Suspense, surprises and some beautiful performances.

You can't ask for much more from a group of pre-novice figure skaters.

It all started with the men's pre-novice free skate Wednesday afternoon, as the final six competitors out of 16 made one final push for the podium.

Garrett Gosselin of Saskatchewan was the first of the top six to take the ice, and he took over first place with a solid performance and a score of 74.25, although his lead wouldn't last long.

British Columbia's Rhys Anderson, who was in second place after the short program, didn't receive the marks he had been hoping for in the free skate, put his previous marks were enough to vault him over Gosselin, with a final scored of 77.02.

Next to skate was Liam Firus and the gold medal favourite did not disappoint, pulling off the performance of the night and earning a first-place score of 84.82.

'It was good,' said Firus, in an interview following his program. '(There was) just one mistake, but I'll get it next time. I did my first triple toe in my program.'

With three skaters still to come, the score didn't guarantee Firus a medal, but it would be tough to beat. Alberta's Stuart Ure was one of the young athletes hoping to do the improbable.

Coming in ranked third, Ure also thrilled spectators with his spins and jumps. And while his final score of 78.34 wasn't enough to get him into first, Ure did move past Anderson into the silver medal position.

With just two skaters left, Firus knew he was going to be leaving with a medal of some colour, but Mathieu Brunet of Quebec and Christopher Blackmore of Alberta could still knock Ure or Anderson off the podium.

Both of them gave it their best shot, but came up short in the end, as they earned scores of 73.69 and 74.71 respectively. That meant gold for Firus, bronze for Anderson and a silver for Ure.

'I'm so ecstatic,' said Ure. 'I was happy hoping bronze, silver or gold. Silver is just amazing.'

The 14-year-old Edmonton resident, whose coaches once dubbed him 'Little Kurt', because he displayed presentation and energy similar to Canadian figure skating legend Kurt Browning, said he was pleased with his free skate, particularly with his triple jumps.

'The triple sow, I've been doing it in practice once or twice a day here, and landing it quite consistently.'

The triples didn't come so easily for Team Yukon's Kevin Caron during his free skate Wednesday, but the 16-year-old still posted a final score of 64. 24, enough for ninth overall out of 16, and he was all smiles as he came off the ice.

'It was a good skate. I had a lot of fun. I actually messed up one of my axels, but I fixed it. I decided to change it right there on the fly.'

Caron said the audience was great and really helped keep him going throughout his program. Some of his biggest fans tossed a giant stuffed animal onto the ice, among a cascade of fluffy friends that fell over the boards as he finished his routine.

'It's from the Special Olympics people,' he said, explaining he's been coaching some of the Special Olympics athletes and it was their way of saying thank you.

The stuffed animals, a tradition in figure skating, kept on coming as the pre-novice ladies began their final competition later in the evening. Especially when the two Yukoners performed.

Amelia Austin, who was disappointed with her short program on Monday, brought the house down with her free skate a performance many in the building remarked was the best they'd ever seen from her.

It was enough to move her from 19th to 16th spot with a total score of 51.88. Her free skate score of 36.43 was actually the 12th highest of the night, not to mention the fact it was a personal best in the young skater's career.

'It was just really fun to go out there,' said the soft-spoken athlete. 'The whole audience was so happy for you. Everything was good. Every time you did something, everyone would clap.'

At the same time, Austin acknowledged it was probably hard for all of the local skaters, performing in front of their family and friends. She said it was the most nervous she'd ever been before a competition. But overall, she enjoyed the experience.

'It's a Games, as opposed to just a competition, so it's a lot more relaxed and fun. People are a lot more friendly.

'Random people will come up to you from the Yukon and say, Hey, Millie, good skate.''

Fellow Yukoner Chantal Emond also took to the ice for the free skate Wednesday. Garnering a free skate score of 21.06 and a total score of 34.49, Emond finished 22nd in the competition.

The loudest ovation of the night for a non-Yukoner was reserved for Ontario's Alexandra Najarro, who had her fellow athletes and spectators on their feet with a near flawless performance.

Coming into the free skate, Najarro was in sixth place. But unbelievably, her score of 60.53 in the free skate was more than eight points higher than her closest competitor, and enough to vault her into first place overall with a total of 86.37.

B.C. Cambria Little, who was first after the short program, gave a strong performance in an effort to top Najarro, but it wasn't enough. With a final score of 83.73, Little had to settle for silver.

Newfoundland and Labrador's Kaetlyn Osmond collected the province's second bronze medal in figure skating, edging out Alberta's Courtney Bean (75.72) with a final score of 76.84.

The pre-novice pairs team of siblings Alexandra and Matthew Young of Newfoundland took bronze earlier in the day.

Osmond's coach, Lori Brett, said she knew the skater was going to be close to the podium, since she had been in the top three in Canada all year.

'I can't say it was a surprise, but we're very pleased with her result,' said Brett. 'We knew a lot of things had to fall in place for us, and they did, but we couldn't have asked for a better skate from her.'

Brett said while some skaters might struggle with the size of the Olympic ice surface at the Canada Games Centre, her athletes enjoyed it.

'It's wider than we're used to, but it's way better for all the girls. It gives them more space.'

Meanwhile, Team Yukon's Teneil Caron competed in the novice ladies' short program on Tuesday at the Canada Games.

Caron finished 18th with a score of 19.63.

'I actually beat my personal best, so I'm pretty happy about that,' said Caron, who is in her first full season as a novice skater. 'I exceeded one of my goals. I landed all my jumps.'

The free skate for ladies' novice is scheduled for today at 12:45 p.m. Caron said she's hoping for another personal best.

'I just want to have a fun time and show everybody what I can do.'

Also scheduled for today is the Special Olympics Level II ladies' free skate, which Yukoners Aimee Lien and Theresa Roberts will compete in. That goes at 3:10 p.m. at the Canada Games Centre.

Julien Richard represented the territory in the Special Olympics Level II men's free skate Wednesday afternoon and finished ninth (see photo, pg. 18).