Junior Worlds: Ladies Preview

Julia Lipnitskaia won two gold medals en route to the JGP Final where she won gold. She is undefeated this season and has set the bar high with her difficult technical content including triple + triple and double axel + triple toe combinations and her impressive flexibility in her spins.  She also set a record score for a junior program under IJS at JGP Italy.  She has the best short program, free skate and total score of the season.

Gracie Gold won gold at her international debut at JGP Estonia.  She went on to win the junior national title with a record score, surpassing two-time World Junior Medalist Agnes Zawadzki and Courtney Hicks who took home a gold medal on the JGP this season.  She has amazing height in her jumps and solid triple + triple combinations.  She's gained a lot of attention after nationals and will no longer be under the radar.  She has the 3rd best short program, 2nd best free skate and 3rd best total score of the season.

Adelina Sotnikova is the reigning Junior World Champion and is the only medalist returning to this event.  She won two bronze medals on the Senior Grand Prix and took home the silver medal from the Youth Olympic Games.  While she had a solid senior debut season, she was eclipsed by her teammate Elizaveta Tuktamisheva who withdrew from this event to focus on next season.  Her scores have been significantly lower than last season and has been showing lots of mistakes in her formerly solid programs.  She has the 4th best short program and 10th best free skate score of the season.  She has the 10th best total senior score of the season.

Satoko Miyahara won silver at JGP Poland in her international debut but dropped 19 points and off the podium in Italy.  She has the 5th best short program, 8th best free skate and 5th best total score of the season.  

Zijun Li won two silver medals on the Junior Grand Prix to qualify for the JGP Final.  She has the 7th best short program, 5th best free skate and 8th best total score of the season.

Risa Shoji won two silver medals on the JGP to qualify for the JGP Final.  She has lots of difficult content in her programs but is often plagued by under-rotation calls.  She has the 8th best short program, 9th best free skate and 7th best total score of the season.

Polina Shelepen won two JGP gold medals to qualify for the JGP Final where she won silver.  She was recently named to the team after Tuktamisheva withdrew and it seems that she will be heading to Nice and the World Championships as well if she performs well here.  She has the 9th best short program, 4th best free skate and 4th best total score of the season.  

Vanessa Lam won a gold and bronze medal on the JGP to qualify for the JGP Final.  She won bronze in Australia and improved to gold in Austria with an 11 point increase in her score.  She had a subpar outing at the JGP Final due to an injury and had a solid if not spectacular performance at nationals.  She has the 6th best free skate and 9th best total score of the season.

Also in the mix are Kaetlyn Osmond who did not compete internationally this season but won the senior short program at Canadian nationals and Hae-Jin Kim who won bronze at JGP Romania and made several impressive jumps in her personal best throughout the season.  Joshi Helgesson and Christina Gao competed at the senior level this season and this will be their first junior event of the year.

There are quite a few JGP medalists that won't be attending this event including Polina Agafonova of Russia (two medals, an alternate), Anna Shershak of Russia, Polina Korobeynikova of Russia (two medals, Senior Worlds team), Courtney Hicks from the United States (injured), Samantha Cesario of the United States (two medals, injured) and Hannah Miller of the United States (an alternate).

My podium predictions:

Gold: Julia Lipnitskaia

Silver: Gracie Gold

Bronze: Adelina Sotnikova

Bios of the competitors:

Brooklee Han, AUS: She finished 21st at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 8th at JGP Australia and 13^th at JGP Italy.  Her personal best is 115.49.  She is 16 years old.

Sabrina Schulz, AUT (D): She finished 12^th at JGP Romania and 16^th at JGP Italy.  Her personal best is 102.87.  She is 17 years old.

Kristina Zakharanka, BLR: She finished 18^th at her JGP debut in Latvia.  Her personal best is 87.90.  She is 14 years old.

Eline Anthonissen, BEL: She is 16 years old.

Anais Claes, BEL (D): She finished 29^th in her JGP debut in Latvia and 27^th at JGP Italy.  Her personal best is 82.03.   She is 16 years old.

Isadora Williams, BRA: She finished 18th at JGP Italy.  Her personal best is 101.20.  She is 16 years old.

Vasilena Yakimova, BUL: She is 15 years old.

Kaetlyn Osmond, CAN: Her personal best is 111.90.  She is 16 years old.

Zijun Li, CHN (D): She placed 9^th at the World Junior Championships last season.  She won bronze at the Youth Olympic Games.  She won the silver medal at JGP Latvia and JGP Austria to qualify for the JGP Final where she finished 4th.  Her personal best is 157.70.  She is 15 years old.  

Ziquan Zhao, CHN: She finished 6^th at her international debut in Italy.  Her personal best is 133.33.  She is 14 years old.

Amanda Sunyoto-Yang, TPE: She finished 23^rd at JGP Romania.  Her personal best is 82.34.  She is 19 years old.

Ema Lipovscak, CRO: She finished 24^th at JGP Poland.  Her personal best is 76.21.  She is 16 years old.

Elizaveta Ukolova, CZE: She finished 15^th at her international debut in Poland.  Her personal best is 96.89.  She is 13 years old.

Anita Madsen, DEN: She finished 29th at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 12th at JGP Australia and 8^th at JGP Italy.  Her personal best is 115.55.  She is 16 years old.

Gerli Liinamae, EST (D): She placed 15^th at Junior Worlds last season.  She finished 4^th at JGP Latvia and JGP Estonia.  Her personal best is 140.30.  She is 16 years old.

Juulia Turkkila, FIN (D): She placed 16th at Junior Worlds last season.  She finished 20th at Worlds. She placed 17th at Europeans.  She placed 13th at JGP Poland and JGP Estonia.  Her personal best is 136.68.  She is 17 years old.

Lenaelle Gilleron-Gorry, FRA (D): She finished 8th at JGP Latvia and JGP Romania.  Her personal best is 120.78.  She is 16 years old. 

Angelika Dubinski, GER: She finished 16^th in her JGP debut in Romania.  Her personal best is 95.19.  She is 16 years old.

Katie Powell, GBR: She finished 13th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 15th at JGP Estonia.  Her personal best is 106.13.  She is 19 years old.  

Isabella Schuster, GRE: She finished 26th at JGP Italy.  Her personal best is 82.04.  She is 16 years old.

Oliya Clarkson, GRN: She is 14 years old.

Regina Borbely, HUN: Her personal best is 85.66.  She is 17 years old.

Margot Krisberg, ISR: She finished 26^th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 23^rd at JGP Latvia and 17^th at JGP Romania.  Her personal best is 95.06.  She is 17 years old.

Carol Bressanutti, ITA (D): She finished 16^th at her JGP debut in Poland.  Her personal best is 96.40.  She is 18 years old.

Satoko Miyahara, JPN (D): She won silver at her international debut in Poland and placed 5^th at JGP Italy.  Her personal best is 162.20.  She is 13 years old.

Miu Sato, JPN (D): She finished 4^th at her international debut in Poland and 4^th at JGP Austria.  Her personal best is 141.52.  She is 15 years old.

Risa Shoji, JPN (D): She placed 5th at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 6th at the Youth Olympic Games.  She won silver at JGP Australia and JGP Estonia to qualify for the JGP Final where she finished 6th.  Her personal best is 157.83.  She is 15 years old.

Regina Glazman, KAZ: She finished 31^st at her JGP debut in Latvia.  Her personal best is 66.92.  She is 14 years old.

Alina Fjodorova, LAT: She placed 28^th at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 16th at Europeans.  She finished 13^th at JGP Latvia and 9^th at JGP Poland.  Her personal best is 133.48.  She is 16 years old.

Inga Januleviciute, LTU: She finished 18^th at her JGP debut in Estonia.  Her personal best is 94.29.  She is 16 years old.

