Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen of Montreal, Quebec won the silver medal on Saturday in the 2023 Grand Prix Espoo in Finland. With the silver medal, they put themselves in excellent position to qualify for the 2023 Grand Prix Final in Beijing, China. In fact, there could be three Canadian ice dance teams competing among the six entries. Piper Gilles of Toronto, Ontario and Paul Poirier of Ottawa, Ontario have already qualified, and Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Quebec, and Zachary Lagha of Greenfield Park, Quebec are also in an excellent position, with one Grand Prix event left scheduled for Osaka, Japan next weekend. Quite simply put, this is an outstanding era in Canadian ice dancing, when it comes to overall depth.
In the ice dance, Fournier Beaudry and Sorensen had 206.32 points in Espoo. Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States won the gold medal with 209.46 points. Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis of Finland won the bronze medal with 195.8 points. Fournier Beaudry and Sorensen reached the podium by 17.56 points over Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko of the United States, who finished in fourth place with 188.76 points. With the silver medal for Fournier Beaudry and Sorensen, it will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo.
