so we’re kinda just grateful for that,” Elizarov (who goes by Yoni) said, ahead of their departure.

“It’s a surprise for us, but we put in the work — a lot of training sessions, a lot of dedication and a lot of help from other people,” he added, referencing the fact neither the young athletes nor their coach, Kevin Dawe, had any pairs experience when their journey began. “We are excited to go. It’s going to be fun to perform in Canada and have the home crowd.”

Fourteen pairs from nine countries will skate their short programs Wednesday and final free skate Thursday in WinSport Arena at Canada Olympic Park.

Top contenders include couples from the U.S., Australia, Ukraine and Japan, along with Kemp and Elizarov and their Canadian teammates, Chloe Panetta and Kieran Thrasher — the national junior champions from Ontario.

Kemp is looking forward to facing off against an international field again as a bona fide member of Team Canada.

Assessing the secret to their successful partnership, she described how the skaters complement each other.

“We bounce off each other pretty well. We can adapt, especially at competitions,” she said. “We can tell when we get nervous, what the other person needs and how they’re feeling about things.”

It was only a year ago that Kemp and Elizarov won the Canadian novice title. Last fall, they pocketed a silver medal in their first of two international events in Europe and within weeks were ranked top-five among the world’s junior pairs.

Then, Kemp sprained her left ankle, forcing them out of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final and stalling their ascent. On the rebound at the Canadian championships in January, Kemp, 14, and Elizarov, 19, finished second.

Since then, they have been training their programs with the more difficult technical content that had been watered down as Kemp rehabbed her ankle.

“Ava and Yoni, they have a grit and determination you can’t teach,” Dawe said.

Following nationals in Oshawa, athletes and coach flew to Calgary for Skate Canada’s junior world team training camp.

Test-driving the rink they’ll compete on this week, the couple performed their technical elements under the discerning eyes of judges and technical specialists who advised how they could max out their scores. There were tips on what they could do to score more points for the quality of elements and advice on how to get full credit for the difficulty level of their lifts, twist lift and death spirals.

“It was a good experience and it helped us think about what things we needed to work on for the next couple of weeks,” Elizarov explained.

Seven-time Canadian and twice world pairs champion Meagan Duhamel, whose husband, Bruno Marcotte, coaches Panetta and Thrasher, said she sees “a lot of potential” in the Winnipeg pair after watching their performances on livestream broadcasts.

“Ava, she’s super small and she can jump. She seems like a super spitfire and that’s everything you want in pair skating,” said Duhamel. “Going by what I see, (Elizarov) seems very stable and consistent, grounded and calm.”

Sixteen Canadians — three men, one woman, three pairs and three ice dance duos — are slated to compete at the championships which continue through Saturday. Team Canada has podium potential in all four disciplines.

In all, 180 athletes representing some 40 countries are entered. Russians and Belarusians are currently banned from ISU competition owing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Winnipeg pair skaters Ava Kemp (right) and Yohnatan Elizarov are in Calgary to compete in ISU World Junior Championships.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES