Joshua Farris won a pair of gold medals on the JGP and went on to win the bronze at the Final. He started off the season with a solid short program, increasing his personal best and getting over the 200 point mark. He improved his scores in Estonia but mistakes at the Final dropped him to third overall. After struggling with his free skate all season, he scrapped it and debuted a new program at nationals. He had a messy outing at nationals and failed to cross the 200 point mark. If he hits his programs he could be at the top of the podium but he hasn't shown that consistency yet this season. He has the best short program, 3rd best free skate and 3rd best total score of the season.
Han Yan won a pair of gold medals on the Junior Grand Prix and took home his second consecutive silver medal from the Grand Prix Final. He started off his season crossing the 200 point mark in Austria and had a 14 point improvement in one week in Italy. He made some mistakes in his short program at the Final which cost him a shot at the title. He has a quad in his free skate which gives him a huge competitive edge and if he lands it cleanly, he has a buffer against mistakes later in his program. He has the 2nd best short program, best free skate and best total score of the season.
Jason Brown won a gold and a silver on the JGP to qualify for the Final where he won gold. He won his first Junior Grand Prix gold in Australia and set a new personal best score. He doesn't have a triple axel in his program and has been focusing on components to stay competitive with the other skaters. He won the JGP Final as he skated two clean programs while the other top competitors made mistakes, but if they skate clean he has a huge disadvantage in his technical element score. He was suffering from a tweaked ankle at nationals and had some mistakes on footwork but still crossed the 200 point mark. He has the 3rd best short program, 2nd best free skate and 2nd best total score of the season.
Artur Dmitriev won silver at JGP Poland and beat Joshua Farris in the free skate at that event. After a botched short program at JGP Italy, he finished 23 points below his earlier result and cost himself a spot in the Final. He has the 4th best short program, 4th best free skate and 4th best total score of the season.
Keiji Tanaka is the reigning silver medalist at this event and the only returning medalist. He won a silver and a bronze on the JGP to qualify for the Final. His bronze medal in Austria came after a a 19 point drop from his earlier event and he failed to set a new personal best this season. He has the 5th best short program, 6th best free skate and 6th best total score of the season.
Ryuju Hino won a gold and a silver medal on the JGP and qualified for the Final. He showed big improvement taking home his first JGP medal in Latvia and increasing his personal best by 30 points. He has the 8th best short program, 7th best free skate and 7th best total score of the season.
He Zhang won silver at JGP Latvia, taking home his first JGP medal and increasing his personal best by 20 points. In Austria, he dropped 18 points and finished off the medal stand. He has the 10th best short program, 9th best free skate and 8th best total score of the season.
Liam Firus won bronze at JGP Australia but dropped 24 points in his outing in Austria. He has the 10th best free skate and total score of the season.
Denis Ten is a dark horse in this event having competed as a senior all season. He has quads in his programs and has respectable outings including two 5th place finishes on the Grand Prix and a 6th place finish at Four Continents.
Zhan Bush has also competed as a senior all season but on the senior B circuit. He beat out several other Russian men with top junior scores and JGP medals and will be looking to improve on his 11th place finish at this event last season.
Other skaters in the mix include Nam Nguyen who won bronze at JGP Romania, Shoma Uno who won bronze at JGP Estonia, June-Hyoung Lee who won bronze at JGP Italy and Timothy Dolensky who won bronze at JGP Latvia.
My podium predictions:
Gold: Han Yan
Silver: Joshua Farris
Bronze: Denis Ten
Bios of the competitors:
Slavik Hayrapetyan, ARM: He finished 21st in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season. He placed 28th at Europeans. He placed 18th at JGP Latvia and 14th at JGP Romania. His personal best is 128.97. He is 15 years old.
Brendan Kerry, AUS: He finished 17th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season. He placed 19th at Four Continents. He placed 14th at Junior Grand Prix Australia. His personal best is 144.26. He is 17 years old.
Bernhard Pauli, AUT: He is 14 years old.
Pavel Ignatenko, BLR: He finished 8th at JGP Latvia and 10th at JGP Estonia. His personal best is 154.34. He is 16 years old.
Luiz Manella, BRA: He placed 22nd at Four Continents. He finished 7th at JGP Italy. His personal best is 149.03. He is 17 years old.
Liam Firus, CAN (D): He finished 20th at Junior Worlds last season. He won bronze at JGP Australia and finished 11th at JGP Austria. His personal best is 180.00. He is 19 years old.
Nam Nguyen, CAN: He finished 12th in his JGP debut in Latvia and won bronze at JGP Romania. His personal best is 169.55. He is 13 years old.
Han Yan, CHN (D): He finished 6th at Junior Worlds last season. He won gold at JGP Austria and Italy to qualify for the JGP Final where he won silver. His personal best is 219.37. He is 15 years old.
