Junior Worlds: Dance Preview

While North American teams have been dominating at the senior level in ice dance, the Russians have been able to hold on to the Junior ranks, winning the last two Junior World titles and sweeping the last two JGP Finals.  This year, Russia is sending all three of their medal winning Final teams to Junior Worlds.  Stepanova and Bukin have won four JGP gold medals (every event they have entered) in the last two years and won the JGP Final bronze medal twice.  They were left off the Junior Worlds team last season.  Sinitsina and Zhiganshin have two silver and two gold JGP medals as well as 1 silver and 1 gold JGP Final medals.  They were also left off the Junior Worlds team last season.  Yanovskaya and Mozgov are a new team this season and have medaled at every event they have entered including winning the gold at the Youth Olympic Games.  The only team likely to challenge this trio is Aldridge and Eaton who have been showing steady improvement all season and were solid at U.S. nationals.  Overall, this is a fairly inconsistent group of competitors with results all over the board, and the consistency of the top three Russian teams is likely to pay off here.

Stepanova/Bukin won two gold medals to qualify for the JGP Final where they won bronze.  They have the best short dance, 2nd best free dance and 2nd best total score of the season.

Sinitsina/Zhiganshin have been perfect all season, winning two JGP golds and gold at the JGP Final.  They increased their score by 11 points between their first two events of the season. They have the 2nd best short dance, best free dance and best total score of the season.

Yanovskaya/Mozgov collected a gold and a bronze on the JGP before taking home the silver medal from the JGP Final.  Their bronze came at their international debut in Poland and they showed a big improvement in Estonia, taking home the gold with a 21 point improvement in their personal best score.  They have the 3rd best short dance, 3rd best free dance and 3rd best total score of the season.

Aldridge/Eaton won silver and bronze medals to qualify for the JGP Final. They improved their personal best by 8 points en route to their first JGP medal in Latvia and had a whopping 18 point improvement to snag the silver medal in Austria.  They have the 5th best short dance, 4th best free dance and 4th best total score of the season.

Nosulia/Kholoniuk won a gold and bronze medal on the JGP to qualify for the Final.  After finishing 19th at Junior Worlds last season, they pulled up to take home the gold medal from JGP Latvia, the first event of the season, beating their personal best by 15 points.  They have the 6th best short dance, 10th best free dance and 8th best total score of the season.

Bonacorsi/Mager won a silver and bronze medal on the JGP and just missed qualifying for the Final.  They won their silver in Australia with a new personal best score. They have the 9th best short dance, 7th best free dance and 7th best total score of the season.

Orford/Williams won gold at JGP Australia with a new personal best score but dropped to a disappointing 10th place at JGP Austria.  They have the 10th best short dance, 6th best free dance and 9th best total score of the season.

Shtork/Rand won silver at JGP Estonia after a 19 point improvement over their previous JGP outing. They have the 8th best free dance and 10th best total score of the season.

Other teams to watch for are Papadakis/Cizeron, Koch/Nuchtern, Hetman/Allain and  Prochazkova/Ceska.

Teams who medaled on the JGP and are not at this event include Russians Kosigina/Moroshkin (2 medals, alternates) and Zenkova/Sinitsin (2 medals, alternates); Ukranians Galyeta/Shumski (2 medals); and Canadians Bent/McKeen (alternates).

My podium predictions:

Gold: Sinitsina/Zhiganshin

Silver: Stepanova/Bukin

Bronze: Yanovskaya/Mozgov

Bios of the competitors:

Sparke/Doherty, AUS:

Kavaliova/Bieliaiev, BLR: They placed 23rd at Junior Worlds.  They finished 8th at JGP Poland.  Their personal best is 111.34.  She is 17 and he is 19.

Orford/Williams, CAN (D): They finished 8th at Junior Worlds.  They won gold at JGP Australia and finished 10^th at JGP Austria.  Their personal best is 127.21.  She is 19 and he is 20.

Poulin/Servant, CAN (D): They finished 6^th at JGP Latvia.  Their personal best is 118.00.  She is 16 and he is 20.

Zhang/Wu, CHN: They finished 12th at JGP Austria and 10^th at JGP Italy.  Their personal best is 110.90.  She is 18 and he is 20.

Prochazkova/Ceska, CZE: They finished 4^th at JGP Latvia and 8^th at JGP Austria.  Their personal best is 116.81.  She is 17 and he is 19.

Baadsgaard Snider/Dubrovski, DEN: They finished 13^th at their international debut in Poland.  Their personal best is 91.95.  She is 19 and he is 21.

Allik/Bellantuono, EST: She is 17 and he is 18.

Shtork/Rand, EST (D): They finished 10th at Junior Worlds last year.  They placed 14th at Europeans.  They finished 7th at JGP Romania and won silver at JGP Estonia.  Their personal best is 126.51.  She is 18 and he is 19.

Aghai/Partanen, FIN: They finished 6^th at their international debut in Australia and 9^th at JGP Estonia.  Their personal best is 101.80.  She is 17 and he is 20.

Hetman/Allain, FRA (D): She is 19 and he is 20.

Papadakis/Cizeron, FRA (D): They finished 12th at Junior Worlds last season.  They placed 4th at JGP Poland and JGP Estonia.  Their personal best is 122.79.  She is 16 and he is 17.

Koch/Nuchtern, GER: They finished 4^th at JGP Austria and Italy.  Their personal best is 124.35.  She is 18 and he is 20.

Smart/Buckland, GBR: They finished 13^th at their international debut in Austria and 12^th at JGP Estonia.  Their personal best is 92.64.  She is 14 and he is 19.

Merkwart/Lukacs, HUN: They finished 18^th at their international debut in Austria.  Their personal best is 72.35.  She is 14 and he is 15. 

Bugrov/Rogov, ISR: They finished 15^th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds.  They placed 15^th at JGP Latvia and 9^th at JGP Latvia.  Their personal best is 98.87.  She is 16 and he is 20.  

Sforza/Fioretti, ITA: They finished 20th at Junior Worlds.  They placed 5th at JGP Romania and 7^th at JGP Italy.  Their personal best is 109.05.  She is 16 and he is 18.

Uzurova/Ali, KAZ: They finished 17^th at Junior Worlds last season.  They placed 6th at the Youth Olympic Games.  They placed 7^th at JGP Latvia and 15^th at JGP Poland.  Their personal best is 102.77.  She is 15 and he is 17.  

Pecherkina/Jakushin, LAT: They finished 17^th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds.  They placed 8^th at JGP Latvia and 7^th at JGP Poland.  Their personal best is 113.24.  She is 19 and he is 21.

Yigit/Speden, NZL: They finished 19th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season.  They placed 9th at JGP Australia.  Their personal best is 67.90.  She is 18 and he is 19.

Kaliszek/Kaliszek, POL: They finished 11^th at JGP Poland and JGP Estonia.  Their personal best is 98.12.  She is 15 and he is 21.

Sinitsina/Zhiganshin, RUS (D): They won gold at JGP Poland and JGP Austria to qualify for the JGP Final where they won gold.  Their personal best is 151.10.  She is 16 and he is 19.

Stepanova/Bukin, RUS (D): They won gold at JGP Romania and Italy to qualify for the JGP Final where they won bronze.  Their personal best is 149.98.  She is 16 and he is 18.

Yanovskaya/Mozgov (D), RUS: They won gold at the Youth Olympic Games.  They won bronze in their international debut in Poland and gold at JGP Estonia to qualify for the JGP Final where they won silver.  Their personal best is 142.72.  She is 15 and he is 16. 

Robledo/Fenero, ESP (D): She is 17 and he is 19.

Bausback/Rokachev, SUI (D): They finished 14^th at their international debut in Austria and 13^th at JGP Estonia.  Their personal best is 92.39.  She is 18 and he is 20.

Demirsal/Akalin, TUR: They finished 16^th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds last season.  They finished 16^th at their JGP debut in Latvia.  Their personal best is 79.78.  She is 17 and he is 17.

Nosulia/Kholoniuk, UKR (D): They finished 19^th at Junior Worlds.  They won gold at JGP Latvia and bronze at JGP Austria to qualify for the JGP Final where they finished 6th.  Their personal best is 128.34.  She is 17 and he is 21.

