Monday, October 19, 2009

Junior Grand Prix: Turkey

We've had a busy few days in the figure skating world. Last week, the Junior Grand Prix Series came to a conclusion, champions were crowned, and we have a list of competitors for the Junior Grand Prix Final (which will take place simultaneously with the Senior Grand Prix in Tokyo, Japan in December).

In Ice Dance, American's Cannuscio and Lorello took home the bronze medal, their second on the Junior Grand Prix. Two Russian teams held the two top spots. Pushkash and Guerreiro were just ahead of the Americans winning the silver despite placing fifth in the free dance. The gold went to Monko and Khaliavin.

Amongst the men, both Americans were out of the medals. Joshua Farris finished fifth. After placing second in the short program he had a seventh place free skate and was unable to stay on the podium. Austin Kanallakan moved up from fifth to fourth. The bronze medal went to Japan's Kento Nakamura, silver to Russia's Stanislav Kovalev, and the gold to Han Yan of China (see video below).

The American ladies were quite successful. Christina Gao took home the bronze medal (and won the free skate in the process), adding a second to her collection this season. Russian Sofia Biryukova took home the silver. Kiri Baga, again took the gold medal in her second appearance in the Junior Grand Prix despite finishing third in the free skate.

Full results can be seen here.

So here are the competitors that have qualified to the Junior Grand Prix Final.

Pairs:
Sui and Han (China)
Takahashi and Tran (Japan)
Hole and Johnson (Canada)
Zhang and Wang (China)
Novik and Kuznetsov (Russia)
Simpson and Miller (USA)
Vasilieva and Shevchuk (Russia)
Stolbova and Klimov (Russia)

Ladies:
Kanako Murakami (Japan)
Polina Shelepen (Russia)
Kiri Baga (USA)
Angela Maxwell (USA)
Ksenia Makarova (Russia)
Christina Gao (USA)
Anna Ovcharova (Russia)
Ellie Kawamura (USA)

Dance:
Shibutani and Shibutani (USA)
Monko and Khaliavin (Russia)
Ilyinikh and Katsalapov (Russia)
Pushkash and Gurreiro (Russia)
Ralph and Hill (Canada)
Alessandrini and Vaturi (Italy)
Antipova and Kudashev (Russia)
Cannuscio and Lorello (USA)

Men:
Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan)
Ross Miner (USA)
Nan Song (China)
Artur Gachinski (Russia)
Kento Nakamura (Japan)
Stanislav Kovalev (Russia)
Richard Dornbush (USA)
Grant Hochstein (USA)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Russia and the USA look really strong in this junior grand prix season. They will be ready for the next Olympic cycle. :)

Aaron said...

It's weird. The U.S. always has the surge of talent in the junior ranks, but we are far less dominate in the senior ranks. Wonder what happens?