Michelle Quintero, MEX: She finished 28th at JGP Austria.  Her personal best is 74.76.  She is 17 years old.

Maral-Erdene Gansukh, MGL: She finished 35th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 25^th at her JGP debut in Poland and 28^th at JGP Estonia.  Her personal best is 58.33.  She is 15 years old.

Kim Bell, NED: She finished 22^nd at her JGP debut in Austria.  Her personal best is 84.11.  She is 17 years old.

Madelaine Parker, NZL: She finished 23rd in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 19^th at her JGP debut in Australia.  Her personal best is 82.84.  She is 16 years old.

Anine Rabe, NOR: She finished 24^th at JGP Latvia.  Her personal best is 99.60.  She is 19 years old.

Alexandra Kamieniecki, POL: She finished 27^th at Junior Worlds.  She placed 15^th at JGP Latvia and 9^th at JGP Romania. Her personal best is 111.91.  She is 15 years old.

Hae-Jin Kim, KOR: She finished 5th at JGP Australia and won bronze at JGP Romania.  Her personal best is 144.61.  She is 14 years old.

Raisa Rjenovschi, ROU: She placed 27th at JGP Romania.  Her personal best is 64.90.  She is 16 years old.

Julia Lipnitskaia, RUS (D): She won gold at her international debut in Poland and at JGP Italy to qualify for the JGP Final where she won gold.  Her personal best is 183.05.  She is 13 years old.

Polina Shelepen, RUS (D): She placed 7^th at Junior Worlds last season.  She won gold at JGP Latvia and JGP Romania to qualify for the JGP Final where she won silver.  Her personal best is 162.34.  She is 16 years old. 

Adelina Sotnikova, RUS (D): She is the reigning Junior World Champion.  She won silver at the Youth Olympic Games.  She won bronze at Cup of China and Rostelecom Cup.  Her personal best is 178.87.  She is 15 years old.

Sandra Ristivojevic, SRB: She finished 33^rd in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 22^nd at her JGP debut in Latvia and 21^st at JGP Romania.  Her personal best is 85.48.  She is 15 years old.

Kai Jing Leong, SIN: Her personal best is 63.12. She is 18 years old.

Monika Simancikova, SVK (D): She finished 18th at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 14th at Europeans.  She placed 10th at JGP Poland and 9^th at JGP Estonia.  Her personal best is 136.79.  She is 16 years old.

Patricia Glescic, SLO: She finished 20^th at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 15th in the preliminary round at Europeans.  Her personal best is 125.46.  She is 17 years old.

Elena Mangas, ESP: She finished 22nd at JGP Italy.  Her personal best is 93.54.  She is 16 years old.

Joshi Helgesson, SWE: She finished 15th at Worlds.  She placed 10th at Europeans.  She placed 10th at Skate America.  Her personal best is 149.08.  She is 18 years old.

Tina Stuerzinger, SUI (D): She placed 8th at the Youth Olympic Games.  She finished 10^th at JGP Latvia and 12^th at JGP Austria.  Her personal best is 116.02.  She is 16 years old.

Melanie Swang, THA: She finished 20th at Four Continents. She finished 15^th at JGP Romania.  Her personal best is 97.53.  She is 17 years old.

Sila Saygi, TUR: She finished 26^th at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 27^th at JGP Latvia.  Her personal best is 118.94.  She is 16 years old.

Alina Milevskaia, UKR: She finished 16th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 14th at JGP Poland.  Her personal best is 120.19.  She is 16 years old.

Christina Gao, USA (D): She placed 4th at Junior Worlds last season.  She placed 5th at Cup of China and 10th at Rostelecom Cup.  Her personal best is 167.14.  She is 17 years old.

Gracie Gold, USA (D): She won gold at her JGP debut in Estonia.  Her personal best is 172.69.  She is 16 years old.

Vanessa Lam, USA (D): She won bronze at JGP Australia and gold at JGP Austria to qualify for the JGP Final where she finished 5th.  Her personal best is 156.58.  She is 16 years old.