Aldridge/Eaton, USA (D): They won bronze at JGP Latvia and silver at JGP Austria to qualify for the JGP Final where they placed 4th.  Their personal best is 136.85.  She is 17 and he is 19.

Bonacorsi/Mager, USA (D): They finished 11th at Junior Worlds last season.  They won silver at JGP Australia and bronze at JGP Italy.  Their personal best is 129.63.  She is 19 and he is 21.

Parsons/Parsons, USA (D): They placed 4th at the Youth Olympic Games.  They finished 9^th at their international debut in Poland.  Their personal best is 114.22.  She is 14 and he is 16.

Nagornyuk/Kovalenko, UZB: They finished 8^th at their international debut in Romania and 6^th at JGP Estonia.  Their personal best is 114.98.  She is 16 and he is 20.

Top Moments of 2011: July/August/September

Summer Competitions

Denney and Coughlin win the short program at Indy Challenge only a few weeks after beginning their partnership.

Junior Grand Prix

Nosulia and Kholoniuk of Ukraine finished 19th at Junior Worlds last season but improved enough to win the gold medal at JGP Latvia.

Joshua Farris crossed the 200 point mark en route to his gold medal finish at JGP Poland.

Julia Lipnitskaia, who is only 13 years old, rode great jumps and impressive flexibility to a gold medal in her JGP debut in Poland.

Simpson and Blackmer became the first US team to win JGP gold since 2007 in Poland after only a few months together at a team.

Junior Grand Prix Final Dance Preview

These competitors range in age from 15 to 21.  Three of these teams are returning to the Junior Grand Prix Final and two medaled last season.  They won 6 gold medals, 3 silvers and 3 bronzes on the circuit this season.  The Russians swept the podium at this event last season, and two of the medal winners are returning along with a new Russian team looking to make their mark.

Sinitisina and Zhiganshin captured their first JGP gold medal in Poland and followed it up in Austria.  Despite winning the silver medal at the Final last season, they failed to qualify for the Russian Junior Worlds team and will be looking for a little redemption here.  They have the 2nd best short dance, best free dance and best total score of the season. 


Stepanova and Bukin have won every JGP event they have entered including Romania and Italy this season.  They also medaled at the JGPF last season but failed to make the Junior Worlds team.  They have the best short dance, 2nd best free dance and total score of the season.


Yankovskaia and Mozgov won the bronze medal in their JGP debut in Poland and followed it up with a gold medal in Estonia.  They have the 3rd best short dance, free dance and total scores of the season.


Nosulia and Kholoniuk won their first JGP medal, a gold, in Latvia.  They finished 19th at Junior Worlds but stepped up with a new personal best, 15 points above their previous score.  They have the 5th best short dance, 9th best free dance and 7th best total score of the season.


Galyeta and Shumski claimed two silver medals in two weeks to earn their second trip to the Final.  They have the 9th best short dance score of the season.


Aldridge and Eaton won their first JGP medal, a bronze in Latvia with an increase in their personal best of 8 points.  They improved to silver at their second event.  Their Riverdance free dance is really their strength, and they can gain ground in this segment if they set themselves up with their short dance.  They have the 4th best short dance, free dance and total scores of the season.


My podium predictions:
Gold: Sinitsina/Zhiganshin
Silver: Stepanova/Bukin
Bronze: Yankovskaia/Mozgov

Bios of the competitors in qualification order:

Sinitsina/Zhiganshin, RUS: They won gold at JGP Poland and JGP Austria.  They qualified for the JGPF last season and won silver.  Their personal best is 151.10.  She is 16 and he is 19.

Stepanova/Bukin, RUS: They won gold at JGP Romania and Italy.  They qualified for the JGPF last season and won bronze.  Their personal best is 134.29.  She is 16 and he is 18.

Yankovskaia/Mozgov, RUS: They won bronze in their international debut in Poland and gold at JGP Estonia.  Their personal best is 142.72.  She is 15 and he is 16.

Nosulia/Kholoniuk, UKR: They finished 19^th at Junior Worlds.  They won gold at JGP Latvia and bronze at JGP Austria.  Their personal best is 128.34.  She is 18 and he is 21.  

