Ilyushechkina, Moscovitch 4th in pairs at Four Continents skating championship

TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan – Lubov Ilyushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto finished fourth in pairs on Friday at the ISU Four Continents figure skating championships.

The United States was 1-2 with Tarah Kane and Danny O’Shea first at 194.42 and Ashley Cain and Timothy Leduc second at 190.61.

Tae Ok Ryom and Ju Sik Kim of North Korea were third at 184.98. The Canadians followed at 179.00.

”It was a rough one,” said Moscovitch. ”It was a lot of work. It seemed like we couldn’t get fully in synch with each other but we did a good job fighting until the end.”

Camille Ruest of Rimouski, Que., and Drew Wolfe of Calgary moved from ninth to seventh and Sydney Kolodziej of Montreal and Maxime Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., were ninth.

In women’s competition, Kaori Sakamoto led Japan to a medal sweep.

Alaine Chartrand of Prescott, Ont., was eighth, Alicia Pineault of Varennes, Que., finished 13th and Michelle Long of Newmarket, Ont., was 15th.

”I really enjoyed skating that program,” said Chartrand, who posted the sixth best free skate. ”Starting with a strong triple-triple combo gave me a lot of confidence. I’m proud of what I put out after the disappointment of two weeks ago.”

Competition ends Saturday with the men’s free skate.