Stronger together, Canada’s Desrochers and Thrasher eye continued progress
Jazmine Desrochers and Kieran Thrasher
In the world of junior pair skating, few stories have unfolded as rapidly—and as promisingly—as that of Jazmine Desrochers and Kieran Thrasher. From teaming up in May 2023 to winning back-to-back Junior Grand Prix medals just six months later, their ascent has been nothing short of impressive. And it wasn’t planned.
Thrasher, who had been playing hockey for a AAA team in Ontario, was also skating part time under renowned coach Bruno Marcotte in Oakville. Although he was initially hesitant about figure skating, it eventually became a passion too. Eventually a choice had to be made between the two sports, and he let the draft for the 2020 Ontario Hockey League make the decision for him.
“Yeah, I was disappointed,” he said, regarding not making the league. “But realistically, I knew I didn’t have a big chance of being drafted. I kind of already knew going in that I would probably choose figure skating.”
Thrasher then had a successful partnership with Chloe Panetta for two seasons; however, she aged out of the junior ranks, and both Thrasher and his coach felt he wasn’t ready for the senior level. Enter Desrochers, who was set on giving up the sport.
“A lot of teenagers do around that age,” she pointed out. “I was going into grade 11 and planning on university after that. I wasn’t really getting anywhere with skating. I was just doing provincial competitions, really at the max. Then Bruno offered me the opportunity to start pairs with a boy from Waterloo, and he was coming here. So I started doing pairs two weeks later, training full time. “
Desrochers also pointed out that both of them had been lucky with previous partners.
“I think that’s a big factor,” she said. “I’ve had partners that have treated me very well. It allowed me to fall in love with the sport again.”
Growth and reflection
Reflecting on their whirlwind start, the Canadian duo kept their approach grounded heading into the 2024-25 season.
“I’d say that we really tried to keep the same expectations for ourselves,” said Desrochers. “I mean, it’s just to do the best that we can in that moment. We were really happy with our very first (2023-24) season, so going into the 2024-25 season, because our first season went so well for us, we wanted to take that same approach and not put the pressure on ourselves.”
“Yeah, like not to get too ahead of ourselves,” Thrasher agreed. “Because skating is a very in-the-moment sport. We wanted to just keep that same mentality and just share the passion we’ve had since the beginning.”
Their consistency paid off again in the new season with the skaters collecting more Junior Grand Prix medals, including another bronze at the Final. But with the World Junior Championships approaching, their focus remained simple and self-driven.
“We wanted to reach a personal best,” said Thrasher. “We tried to keep our expectations the same as the beginning of the season which was to just skate for ourselves and try to do our best. We knew if we did that, odds are it would be a personal best score. We were hoping to get fours on our levels as we obviously built them to achieve that.”
Desrochers agreed, adding: “We just wanted to replicate what we had been doing in training because we had been training so well going into it. We were finally getting kind of a groove to it, so that was the goal.”
They ultimately placed eighth in their Worlds debut—an achievement with important implications for Canada’s future spots.
“I felt pretty good,” said Desrochers. “We were happy! It means that it improves our odds to go again for next season.”
“Also, if everything goes well, it’ll be the same three teams, which is nice,” added Thrasher. “It’s nice to compete with the same people.”
Looking back on their second season together, both skaters feel their partnership has matured.
“I feel like we’ve gotten to know each other a lot better as skaters this season,” said Desrochers. “You learn more every single competition, I feel. So, mostly that, just growing as a team and as people.”
Thrasher pointed out that their second mark, the program component (PC) scores, have definitely improved.
“The technical just comes with time,” Desrochers noted. “That’s always a work in progress. But I think we’ve been able to showcase more who we are on the ice this past year, just in that second mark.”
Programs for both personalities
For the upcoming season, the duo will continue with their free skate to “Since I’ve Been Loving You” by Led Zeppelin—choreographed by Julie Marcotte, who also selected the piece.
“It’s not one of the band’s most popular songs, but Julie said, ‘this is the one for you guys!'” said Desrochers. “Kieran and I both wanted different things going into that year for the program, and she tried to find something that accommodated both of us, and that’s what she found.”
“Yeah, she did a great job,” said Thrasher. “If you knew me in person, you’d know I’m a pretty mellow. I like music that replicates that because that’s what comes naturally to me. Jaz, I’d say, is a bit more outgoing and likes to skate to more fun, upbeat, fast pieces of music.”
“I wanted to skate to something more like into each other and different,” Desrochers explained. “Kieran wanted to skate to something slow and sappy, like lovey-dovey kind of slow pop. We were thinking about skating to Kill Bill, like something on like the edgier side, which is what I wanted to do. So, this is kind of a happy medium.”
“I like this program because it’s a lot easier for me to perform to Jazmine rather than to a big audience,” said Thrasher, adding that half of the program has been revamped for the 2025-26 season.
“We still haven’t reached the ceiling with this program,” Desrochers pointed out. “We feel like it has a lot more room to grow.”
