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Bellflower’s Vanessa Lam wins Junior Grand Prix figure skating event

By Helene Elliott
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Congratulations to 15-year-old Vanessa Lam of Bellflower, who won the women’s title at the Junior Grand Prix figure skating event held this weekend in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Competing in a field of 32, the sophomore honors student at Downey High compiled 156.41 points for her short and long programs. She edged Risa Shoji of Japan, who had 155.23 points.

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Lam trains at Anaheim Ice and Westminster Ice, which are part of the Ducks’ rink development program. She’s coached by Dianne DeLeeuw -- the 1976 Olympic figure skating silver medalist -- and Doug Chapman. She finished eighth in the U.S. junior championships last season after winning the Southwest Pacific regional title.

-- Helene Elliott

Sports Now
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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