The competition at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2012 concluded Saturday in Minsk, Belarus, with the Men's and Ladies Free Skating.

Han Yan (CHN) skates off with Junior Men's gold
Han Yan of China skated off with the Junior Men's gold, becoming the first Chinese man to win the ISU Junior World title. USA's Joshua Farris and Jason Brown claimed the silver and bronze medal respectively.

Skating to “Zigeunerweisen”, Yan produced a triple Axel, quadruple toeloop and five more clean triples as well as a level-four combination spin. He established a new seasons best with 147.57 points and racked up 222.45 points overall to move up from second to first. “I feel very honoured to be the first Chinese man to win this title. Today my performance was pretty good, I showed my level. The placement doesn't matter to me, for me it is more important to skate well”, the 15-year-old said.

Farris' routine to Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 featured a triple Axel-double toe, another triple Axel as well as five other good triple jumps and three level-four spins. He only wobbled on the triple Lutz-triple toe combination. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist improved his seasons best significantly with 146.54 points but slipped from first to second at 221.97 points. “I thought my performance was phenomenal. I haven't skated like that in a while in my long program so I was happy about that. My goal going into this competition was to skate two strong, clean programs and I thought I did that except for a few bobbles, but that's okay”, the 17-year-old commented.

Brown hit seven solid triples including two Lutzes and showed fast well centered spins in his program to “Flow Like Water”. The 17-year old scored 144.70 points, another seasons best, and pulled up from fourth to third at 214.90 points. “I'm so honored to be up here and to be able to medal for the USA. My goal was to skate two great programs that I've been practicing and it looked like that is what happened. It was great to be around some of these amazing skaters this week”, the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champion noted.

Denis Ten (KAZ) dropped to fourth after falling on an underrotated quad toeloop (208.20 points). Zhan Bush (RUS) placed fifth at 196.06 points. He Zhang (CHN) finished sixth (193.97 points).

Julia Lipnitskaia (RUS) claims Junior Ladies gold
Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia claimed the Junior Ladies gold medal. Gracie Gold (USA) took silver and Adelina Sotnikova of Russia earned the bronze. Both Lipnitskaia and Gold debuted at Junior Worlds.

Skating last, Lipnitskaia delivered a flawless program to “Romeo and Juliet”, reeling off seven triple jumps and level-four spins. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champion set a new seasons best for herself with 123.96 points and accumulated 187.05 points to take the title in her debut at the event. “I am incredibly happy now. I liked everything and the performance was ideal. Now I am in a great mood. It was a great ending for a great season”, Lipnitskaia said.

Gold's performance to “The Mission” and “The Untouchables” featured a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination and four more triples. The U.S. Junior Champion only doubled the loop and scored a seasons best with 113.85 points which added up to 171.85 points overall. “I am very happy with my skate. I thought I skated really well. It wasn't perfect I had a few little mistakes, but overall I thought I did a very good job with my performance and my placement”, Gold commented.

Performing to “Liebestraum”, Sotnikova nailed a triple Lutz-triple loop combination and four more triples but missed the triple loop. The defending champion earned 111.88 points and totaled 168.45 points to remain in third place. “I am quite satisfied with my performance as I proved that I am able to do the hard elements. I didn't skate completely clean but I am still happy with it”, the 15-year-old told the post-event press conference.

Satoko Miyahara (JPN) placed fourth with a solid performance that included a triple Lutz-triple toe combination (157.78 points) and Zijun Li (CHN) came fifth at 157.31 points. Polina Shelepen (RUS) pulled up from 12th to round up the top six (156.02 points).

The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships conclude Sunday with the Exhibition Gala. For more information and full results please see: www.isu.org.