Galyeta/Shumski, UKR: They finished 13th at Junior Worlds.  They won silver at JGP Poland and JGP Romania.  They qualified for the JGPF last season and finished 7th.  Their personal best is 124.65.  She is 19 and he is 21.

Aldridge/Eaton, USA: They won bronze at JGP Latvia and silver at JGP Austria.  Their personal best is 136.85.  She is 17 and he is 19.

JGP Austria Free Dance Results

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	SS	TR	PE	CC	IT	Ded. -	StN.
1	Victoria SINITSINA / Ruslan ZHIGANSHIN	RUS	89.36	43.14		46.22	7.75	7.50	7.79	7.75	7.86	0.00	#17
2	Alexandra ALDRIDGE / Daniel EATON	USA	81.37	41.20		40.17	6.71	6.50	6.79	6.75	6.86	0.00	#15
3	Maria NOSULIA / Evgen KHOLONIUK	UKR	73.58	34.35		39.23	6.64	6.43	6.50	6.54	6.64	0.00	#14
4	Madeline EDWARDS / Zhao Kai PANG	CAN	72.59	36.43		36.16	6.11	5.75	6.14	6.07	6.25	0.00	#9
5	Shari KOCH / Christian NUECHTERN	GER	72.48	36.07		36.41	6.11	5.93	6.14	6.07	6.18	0.00	#16
6	Karolina PROCHAZKOVA / Michal CESKA	CZE	72.20	35.42		36.78	6.14	6.04	6.11	6.21	6.21	0.00	#10
7	Sofia EVDOKIMOVA / Egor BAZIN	RUS	69.96	34.29		35.67	6.07	5.82	5.89	5.89	6.11	0.00	#13
8	Estelle ELIZABETH / Romain LE GAC	FRA	67.70	34.80		32.90	5.61	5.39	5.46	5.54	5.46	0.00	#11
9	Nicole ORFORD / Thomas WILLIAMS	CAN	66.58	31.14		36.44	6.18	6.04	6.00	6.07	6.07	1.00	#18
10	Alessia BUSI / Andrea FABBRI	ITA	59.68	30.79		28.89	4.96	4.64	4.71	4.93	4.93	0.00	#6
11	Lindsay POUSSET / Louis THAURON	FRA	58.07	28.43		30.64	5.14	5.18	5.00	5.25	4.89	1.00	#12
12	Yiyi ZHANG / Nan WU	CHN	56.59	26.14		30.45	5.32	4.86	4.93	5.18	5.18	0.00	#8
13	Olivia SMART / Joseph BUCKLAND	GBR	53.59	24.01		29.58	5.07	4.71	5.00	4.93	5.07	0.00	#7
14	Victoria BAUSBACK / Demid ROKACHEV	SUI	51.90	26.02		25.88	4.46	4.25	4.25	4.36	4.25	0.00	#5
15	Pilar MAEKAWA MORENO / Leonardo MAEKAWA MORENO	MEX	48.97	25.97		23.00	4.00	3.57	3.89	4.00	3.86	0.00	#2
16	Christine SMITH / Simon EISENBAUER	AUT	47.17	27.22		19.95	3.25	3.14	3.46	3.43	3.50	0.00	#3
17	Joanna ZAJAC / Damian BINKOWSKI	POL	43.74	22.28		21.46	3.61	3.36	3.75	3.61	3.71	0.00	#1
18	Szidonia MERKWART / Adam LUKACS	HUN	42.34	18.12		24.22	4.21	3.96	4.00	4.14	3.89	0.00	#4

