JGP Poland Recap

Men

Joshua Farris of the United States set the standard for the men with a stunning short program, and despite some problems with his free skate, he took home the gold medal, increased his personal best by 15 points and was the first skater to cross the 200 point mark this season.

Right behind him was Artur Dmitriev of Russia who took home his second JGP silver medal.  Ryuichi Kihara of Japan also won his second career JGP bronze medal.  Shoma Uno of Japan finished 4th in his international debut.

Other skaters who had a good event included Matthias Versluis of Finland.  He finished 17th at his first JGP event this summer and improved to 9th here with a 16 point increase in his personal best.  Harry Mattick of Great Britain increased his personal best by 10 points, Kamil Dymowski of Poland increased his personal best by 10 points and Igor Reznichenko of Ukraine increased his personal best by 14 points.

Peter Reitmayer of Slovakia didn't have his best event, finishing 30 points below his personal best.

Ladies

The ladies event went to the 13 year olds.  Julia Lipnitskaia had a stunning debut, winning gold and taking the highest score of the season so far by over 10 points.  Satoko Miyahara of Japan finished 2nd in her international debut as well.  Samantha Cesario, one of the veterans of the field, took home her 1st JGP medal and increased her personal best by 31 points.  Miu Sato of Japan finished 4th in her international debut.

Kristina Zaseeva of Russia had a good event, increasing her personal best by 21 points.  Kate Charbonneau of Canada improved over last season.  She placed 15th and 13th in her two JGP events last season and pulled up to 5th here, but she still finished 20 points below her personal best.

Two skaters had disappointing performances.  Jasmine Alexandra Costa of Estonia finished 35 points below her personal best and Julia Turkkila of Finland finished 33 points below her personal best.

Pairs

Simpson and Blackmer took home JGP gold in their first event as a team and became the first USA pair to win JGP gold since 2007.  They set the second highest score of the season, only 10 points behind Sui and Han.  Bobak and Beharry of Canada took home silver in their first event as a pair, bouncing back from a 5th place finish in the short program.  Tudvaseva and Lisiev of Russia won bronze in only their second JGP event.

Dance

Sinitsina and Zhiganshin of Russia continued their dominance of the Junior ranks by winning yet another JGP gold medal.  They've set themselves up for a return to the JGP Final.  Galyeta and Shumski of Ukraine also set themselves up as a top junior team with a silver medal.  Yankovskaia and Mozgov of Russia took home the bronze in their international debut.

Bruser and Lum of Canada finished 6th in their international debut, but had a stellar free dance to finish 2nd in the segment.  If they can pull up their short dance scores they could be real contenders.

Other teams having a good event include Pecherkina and Jakushin of Latvia who increased their personal best by 16 points, Kavaliova and Bieliaiev of Belarus who increased their personal best by 20 points, Konickova and Lang of the Czech Republic who increased their personal best by 21 points and Hasegawa/Hasegawa of Canada who increased their personal best by 23 points.