Their short program will be to an upbeat remix of The Black Eyed Peas’ “Meet Me Halfway” and “Boom Boom Pow”, also choreographed by Marcotte. Both skaters admitted that it’s a bit outside their comfort zone but welcome the challenge.
“We’ve been working with a hip hop teacher to be able to do it,” Desrochers revealed. “It’s not our natural way of movement, so it’s been helping a lot. We’re looking forward to continuing that and then being able to perform it at NextGen for the first time next month.”
Lessons and takeaways
In addition to personal growth, the past season has also brought new perspectives to the pair team.
“One thing for me was that I was really hard on myself on mistakes and stuff,” admitted Desrochers. “I think being able to get over mistakes quicker and get back into the zone was definitely a big lesson learned. This helped a lot in training after the Junior Grand Prix Final.”
Thrasher added: “We also kind of noticed after Junior Worlds that we had more trust in our training and ourselves. We felt like we got better throughout the season. But we wouldn’t attack and attempt elements the same way we did in training; it was basically like we were trying too hard in competition instead of relying on our training.”
“It’s not like we were thinking about trying too hard,” he explained. “It wasn’t a conscious decision. It’s like our lesson going into this year is trying to focus on keeping everything the same in both training and competition. The goal is to get those two to be the same thing.”
“Just to close the gap between our training and our competition,” Desrochers summarized.
Goals for next season
Their 2025-26 goals remain performance-driven and precise. Like all skaters, the team wants to skate clean at all events. However, at the end of the day, they also want to win.
“Focus-wise, we just really want to skate the best that we can in that moment,” said Desrochers. “So, whether that’s PCs or level fours, we just want to keep that up. We were really happy with last season; we got like level four twists and death spirals. That’s a big thing that even a lot of senior skaters can’t do, so I think that we really want to be able to carry that into our programs next season as well.”
“I’d say a goal is trying to maximize every element, not just level-wise, also Julie-wise,” added Thrasher. “Every little point matters in the grand scheme of things, so we just want to try to maximize everything that we can.”
Desrochers agreed, adding: “Like our goal next year isn’t just to get a checkmark in the box, but to really be able to maximize the pluses on every single element.”
While the skaters will be competing as juniors again, they hope to be invited to an international or Challenger event. However, they plan to compete as seniors at the 2026 Canadian National Figure Skating Championships. However, they are not setting any personal expectations for the latter event.
“No, not for seniors,” Desrochers said. “I mean, we try and separate the senior and the junior. So, when we’re focusing… like right now, we’re focused on junior because NextGen will be our first competition. Then, once we’re done with the junior, we’ll start focusing on senior. But placement-wise for nationals, we just want to be able to do the best we can.”
“Especially since it will be our second senior nationals,” Thrasher added. “But as far as like me and Jazmine, we don’t have much senior experience. So, our expectations going into nationals, or any senior event, is to just skate well. We’re not at the point where we can worry about placements at the senior level.”
Life beyond the rink
Desrochers doesn’t have any particular hobbies but enjoys downtime with watching Netflix and hanging out with friends. She also works part time at a gym as a receptionist.
“I also read a book for the first time when I was on vacation and that was a big moment for me,” she said. “I’ve never read a full book for pleasure or gone through a full book for that matter. A friend lent it to me, and it’s called ‘Verity’ by Colleen Hoover. It’s a very popular book.”
Desrochers recently completed her first year in a Bachelor of Commerce program at the University of Guelph, majoring in Sports and Event Management.
Meanwhile, Thrasher juggles two jobs—one of which is coaching Learn to Skate and offering private lessons. He also likes watching anime and playing video games when he has downtime.
As for role models, both point to two-time World Champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who train alongside them in Oakville.
“We train with them every day, so we see the highs and the lows,” said Thrasher. “We see how they manage training. They’re literally the best in the world right now. How they deal with that and how they train with that is a pretty admirable thing to look up to.”
“I agree a 100%,” added Desrochers. “I mean, I just started pair skating, like this will be my fourth season. They were the best team when I got onto the ice and were really impressive to watch. Then on top of it, when you start to understand what goes into it, it’s even more impressive.”
When asked to describe each other, Thrasher replied: “She’s very hard working. I’d say probably one of the most hard-working skaters where we train. She’s also usually happy, like uplifting and motivated.”
Desrochers described Thrasher as “very supportive.” She added, “He’s also funny. I mean, like, I get into ruts sometimes as well. We all have bad days, and he’s very good at picking me up. I think we’re able to do it for each other, which I think is really important.”
Desrochers and Thrasher will compete in their first competition at 2025 NextGen in Gatineau, QC, which will be held July 15-20, 2025. This is an event where junior-level skaters in Canada compete and are evaluated for selection to junior international events. Afterwards, they will compete at 2025 Quebec Summer Championships, August 7-10, 2025, in Pierrefonds.
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