Moving on Up!

Xan over at Xanboni! reminded via Twitter this past week that we are less than 100 days until the start of the Senior Grand Prix.

There are several competitors that are choosing to make the leap from the Junior Grand Prix to the Senior Grand Prix in this post Olympic year. As we approach the new skating season I thought I'd preview some of the faces I think we should keep an eye on starting today with the men.

Nan Song (China) - Last season he was the runner up at both the Junior Grand Prix Final and the Junior World Championships. Nan is a dream in the air but has many of the classic faults that many Chinese single skaters have such as rounded shoulders, poor stretch, and lack of connection with the audience. However, as evidenced from the video below, he has worked much harder at some of those things than many Chinese skaters. There's a freedom that exists in his skating that I like...at times somehow reminds me of Patrick Chan. I think he probably could have done with another year in the Junior ranks but he's opted to move forward. The best thing he can do to improve is to find a way to bring the audience in. If he does that, he's halfway there.



Grant Hochstein (USA) - Not nearly as strong as Song in the air but Grant does a great job of paying attention to all those things like choreography, position, and audience connection. Grant actually skated as a Senior at Nationals last season placing an impressive 7th. He also made trips to the Junior Grand Prix Final and Junior World Championships. Grant has to work on his technical ability and consistency. If he can make his jumping skills as solid as his skating skills, he'll be one tough competitor.



Ross Miner (USA) - I look at Ross and I think "Yep...that's a complete package." He is solid technically and still has some artistic flair. He took the Bronze at the Grand Prix Final and like Hochstein was planning on competing as a Senior at Nationals but a nagging foot injury kept him off the ice. That same foot kept him from competing at the Junior World Championships. All Ross needs is time to develop what he already has. I do feel he needs to contain his excitement and reign it in a little so that he doesn't loose focus but that will certainly come with time (think Evan Lysacek). He's a champion in the making and the future is very bright.



Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan) - He was the only Junior man last season to go undefeated winning both his Junior Grand Prix events, the Junior Grand Prix Final, Japanese Nationals (Junior) and the Junior World Championship. If Ross Miner is the complete package, Yuzuru is the complete package plus some. At this point it's just tweaking little things here and there. His greatest strength is that he has no weakness. Of all the guys making the move to Senior I feel he is the most prepared and I'll go further and say he'll be one of the top contenders on the Grand Prix this season.

Pic of the Week

With most of the attention going to the Senior skaters at the Grand Prix Final, it's easy to forget that there is a very talented group of Juniors competing this week in Tokyo as well.

Ross Miner is certainly in the mix to medal, if not win, this weeks' men's event at the Grand Prix Final. Ross qualified to the Final right behind Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu on the strength of a win at JGP Lake Placid and a silver medal at JGP Croatia.

Miner is just one of several American Juniors competing this week that also includes Simpson and Miller, Kiri Baga, Angela Maxwell, Christina Gao, Ellie Kawamura, Maia and Alex Shibutani, Cannuscio and Lorello, Richard Dornbush and Grant Hochstein.

The U.S. is in fact the best represented nation at this season's Grand Prix Final (amongst both the Junior and Seniors!), no small feat to say the least.

Good luck to all the Junior competitors competing this week in Japan!

Junior Grand Prix: USA

I'm a little slow to post my Junior Grand Prix Lake Placid update this week. I was out of town until today and thanks to Ice Network which showed the event live and on demand I was able to catch up on all the performances. A big thanks to Ice Network for showing the competition.

So beginning with the pairs, I must tell you I was really impressed with Canadians Hole and Johnson. For having been together for such a short period of time, there skating was impressive. Their gold medal was well deserved. Russians Stolbova and Klimov barely held on to the silver after a program that was ranked only fifth best. The bronze went to the Japanese team of Takahashi and Tran after a program as equally impressive as the Canadians. Americans Simpson and Miller made a valiant push to get on the podium with a top three free skate but came in just short in fourth place.

Amongst the ladies, Kristine Musademba was the clear class of the field with a strong free skate that showed excellent jumps, intricate steps, solid spins, and good speed. Kristine will be competing as a senior in Spokane and I wont be shocked at all if she is in the final group of skaters. The silver went to Russia's Ksenia Makarova who also skated well to pull up from fourth place. Her program had excellent tension and powerful, clear lines. The bronze went to Sweden's Isabelle Olsson who pulled all the way up from eighth place. The younger of two Olsson sisters' competing, her music was a bit odd but her jumping was solid. Americans Taylor Firth and DeeDee Leng self-imploded to finish fifth and seventh respectively.

For the men, Ross Miner easily took his first Junior Grand Prix Title besting his competitors. Ross showed complex choreography and good skating skills along with some solid jumping to take the title. Kento Nakamura of Japan and Russian Mark Shakhmatov's performances paled in comparison to Miner's as they took the silver and bronze respectively. American Joshua Farris had the comeback of the night with (what I thought) was the best program of the night. It included a gorgeous triple axel, a new jump for him, and he pulled all the way up from 10th to finish just off the podium in fourth.

Of all the Americans competing in Lake Placid, I think Maia and Alex Shibutani looked the most refined. Their Tango themed Free Dance looked polished well beyond their years and the team danced to a victory more than 20 points higher than their closest competitors. Canadians Ralph and Hill looked solid in winning the silver while the reigning U.S. Novice Champions Bonacorsi and Mager impressed their way to a bronze medal. Americans Tibbetts and Brubaker, who had a solid OD, ran into problems in the free dance when the duo tumbled on footwork, they had to settle for seventh place.

Full results can be seen here. Next week the Junior Grand Prix stops in Torun, Poland.