Safina/Berulava (GEO) compete during the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn (EST) @ISU (International Skating Union)
For the first time, the Juniors concluded the Figure Skating season as the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships, originally scheduled for the beginning of March in Sofia (BUL), were moved to mid-April and to Tallinn (EST) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Estonian capital hosted the third ISU Championship this season after the ISU European and Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.%20@ISU1237752061.webp)
Tondiraba Ice Hall during the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn (EST) @ISU (International Skating Union)
The Juniors were grateful that the event took place, even though they had to wait for a month. Earlier this season, the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final was cancelled alongside the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final and the ISU Junior World Championships 2021 were not held either.
Ilia Malinin (USA) celebrated a runaway victory with more than 40 points to spare and landed four quadruple jumps.
Ilia Malinin (USA) competes during the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn (EST) @ISU (International Skating Union)
“After Worlds (in Montpellier, he came 9th), after the long, it was a bit shocking that I skated (like) that. Not everyone is able to skate as best as they want to, but I've learned that - after that (Worlds Free Skating) - I just need to keep my motivation up and just know that if I put in enough effort that I can skate clean and not have this happen again.
It definitely gives me a lot of boost and motivation because I have a little bit of time before my next competition so I can really work on some things that weren't really as good here,” said the 17-year-old son of 1999 ISU Four Continents Champion and Olympian Tatiana Malinina (UZB) and her husband Roman Skorniakov (UZB), who competed at the World and Olympic level as well.
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Tatiana Malinina (UZB) competes during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City (USA) @GettyImages
Mikhail Shaidorov(KAZ) rose from eighth to claim the silver, the first medal for Kazakhstan at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.
Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ) competes during the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn (EST) @ISU (International Skating Union)
He had to overcome some problems in his preparation for the Championship as he had to train on public skating sessions.
Tatsuya Tsuboi (JPN) made it to Junior Worlds in his final junior year and skated off with the bronze.
Tatsuya Tsuboi (JPN) competes during the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn (EST) @ISU (International Skating Union)
Mihhail Selevko (EST) won the small ISU bronze medal in the Short Program and achieved the best result for an Estonian single skater at Junior Worlds to date.
Isabeau Levito debuted at Junior Worlds and became the first U.S. woman to take the Junior World title since Rachael Flatt had won in 2008.
Isabeau Levito (USA) competes during the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn (EST) @ISU (International Skating Union)
“My hope was that I would skate clean and that I would land the elements that I recently put into my program, my loop combos. I was excited to do them for the first time internationally,” the 15-year-old shared.
She came in as a favorite for the title, but dealt with that pressure really well. “I learned a long time ago by experience that I really need to not think about that (being a favorite) because then it puts more pressure on yourself, and you need to just take everything one step at a time, one element at a time, one second at a time, and it makes it much easier,” she explained.
14-year-old Jia Shin (KOR), the youngest Skater in the competition, more or less came out of nowhere and was edged out for gold by just 0.54 points.
She is the first Korean Skater to win a medal at Junior Worlds since Yuna Kim won the title in 2006.
Lindsay Thorngren (USA) made up for her disappointing 26th finish in 2020 at this event to earn the bronze. “I’m really proud of myself for coming back and skating a clean program after the last junior worlds.
I had a good experience here in Tallinn and I don't have to think about what happened two years ago,” Thorngren noted.
Skaters from Korea and the USA occupied the top six spots in Tallinn, but other countries as well have promising talents such as Kimmy Repond (SUI), Rion Sumiyoshi (JPN), Niina Petrökina (EST) and Nina Pinzarrone (BEL).
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Kimmy Repond (SUI) competes during the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn (EST) @ISU (International Skating Union)
History once more was made in the Pairs event when Karina Safina/Luka Berulava struck gold and gave Georgia its first ISU Championship title. This young couple had teamed up only a year ago.
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Golubeva/Moore (AUT), Safina/Berulava (GEO), Mcintosh/Mimar (CAN) during the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn (EST) @ISU (International Skating Union)
“We are very happy to have won this gold medal for Georgia. We already have some figure skaters in Georgia and an ice rink will be built so hopefully this will help the development of figure skating in Georgia,” Berulava said. “I could not imagine that everything will go like this, to be honest. Everything what I had wished for this season, happened,” added Safina.
Silver medalists Anastasia Golubeva/Hector Giotopoulos Moore are only the third Australian Pair to win an ISU Championship medal – and they completed the set for the country that now has a gold, a silver and a bronze.
Golubeva/Moore (AUS) competes during the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn (EST) @ISU (International Skating Union)
“It means a lot of us. It is a huge accomplishment and amazing achievement. We're very happy and humbled to be on that list of people,” Giotopoulos Moore commented.
The team had trouble to find a place to train as she is a Russian citizen while he is Australian. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic Hector was unable to return to Australia for almost two years and they trained mostly in Moscow until his visa expired and he did not get a new one. Brooke McIntosh/Benjamin Mimar’s bronze medal is the first Pair Skating medal for Canada at Junior Worlds since 2015.
The new Junior World Ice Dance Champions Oona Brown/Gage Brown (USA) are the second brother-and-sister team to win this title – after Rachel and Michael Parsons (USA), who won in 2017.
Brown/Brown (USA) competes during the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn (EST) @ISU (International Skating Union)
Only two more brother-and-sister Ice Dance couples have won medals at Junior Worlds back in the 1980s. For Brown/Brown, winning in Tallinn was a nice reward after facing many difficulties this season. They did not get the chance to compete following the ISU Junior Grand Prix.
“It was very tough. The JGP Final as well was cancelled back in December. A lot of cancellations, we had Covid in January, there were a lot of setbacks,” Gage explained. “Obviously, the news when we tested positive was a nightmare. It was a day before we were supposed to leave (for U.S. Nationals) and then we had to take ten days off before we could actually skate again. The last time we competed was in October. Just to get actually out here and compete was an amazing feeling.”
The silver and bronze medals went to the two Canadian teams Natalie D’Alessandro/Bruce Waddell and Nadiia Bashynska/Peter Beaumont. It was not only the first Junior World Ice Dance medal for Canada since 2014 but also the first time that the country claimed two medals in the discipline.
Katarina Wolfkostin/Jeffrey Chen (USA) were among the top favorites, but after a fall in the Rhythm Dance they stood in ninth place. They ranked second in the Free Dance and pulled up to fourth overall. Darya Grimm/Michail Savitskiy (GER) were a surprise in fifth place in their Junior World debut.
