The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2014 opened in Sofia, Bulgaria, Wednesday with the Short Dance and Pairs Short Program. 186 skaters from 42 ISU members are competing in the Championship.
Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker (USA) lead after Junior Short Dance
Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker (USA) upset ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions Anna
Yanovskaya/Sergey Mozgov of Russia to take the lead in the Short Dance. Lorraine McNamara/Quinn
Carpenter (USA) are currently sitting in third place.
Hawayek/Baker’s characteristic Quickstep to “Happy Feet” and “Sing Sing Sing” as well as Foxtrot to “It Had to Be You” was highlighted by intricate footwork and a rotational lift. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalists were the only team to collect a level four for all five elements and posted a new personal best score of 66.73 points. “We really have been working hard from the (ISU Junior Grand Prix) Final to drill our elements and get our levels. Based on our technical score we can say that we more than achieved that, getting level fours for everything”, Hawayek commented. “Definitely the US right now is building and building on an incredibly strong ice dance program. Obviously we have (Olympic Champions) Meryl
(Davis) and Charlie (White) on top of the world right now. We have us included many up and coming teams. They are continuing to progress throughout the years”, she added.
Yanovskaya/Mozgov turned in a solid performance of their dance set to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” and “Fever” to score 63.80 points, and slightly improved their seasons best score. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions earned a level four for the twizzles and the lift while the two Quickstep patterns and the side by side footwork garnered a level three. “We are basically happy with our performance. We skated clean, and it was a rather good, solid performance. But it was not enough to receive a higher score than we had before. But we tried our best and we are happy with what we did”, Mozgov said.
Dancing to “Bublichki” and “Chiribim, Chiribom”, McNamara/Carpenter earned a level four for the straight line lift, twizzles and one Quickstep pattern. With 58.65 points, the ISU Junior Grand Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalists scored a new seasons best as well. “We didn’t give ourselves any sort of expectation, we just wanted to go and give our best, and I think we came very close to that. We are very happy with the results and to be up here with the small medalists. We had a really good time and it went well”, Carpenter told the press.
Rachel Parsons/Michael Parsons (USA) placed fourth with 58.08 points followed by Madeline
Edwards/Zhao Kai Pang (CAN, 57.92 points). Rebeka Kim/Kirill Minov (KOR) came sixth at 55.33 points.
28 couples competed in the Short Dance and the top 20 advance to the Free Dance on Friday.
Xiaoyu Yu/Yang Jin (CHN) grab Pairs Short Program
Xiaoyu Yu/Yang Jin of China grabbed the lead in the Junior Pairs Short Program followed by Russia’s
Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov and Vasilisa Davankova/Andrei Deputat.
The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2014 opened in Sofia, Bulgaria, Wednesday with the Short Dance and Pairs Short Program. 186 skaters from 42 ISU members are competing in the Championship.
Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker (USA) lead after Junior Short Dance
Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker (USA) upset ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions Anna
Yanovskaya/Sergey Mozgov of Russia to take the lead in the Short Dance. Lorraine McNamara/Quinn
Carpenter (USA) are currently sitting in third place.
Hawayek/Baker’s characteristic Quickstep to “Happy Feet” and “Sing Sing Sing” as well as Foxtrot to “It Had to Be You” was highlighted by intricate footwork and a rotational lift. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalists were the only team to collect a level four for all five elements and posted a new personal best score of 66.73 points. “We really have been working hard from the (ISU Junior Grand Prix) Final to drill our elements and get our levels. Based on our technical score we can say that we more than achieved that, getting level fours for everything”, Hawayek commented. “Definitely the US right now is building and building on an incredibly strong ice dance program. Obviously we have (Olympic Champions) Meryl
(Davis) and Charlie (White) on top of the world right now. We have us included many up and coming teams. They are continuing to progress throughout the years”, she added.
Yanovskaya/Mozgov turned in a solid performance of their dance set to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” and “Fever” to score 63.80 points, and slightly improved their seasons best score. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions earned a level four for the twizzles and the lift while the two Quickstep patterns and the side by side footwork garnered a level three. “We are basically happy with our performance. We skated clean, and it was a rather good, solid performance. But it was not enough to receive a higher score than we had before. But we tried our best and we are happy with what we did”, Mozgov said.
Dancing to “Bublichki” and “Chiribim, Chiribom”, McNamara/Carpenter earned a level four for the straight line lift, twizzles and one Quickstep pattern. With 58.65 points, the ISU Junior Grand Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalists scored a new seasons best as well. “We didn’t give ourselves any sort of expectation, we just wanted to go and give our best, and I think we came very close to that. We are very happy with the results and to be up here with the small medalists. We had a really good time and it went well”, Carpenter told the press.
Rachel Parsons/Michael Parsons (USA) placed fourth with 58.08 points followed by Madeline
Edwards/Zhao Kai Pang (CAN, 57.92 points). Rebeka Kim/Kirill Minov (KOR) came sixth at 55.33 points.
28 couples competed in the Short Dance and the top 20 advance to the Free Dance on Friday.
Xiaoyu Yu/Yang Jin (CHN) grab Pairs Short Program
Xiaoyu Yu/Yang Jin of China grabbed the lead in the Junior Pairs Short Program followed by Russia’s
Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov and Vasilisa Davankova/Andrei Deputat.