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SD	FD
1	Victoria SINITSINA / Ruslan ZHIGANSHIN	RUS	151.10	1	1
2	Alexandra ALDRIDGE / Daniel EATON	USA	136.85	2	2
3	Maria NOSULIA / Evgen KHOLONIUK	UKR	128.34	3	3
4	Shari KOCH / Christian NUECHTERN	GER	124.09	5	5
5	Madeline EDWARDS / Zhao Kai PANG	CAN	122.90	6	4
6	Nicole ORFORD / Thomas WILLIAMS	CAN	120.12	4	9
7	Sofia EVDOKIMOVA / Egor BAZIN	RUS	116.81	7	7
8	Karolina PROCHAZKOVA / Michal CESKA	CZE	115.58	10	6
9	Estelle ELIZABETH / Romain LE GAC	FRA	111.87	9	8
10	Lindsay POUSSET / Louis THAURON	FRA	103.35	8	11
11	Alessia BUSI / Andrea FABBRI	ITA	101.79	11	10
12	Yiyi ZHANG / Nan WU	CHN	95.94	13	12
13	Olivia SMART / Joseph BUCKLAND	GBR	92.64	14	13
14	Victoria BAUSBACK / Demid ROKACHEV	SUI	92.39	12	14
15	Pilar MAEKAWA MORENO / Leonardo MAEKAWA MORENO	MEX	82.64	15	15
16	Christine SMITH / Simon EISENBAUER	AUT	79.50	16	16
17	Joanna ZAJAC / Damian BINKOWSKI	POL	74.30	17	17
18	Szidonia MERKWART / Adam LUKACS	HUN	72.35	18	18

JGP Austria Short Dance Results

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	SS	TR	PE	CC	IT	Ded. -	StN.
1	Victoria SINITSINA / Ruslan ZHIGANSHIN	RUS	61.74	34.07		28.67	7.18	7.00	7.18	7.14	7.29	1.00	#4
2	Alexandra ALDRIDGE / Daniel EATON	USA	55.48	30.14		25.34	6.36	6.25	6.32	6.36	6.36	0.00	#6
3	Maria NOSULIA / Evgen KHOLONIUK	UKR	54.76	29.79		24.97	6.32	6.18	6.18	6.25	6.25	0.00	#12
4	Nicole ORFORD / Thomas WILLIAMS	CAN	53.54	30.57		22.97	5.82	5.71	5.68	5.86	5.64	0.00	#17
5	Shari KOCH / Christian NUECHTERN	GER	51.61	29.50		22.11	5.64	5.32	5.61	5.43	5.61	0.00	#11
6	Madeline EDWARDS / Zhao Kai PANG	CAN	50.31	28.28		22.03	5.43	5.39	5.46	5.61	5.61	0.00	#18
7	Sofia EVDOKIMOVA / Egor BAZIN	RUS	46.85	25.99		20.86	5.36	5.11	5.14	5.18	5.25	0.00	#8
8	Lindsay POUSSET / Louis THAURON	FRA	45.28	26.79		18.49	4.75	4.50	4.75	4.64	4.50	0.00	#9
9	Estelle ELIZABETH / Romain LE GAC	FRA	44.17	23.93		20.24	5.18	5.00	5.07	5.11	4.96	0.00	#13
10	Karolina PROCHAZKOVA / Michal CESKA	CZE	43.38	22.08		21.30	5.46	5.21	5.21	5.43	5.29	0.00	#3
11	Alessia BUSI / Andrea FABBRI	ITA	42.11	24.99		17.12	4.32	4.25	4.29	4.46	4.11	0.00	#5
12	Victoria BAUSBACK / Demid ROKACHEV	SUI	40.49	22.72		17.77	4.57	4.39	4.50	4.46	4.32	0.00	#10
13	Yiyi ZHANG / Nan WU	CHN	39.35	19.85		19.50	4.96	4.75	4.86	4.89	4.89	0.00	#2
14	Olivia SMART / Joseph BUCKLAND	GBR	39.05	22.21		16.84	4.36	4.18	4.18	4.36	4.00	0.00	#1
15	Pilar MAEKAWA MORENO / Leonardo MAEKAWA MORENO	MEX	33.67	18.93		14.74	3.82	3.64	3.79	3.68	3.54	0.00	#7
16	Christine SMITH / Simon EISENBAUER	AUT	32.33	19.65		12.68	3.07	3.04	3.21	3.32	3.18	0.00	#14
17	Joanna ZAJAC / Damian BINKOWSKI	POL	30.56	18.62		13.94	3.61	3.46	3.43	3.68	3.29	2.00	#15
18	Szidonia MERKWART / Adam LUKACS	HUN	30.01	14.43		16.58	4.25	4.11	4.18	4.21	4.00	1.00	#16

JGP Austria Dance Preview

Sinitsina and Zhiganshin of Russia already have one gold medal under their belt this season and are aiming to be the top of the podium again.  They finished 2nd at the JGP Final last season and have a good shot at moving up the podium.  Their scores so far this season are heads and tails above the rest of the field and they should easily win here and secure their spot in the Final.


