After the first two days of competition at the ISU Four Continents Championships, which run until Sunday in China, Canada's skaters are in contention for a medal. Vaudreuil-Dorion's Maxime Deschamps and his partner are in first place in the pair event, and could well finish on the podium. 

Canada currently holds first place in the pair event, with Deanna Stellato-Dudek of Chicago, USA, and Maxime Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, holding a comfortable lead heading into Saturday's free program.
 
"It was fun on the ice. I'm disappointed with my mistake, but very pleased with the rest of my performance. We achieved a lot of our improvements and worked very hard," said Deschamps, who has struggled with his jumps over the past two competitions.

Canada's figure skaters are also in contention for a medal in ice dance, with Madeline Schizas and Sara-Maude Dupuis both finishing in the top ten in the women's event.

Schizas, of Oakville, Ontario, the 2023 Canadian Senior Champion, was in ninth place after the short program, then skated a free program to climb to sixth place overall with a total of 185.69 points, her best result to date at this competition.
 
Sara-Maude Dupuis, of Montreal, Quebec, set an impressive new personal best in the free program (118.99 points) to finish in 9th place with a new personal best total of 172.45 points. Justine Miclette, from Chambly, Quebec, finished in 14th place (151.30 points).
 
Mona Chiba of Japan won gold (214.98 points), while Chaeyeon Kim of Korea took silver (204.68 points) and Rinka Watanabe of Japan bronze (202.17 points).
 
Piper Gilles, of Toronto, Ontario, and Paul Poirier, of Unionville, Ontario, also look on course to win their first ice dance title of the Four Continents Championships on Sunday, as they have a good lead after the rhythmic dance event. 
 
Lia Pereira, of Milton, Ontario, and Trennt Michaud, of Trenton, Ontario, are sixth after the short program, and Kelly Ann Laurin, of St-Jérôme, Quebec, and Loucas Éthier, of Deux-Montagnes, Quebec, are eighth.

The men's competition ends on Saturday. Vancouver, BC's Wesley Chiu is the highest-ranked Canadian in sixth place after Thursday's short program.Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ontario, is 11th and Conrad Orzel of Toronto, Ontario, 17th.