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)

Junior Grand Prix: Germany

Last week brought the conclusion of the Junior Grand Prix Event in Dresden, Germany. Team USA had a much better event than they had in Belarus.

While Team USA did not get a medal in the men's event. We did achieve a respectable 4th and 5th place finish with Grant Hochstein and Richard Dornbush respectively. The Gold went to China's Nan Song, who rallied from 4th place in the short to take the title (and better his silver from the previous week in Belarus). Russian Artur Gachinski who edged Song in Belarus took the silver while fellow Russian Gordei Gorshkov took the bronze (as he did in Poland).

In Pairs, Americans Simpson and Miller improved upon their showing in Lake Placid to win the bronze medal. It was a repeat of the top two from Minsk, Belarus with China again dominating with Zhang and Wang taking the silver and Sui and Han again winning the Gold.

In Ice Dance, Americans Gilles and Donohue narrowly held on to win the Bronze medal by .04 points. Italians Alessandrini and Vaturi took the silver medal with Russians Pushkash and Guerreiro, in their debut as a team together, winning the Gold (see the video below).

The big story for Team USA was amongst the ladies where the U.S. took the top two spots. Kiri Baga, in her international debut, won the ladies title. Behind her was fellow American Angela Maxwell. Russia's Polina Agafonova was third.

Full results can be seen here. Only two more stops on the Junior Grand Prix left. This week skaters hit the ice in Zagreb, Croatia. Also, we are just under two weeks away from the start of the Senior Grand Prix in Paris, France.