Orford and Williams of Canada also have a gold medal already this season.  They've made some great strides this season and should be able to take the podium again.  Nosulia and Kholoniuk of Ukraine also won gold earlier this season.  This should be an interesting fight for the silver medal as with the smaller Final field, a gold and silver are needed to guarantee a spot.  


With three gold medalists in the hunt, it will be tough for others to step onto the podium.  Aldridge and Eaton of the United States and Prochazkova and Ceska of the Czech Republic can pull off an upset with solid performances.  Aldridge and Eaton have a great free dance, but scored lower in their short dance.  If they can pull their scores up they could really be competitive.


My podium predictions:
Gold: Sinitsina/Zhiganshin
Silver: Orford/Williams
Bronze: Nosulia/Kholoniuk


Bios of the competitors:    


Smith/Eisenbauer, AUT: This is their international debut.


Edwards/Pang, CAN: This is their international debut.  She is 15 and he is 16.

Orford/Williams, CAN: They finished 8th at Junior Worlds.  They won gold at JGP Australia.  Their personal best is 127.21.  She is 18 and he is 20.

Zhang/Wu, CHN: They finished 6th at JGP Japan last season.  Their personal best is 110.90.  She is 18 and he is 19.

Prochazkova/Ceska, CZE: They finished 4^th at JGP Latvia.  Their personal best is 116.81.  She is 17 and he is 19.

Elizabeth/Le Gac, FRA: This is their international debut. 


Pousset/Thauron, FRA: This is their international debut.  She is 15 and he is 16.


Koch/Nuchtern, GER: She is 18 and he is 19.


Smart/Buckland, GBR: This is their international debut.  She is 14 and he is 18.


Merkwart/Lukacs, HUN: This is their international debut.


Busi/Fabbri, ITA: This is their international debut.  He is 18.


Maekawa Moreno/Maekawa Moreno, MEX: This is their international debut.  She is 17 and he is 19.

Zajac/Binkowski, POL: They finished 19th at JGP Poland.  Their personal best is 83.25.  She is 15 and he is 15.

Evdokimova/Bazin, RUS: This is their international debut.  She is 14 and he is 16.

Sinitsina/Zhiganshin, RUS: They won gold at JGP Poland.  They won silver at JGP Austria and Great Britain last season to qualify for the JGPF where they also won silver.  Their personal best is 140.31.  She is 16 and he is 18.

Bausback/Rokachev, SUI: This is their international debut.  She is 18.

Nosulia/Kholoniuk, UKR: They finished 19^th at Junior Worlds.  They won gold at JGP Latvia.  Their personal best is 124.84.  She is 16 and he is 21. 

Aldridge/Eaton, USA: They won bronze at JGP Latvia.  Their personal best is 118.18.  She is 17 and he is 19.

JGP Latvia Recap

The first event of the season has come and gone and was full of surprises.  Some skaters made big strides and had surprise wins while others didn't perform as they had hoped.

Men

Ryuju Hino of Japan finished 6th and 12th in his JGP events last season.  He made a big jump here to take the gold medal and increased his personal best score by over 30 points.  His teammate Sei Kawahara increased his personal best score by 25 points.

He Zhang of China placed 9th and 10th in his JGP events last season but moved up to the silver medal here.  He also increased his personal best by 20 points.  Timothy Dolensky of the United States took home the bronze in his JGP debut.  June-Hyoung Lee of Korea placed 4th in his JGP debut and is only 14 years old.

The biggest improvement of the event was Pavel Ignatenko of Belarus.  He finished 21st in his JGP event last season but climbed to 8th place here.  He had a 40 point increase in his personal best.

Newcomers Nam Nguyen of Canada and Emmanuel Savary of the United States were expected to contend for the podium here.  They had respectable outings for only being 13 and in their JGP debut, but didn't do as well as many people might have expected.

