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Petr Gumennik (RUS), Stephen Gogolev (CAN) and Koshiro Shimada (JPN) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

Canada’s Stephen Gogolev came as a substitute into the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final and ended up stealing the show and skating off with the gold medal on home ice on Friday in Vancouver. Petr Gumennik of Russia earned the silver medal and Koshiro Shimada of Japan climbed from fourth to take the bronze.

Gogolev fell on his opening quad Lutz in his “Sherlock Holmes” program, but recovered to hit a quad toe, an albeit underrotated quad Salchow-double toe as well as six triples including two Axels. The 13-year-old skater from Toronto collected a level four for his spins and a level three for the footwork to set a season’s best of 154.76 points. He racked up 233.58 points overall to move up from second to first. “I don't even feel like I'm here. It just feels like it's another competition for me. I was a bit nervous but it was normal nervous like any other competitions. I was a bit disappointed after falling on the quad Lutz but I did everything else,” Gogolev said.

Petr Gumennik (RUS) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

Gummenik’s lyrical “Romeo and Juliet” program featured a quadruple Salchow, triple Axel-double toe-double loop as well as four more clean triples. However, the 16-year-old doubled a flip and underrotated a triple loop. The skater from St. Petersburg earned 142.59 points and totaled 218.75 points. “Yes, I think I was expecting a medal. Here everyone is a competitor, we are all at the same level, and you can end up being the first and the six (all of this is possible). Any medal is great, but of course the first place is the best,” Gummenik shared.

Koshiro Shimada (JPN) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

Performing to “Winter in Buenos Aires” by Astor Piazzolla, Shimada nailed a quad toe as well as a triple Axel and four more clean triple jumps, but he fell on a triple flip towards the end of the program. The Japanese skater scored 140.41 points and ranked third in the Free Skating, but nevertheless pulled up to third place with 214.38 points. “I’m still surprised that I came third,” the 17-year-old said. “I was able to enjoy the performance today despite the fact I was more nervous than yesterday (in the Short Program). I was doing well in the morning practice so I was able to do a quad toe loop. Though I lost focus on the first half because I was too focused on my quad coming up. I could feel the improvement in my performance and that was the happiest part.”

Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) landed two quadruple toeloops to finish fourth on 207.04 points, moving up one spot after the Short Program. Overnight leader Camden Pulkinen (USA) dropped to fifth after making some errors (197.68 points). Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) came sixth (190.80 points).