GANGNEUNG, South Korea - Canada's Andrei Rogozine is sitting in medal position following Thursday's men's short program at the world junior figure skating championships.

The 17-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., picked up a personal-best 67.27 points to trail only Keegan Messing of the United States (72.58) and Russia's Artur Dmitriev (68.91).

Rogozine was sixth at last year's world junior championships.

"My short program has been going well everyday in practice and I just went out there and did it,'' said Rogozine, who won two junior Grand Prix stops this year and was third in the Grand Prix final.

"I was really happy with myself, I felt like I had a lot of energy in that skate and did all the stuff and it went well.''

Liam Firus of North Vancouver, B.C., is 24th heading into Saturday's free skate.

In Thursday's pairs final, Canadian junior champions Natasha Purich of Sherwood Park, Alta., and Raymond Schultz of Toronto, were fifth, while Toronto's Brittany Jones and Kurtis Gaskell of Guelph, Ont., finished sixth.

China's Wenjing Sui and Cong Han won gold, while Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia grabbed silver and Japan's Narumi Takahashi and Mervin Tran took home the bronze.

"The fifth place caps a great first season together for Natasha and Raymond,'' said Skate Canada high performance director Michael Slipchuk. "And to have two teams in the top-six earns us a third spot for next year.''

In the dance event, Nicole Orford of Burnaby, B.C., and Thomas Williams of Okotoks, Alta., sit ninth after Thursday's short dance, while Toronto's Kelly Oliveira and Jordan Hockley of Whitby, Ont., are 14th.

The free dance and the women's short program, where Alexandra Najarro of Richmond Hill and Vanessa Grenier of Sherbrooke, Que., are competing, are slated for Friday.

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