Ladies

The ladies event was slightly disappointing as very few ladies set new personal bests and those that did were only by a few points.  This was a sharp contrast to the men's event.

Polina Agafonova of Russia showed she's back in contention, taking home the bronze medal here.  Her teammate, Polina Shelepen, took home hold.  Zijun Li of China won her first silver medal on the JGP.

Gerli Liinamae of Estonia jumped from 10th and 9th last season to 4th place here.  Ashley Cain of the United States finished 6th in her JGP debut.  Josefine Taljegard jumped from 20th last season to 9th here and increased her personal best by 9 points.

Yasmin Siraj of the United States finished 5th at this event after making a trip to the Final last season.  She finished 26 points below her season's best and will likely not be receiving a second event this season.  Miyabi Oba of Japan finished 26 points below her score at Junior Worlds.  Sila Saygi of Turkey finished a disappointing 40 points below her personal best.

Pairs

Sui and Han won this event as suspected.  They had a big lead over the field but were still 15 points below their score at Junior Worlds.  They seem to be slow starters and these events are essentially warm-ups for their Grand Prix assignments.

Purdy and Marinaro of Canada moved from 10th and 9th last season to the bronze medal this season.

This event was a disappointment for the Russian and American teams who had three teams each and didn't medal at all.  Duarte and Grafton of the United States placed 5th and 7th last season and had good summer competitions, but fell to 9th place here.

Dance

Nosulia and Kholoniuk of Ukraine are the Cinderella story of this event.  They finished 5th and 10th at their events last season and finished 19th at Junior Worlds just a few months ago.  They set a new personal best by 15 points to take the gold medal here.  Aldridge and Eaton of the United States brought home their first medal with a bronze and increased their personal best by 8 points.

Uzurova and Ali of Kazakhstan continue to make a name for themselves as they finished 7th here, their best finish to date.  The Gamelin twins from the United States finished 17th in the short dance but pulled out a 7th place free skate to climb the standings and increase their personal best by 11 points.

Poulin and Servant of Canada were in medal contention but lost ground in the free dance to finish in 6th place, 10 points below their personal best.

Junior World Championships: Dance Preliminary Round

The top 11 teams (bolded) advance to the short dance.

1. Papadakis/Cizeron, FRA: 39.02 TES + 35.25 PCS = 74.27
2. Visnova/Csolley, SVK: 35.34 TES + 32.33 PCS -1.00 = 66.67
3. Hurtado/Diaz, ESP: 32.92 TES + 32.50 PCS -1.00 = 64.42
4. Shtork/Rand, EST: 31.16 TES + 32.39 PCS -1.00 = 62.55
5. Nosulia/Kholoniuk, UKR: 29.99 TES + 29.24 PCS = 59.23
6. Zhang/Wu, CHN: 30.54 TES + 28.39 PCS = 58.93
7. Uzurova/Ali, KAZ: 31.79 TES + 26.62 PCS = 58.41
8. Elsener/Roost, SUI: 29.97 TES + 27.37 PCS = 57.34
9. Kavaleva/Bieliaeiv, BLR: 28.76 TES + 25.26 PCS = 54.02
10. Carroll/Gerber, POL: 25.77 TES + 27.60 PCS = 53.37
11. Tremasova/Lichev, BUL: 28.71 TES + 23.42 PCS = 52.13
12. Karmi/Lindholm, FIN: 29.84 TES + 23.07 PCS -1.00 = 51.91
13. Vellrath/Pirogov, LTU: 25.50 TES + 25.00 PCS = 50.50
14. Komatsubara/Mizutani, JPN: 26.17 TES + 24.70 PCS -2.00 = 48.87
15. Bugrov/Rogov, ISR: 25.08 TES + 23.67 PCS = 48.75
16. Demirsal/Akalin, TUR: 25.32 TES + 23.10 PCS = 48.42
17. Pecherkina/Jakushin, LAT: 26.25 TES + 23.03 PCS -1.00 = 48.28
18. Hew-Low/Hemmert, AUS: 18.57 TES + 17.91 PCS = 36.48
19. Yigit/Speden, NZL: 19.35 TES + 16.90 PCS = 36.25