(March 12, 2010 - THE HAGUE, The Netherlands) – Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam of Barrie, Ont., won the silver medal in dancing on Friday at the world junior figure skating championships.

Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia led from start to finish and took the gold with 188.28 points, Paul and Islam were second at 172.37 and Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin of Russia third at 168.81

The Canadians were fifth after the compulsory dance on Tuesday then soared to second with a strong original dance.  They obliterated their previous best total score by 23 points.

“It’s incredible to get a medal,” said Islam, 20, who joined forces with Paul in February 2009.  “Our goal was a top-five so we are a bit overwhelmed. In the compulsory dance, I think we skated really well and got ourselves recognized and that helped us get the better marks in the other two programs.”

Paul and Islam have another year of junior eligibility.

“We just wanted to get out there and skate our best,” said Paul 18.  “We worked a lot on the free dance leading up to this event and I think we nailed it this time.  The overall consistency in our programs is what has really improved for us this year.”

Olivia Martins of Toronto and Alvin Chau of Richmond Hill were 13th and Abby Carswell of Toronto and Andrew Doleman of Dundas, Ont., 23rd.

In women’s competition, 16-year-old Kate Charbonneau of Winnipeg is fourth after the short program with a personal best 53.80 score.  Anna Ovcharova of Russia leads at 59.80, Kanako Murakami of Japan is second at 59.00 and Polina Agafonova of Russia is third at 56.28.

Competition ends Saturday with the women’s free skate.

For more information visit: www.isu.org