End of the Junior Grand Prix

The last two weekends brought about the end of the Junior Grand Prix. The last two stops were in Dresden, Germany and nearby Ostrava, Czech Republic.

The big winners included:
Pairs - Sui & Han of China (GER) and Yu & Jin also of China (CZE)
Men - Richard Dornbush of the United States (GER) and Han Yan of China (CZE)
Dance - Kosigina & Moroshkin of Russia (GER) and Pushkash and Guerreiro also of Russia (CZE)
Ladies - Elizaveta Tuktamisheva of Russia (GER) and Vanessa Lam of the United States (CZE)

Other American Medalists at the events included a silver for Christina Gao in Germany, a bronze for Lichthman and Copely in Germany, and a silver for Cain and Reagan in the Czech Republic.

Results for Junior Grand Prix Germany can be seen here and Junior Grand Prix Czech Republic here.

The final field is set for the Junior Grand Prix Final which will take place in Beijing December 9th-12th. Competitors include:

Ice Dance
1.Monko and Khaliavin (RUS)
2.Stepanova and Bukin (RUS)
3.Pushkash and Guerreiro (RUS)
4.Lichtman and Copely (USA)
5.Kosigina and Moroshkin (RUS)
6.Sinitsina and Zhiganshin (RUS)
7.Galyeta and Shumski (UKR)
8.Antipova and Kudashev (RUS)

Men
1.Andrei Rogozine (CAN)
2.Han Yan (CHN)
3.Joshua Farris (USA)
4.Keegan Messing (USA)
5.Richard Dornbush (USA)
6.Max Aaron (USA)
7.Zhan Bush (RUS)
8.Gordei Gorshkov (RUS)

Ladies
1.Adelina Sotnikova (RUS)
2.Elizaveta Tuktamisheva (RUS)
3.Risa Shoki (JPN)
4.Polina Shelepen (RUS)
5.Christina Gao (USA)
6.Yasmin Siraj (USA)
7.Kristiene Gong (USA)
8.Kiri Baga (USA)

Pairs
1.Stolbova and Klimov (RUS)
2.Sui and Han (CHN)
3.Yu and Jin (CHN)
4.Takahashi and Tran (JPN)
5.Purich and Schultz (CAN)
6.Silaeva and Minchuk (RUS)
7.Cain and Reagan (USA)
8.Steele and Schultz (CAN)

Russia came up WAY big in Ice Dance qualifying 3/4 of the field! US was the big winners amongst the men and the women with the most entries (but not the top qualifiers) and a smattering of countries qualified in pairs. Should be interesting.

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.