Junior figure skating world champs given Winnipeg mayor’s award

Mayor Scott Gillingham honoured Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov for their gold medal at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

A Winnipeg duo that won gold at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships has more hardware to add to their trophy case.

Scott Gillingham awarded Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov with the mayor’s award for sports excellence.

The pair landed the honour after becoming the first Canadian team to win gold at the tournament in nearly 50 years.

“I think it’s finally starting to sink in,” Kemp told reporters after the medal ceremony at Winnipeg City Hall on Wednesday.

“We were a little bit in shock at first but I think now, we’ve become very proud of how hard we’ve been working the last couple of years,” Elizarov said.

The duo has been training together since 2021.

They captured gold at the championships earlier this month in Tallinn, Estonia with a winning free skate to Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune.”

They are Canada’s first world junior pairs champions since Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini in 1978.

Weeks after the victory, the pair was shocked to learn they’d won the mayor’s award, as well.

“We’re super excited to be here,” Elizarov said.

- With files from The Canadian Press