He Zhang, CHN (D): He won silver at JGP Latvia and finished 5th at JGP Austria. His personal best is 182.38. He is 15 years old.
Chih-I Tsao, TPE: He finished 11th at JGP Australia. His personal best is 133.24. He is 14 years old.
Petr Coufal, CZE (D): He finished 19th at Junior Worlds last season. He placed 8th at JGP Poland and 13th at JGP Austria. His personal best is 156.63. He is 17 years old.
Daniel Albert Naurits, EST (D): He placed 17th at JGP Estonia. His personal best is 96.02. He is 13 years old.
Matthias Versluis, FIN: He placed 17th at JGP Latvia and 9th at JGP Poland. His personal best is 140.21. He is 17 years old.
Armen Agaian, GEO: He finished 26th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season. He placed 20th at his JGP debut in Poland. His personal best is 82.04. He is 15 years old.
Martin Rappe, GER: He finished 7th at JGP Latvia and 6th at JGP Italy. His personal best is 155.54. He is 18 years old.
Harry Mattick, GBR: He finished 16th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season. He placed 11th at JGP Poland. His personal best is 137.58. He is 18 years old.
Wayne Wing Yin Chung, HKG: He placed 17th at JGP Australia. His personal best is 99.44. He is 15 years old.
Kristof Forgo, HUN: His personal best is 98.55. He is 18 years old.
Maurizio Zandron, ITA: He finished 7th at JGP Austria and 8th at JGP Italy. His personal best is 155.33. He is 18 years old.
Ryuju Hino, JPN (D): He won gold at JGP Latvia and silver at JGP Romania to qualify for the JGP Final where he finished 5th. His personal best is 182.71. He is 17 years old.
Keiji Tanaka, JPN (D): He is the reigning World Junior silver medalist. He won silver at JGP Australia and bronze at JGP Austria to qualify for the JGP Final where he finished 6th. His personal best is 196.98. He is 17 years old.
Shoma Uno, JPN (D): He won silver at the Youth Olympic Games. He finished 4th at his international debut in Poland and won bronze at JGP Estonia. His personal best is 175.15. He is 14 years old.
Denis Ten, KAZ (D): He finished 14th at the World Championships. He placed 6th at Four Continents. He placed 5th at Skate America and Skate Canada. His personal best is 212.39. He is 18 years old.
Arturas Ganzela, LTU: He finished 27th at his JGP debut in Poland. His personal best is 87.27. He is 15 years old.
Julian Zhi Jie Yee, MAS: He finished 22nd at his international debut in Italy and 14th at JGP Estonia. His personal best is 112.90. He is 14 years old.
Florian Gostelie, NED: He placed 18th at his JGP debut in Poland. His personal best is 88.10. He is 18 years old.
Michael Christian Martinez, PHI: He finished 7th at the Youth Olympic Games. He placed 8th at JGP Australia. His personal best is 151.60. He is 15 years old.
Kamil Dymowski, POL: He finished 14th at JGP Poland and 13th at JGP Estonia. His personal best is 116.19. He is 16 years old.
June-Hyoung Lee, KOR: He placed 4th at the Youth Olympic Games. He finished 4th in his JGP debut in Latvia and won bronze at JGP Italy. His personal best is 176.48. He is 15 years old.
Zsolt Kosz, ROU: He placed 20th at JGP Romania. His personal best is 103.59. He is 19 years old.
Zhan Bush, RUS (D): He finished 11th at Junior Worlds last season. His personal best is 176.64. He is 18 years old.
Artur Dmitriev, RUS (D): He finished 8th at Junior Worlds last season. He won silver at JGP Poland and finished 4th at JGP Italy. His personal best is 197.09. He is 19 years old.
Victor Bustamante, ESP: He finished 14th at JGP Austria and Italy. His personal best is 132.28. He is 17 years old.
Marcus Bjork, SWE (D): He is 17 years old.
Suchet Kongchim, THA: He finished 25th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season.. He placed 18th at JGP Australia and 25th at JGP Italy. His personal best is 88.61. He is 18 years old.
Osman Akgun, TUR: He finished 16th at his JGP debut in Latvia. His personal best is 131.15. He is 15 years old.
Yakov Godorozha, UKR (D): He finished 8th at JGP Romania and JGP Estonia. His personal best is 147.22. He is 18 years old.
Jason Brown, USA (D): He placed 7th at Junior Worlds. He won gold at JGP Australia and silver at JGP Italy to qualify for the JGP Final where he won gold. His personal best is 208.41. He is 17 years old.
Timothy Dolensky, USA (D): He won the bronze at JGP Latvia and finished 4th at JGP Austria. His personal best is 176.77. He is 19 years old.
Joshua Farris, USA (D): He won gold at JGP Poland and JGP Estonia to qualify for the JGP Final where he won bronze. His personal best is 207.67. He is 17 years old.
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