JGP Slovenia Men's Preview

The last time Han Yan and Joshua Farris met, they were separated by just the slimmest of margins.  Joshua Farris landed his first quad in competition at Lake Placid giving him the same technical elements as Yan.  It's likely to be close between these two, but Han Yan hasn't competed since Junior Worlds while Farris already has one competition under his belt.  With both of them having quads and consistent triple axels, clean programs and PCS scores are going to make the difference.

Boyang Jin was the surprise gold medal winner at JGP France and has the technical firepower to compete for the podium but he'll likely have trouble keeping up with the top two men here as his personal best is over 20 points less than Farris or Yan.

Jin will have to fight off two Japanese men for the last spot on the podium.  Keiji Tanaka has a silver medal already this season and Shoma Uno won a bronze last season.  The Japanese are well known for their technical abilities and Tanaka didn't live up to his full potential yet this season.  Uno is making his season debut and will be able to show off his improvements since Junior Worlds.

Roman Sadovsky of Canada won the bronze medal in Lake Placid with an impressive performance in his free skate.  If he can put together two clean programs he could challenge for the podium again here.

My podium predictions:
Gold: Joshua Farris
Silver: Han Yan
Bronze: Keiji Tanaka

Bios of the competitors:
David Kranjec, AUS: He placed 12th at JGP Australia and 18th at JGP Austria last season.  His personal best is 128.93.  He is 18 years old.

Manuel Drechsler, AUT: He placed 22nd at JGP Austria.  His personal best is 85.08.  He is 16 years old.

Roman Sadovsky, CAN: He won bronze at JGP USA.  His personal best is 158.77.  He is 13 years old.

Boyang Jin, CHN: He won gold at JGP France.  His personal best is 194.13.  He is 14 years old.

Han Yan, CHN: He is the reigning Junior World Champion.  He won gold at JGP Austria and JGP Italy last season to qualify for the JGPF where he won silver.  His personal best is 222.45.  He is 16 years old.

Jordan Ju, TPE: He placed 20th in the preliminary round at Worlds and 21st at Four Continents.  He finished 15th at JGP Austria.  His personal best is 134.97.  He is 17 years old.

Viktor Romanenkov, EST: He placed 23rd at Europeans.  He finished 10th at JGP Austria.  His personal best is 162.19.  He is 19 years old.

Charles Tetar, FRA: He finished 7th at JGP France.  His personal best is 154.29.  He is 17 years old.

Alexander Schoepke, GER: This is his JGP debut.  He is 18 years old.

Peter James Hallam, GBR: He placed 13th at JGP France.  His personal best is 130.55.  He is 17 years old.

Antonio Panfili, ITA: This is his international debut.

Keiji Tanaka, JPN: He placed 7th at Junior Worlds.  He won silver at JGP USA.  His personal best is 196.98.  He is 17 years old.

Shoma Uno, JPN: He finished 10th at Junior Worlds.  He placed 4th at JGP Poland and won bronze at JGP Estonia last season.  His personal best is 175.92.  He is 14 years old.

Abish Baytkanov, KAZ: He placed 21st at JGP Latvia and 19th at JGP Estonia last season.  His personal best is 77.76.  He is 17 years old.

Julian Zhi Jie Yee, MAS: He finished 20th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds.  He placed 22nd at JGP Italy and 14th at JGP Estonia last season.  His personal best is 112.90.  He is 15 years old.

Krzysztof Gala, POL: He placed 20th at JGP Austria.  His personal best is 85.93.  He is 15 years old.

Dong-Won Lee, KOR: He placed 5th at JGP Australia and Romania last season.  His personal best is 166.93.  He is 15 years old.

Daniel Patriche, ROU: This is his international debut.  He is 15 years old.

Adian Pitkeev, RUS: He finished 6th at JGP USA.  His personal best is 154.97.  He is 14 years old.

Alexander Samarin, RUS: This is his international debut.

Marco Klepoch, SVK: He placed 16th at JGP Austria.  His personal best is 105.99.  He is 14 years old.

Kristof Brezar, SLO: He placed 20th at JGP Austria.  His personal best is 85.93.  He is 15 years old.

Matej Gregorc, SLO: This is his international debut.

Ondrej Spiegl, SWE: He placed 13th at JGP Romania and 15th at JGP Italy last season.  His personal best is 142.25.  He is 19 years old.

Giray Senol, TUR: He placed 16th at JGP Turkey.  His personal best is 118.66.  He is 15 years old.

Yaroslav Paniot, UKR: He placed 16th at JGP USA.  He placed 9th at the Youth Olympic Games last season.  His personal best is 132.55.  He is 14 years old.

Joshua Farris, USA: He is the reigning Junior World Silver Medalist.  He won gold at JGP USA.  His personal best is 221.97.  He is 17 years old.

Lukas Kaugars, USA: This is his JGP debut.  He is 17 years old.