JGP Croatia Men's Preview

This is the big event for qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix Final with 9 skaters vying for spots.

Nathan Chen holds the highest scores of the season in the short program, free skate and total score, without two triple axels or a quad like some of the other top men have been landing.  Despite his young age, he has lots of competitive experience and nerves don't seem to be a factor for him.  He's remarkably consistent and if he repeats his performance from Austria, he should easily repeat for gold here.  A 4th or 5th place finish will keep him in the running for the Final but he needs at least a bronze to guarantee himself a spot.

Alexander Samarain and Jin Seo Kim both won bronze medals in their JGP debuts.  They need a gold medal to guarantee a spot in the Final but would need a major mistake by Chen or a drastic increase in their personal bests to challenge him.  For Samarin, a silver medal with a score of at least 184.43 will keep him in the running while a bronze medal will likely not be enough.  Kim needs a silver with a score of 191.59 to give himself the best possible chance of making the Final.

Petr Coufal, Harrison Choate and Michael Christian Martinez all have 4th place finished this season and a gold medal finish here could punch their ticket to the Final but it's likely to be a tall order for them to accomplish in this field.

Han Yan and Sei Kawahara can put themselves on the bubble with a gold medal and Han Yan has the best chance of doing so if he can recover from his disappointing showing in Slovenia and regain the form that won him the World Junior title.

The wild card in this event is Maxim Kovtun of Russia who won two medals on the JGP last season to qualify for the Final where he finished just off the podium.  He kicks off his season here and will compete again next week in Germany.  Two silver medals or a gold and bronze will guarantee him a spot in the Final.

My podium predictions:
Gold: Nathan Chen
Silver: Maxim Kovtun
Bronze: Alexander Samarin

Bios of the competitors:
Slavik Hayrapetyan, ARM: He placed 18th in the preliminary round at Worlds, 28th at Europeans and 26th at Junior Worlds.  He finished 18th at JGP Latvia and 14th at JGP Romania last season.  His personal best is 128.97.  He is 16 years old.

David Kranjec, AUS: He placed 12th at JGP Croatia.   His personal best is 138.41.  He is 18 years old.

Pavel Ignatenko, BLR: He placed 30th at Junior Worlds.  He finished 7th at JGP Turkey.  His personal best is 155.08.  He is 17 years old.

Luiz Manella, BRA: He placed 22nd at Four Continents and 16th at Junior Worlds.  He finished 7th at JGP Italy last season.  His personal best is 162.53.  He is 17 years old.

Iassen Petkov, BUL: He placed 11th at JGP Turkey.  His personal best is 136.61.  He is 18 years old.

Mitchell Gordon, CAN: He placed 8th at JGP Austria.  His personal best is 162.62.  He is 16 years old.

Han Yan, CHN: He is the reigning Junior World Champion.  He placed 5th at JGP Croatia.  His personal best is 222.45.  He is 16 years old.


Petr Coufal, CZE: He placed 17th at Junior Worlds.  He finished 4th at JGP Austria.  His personal best is 175.72.  He is 17 years old.

Panagiotis Polizoakis, GER: He placed 11th at JGP France.  His personal best is 135.08.  He is 17 years old.

Sei Kawahara, JPN: He placed 5th at JGP Austria.  His personal best is 170.41.  He is 16 years old.

Michael Christian Martinez, PHI: He placed 15th at Junior Worlds.  He finished 4th at JGP USA.  His personal best is 165.10.  He is 15 years old.


Chih-I Tsao, TPE: He finished 23rd at Junior Worlds.  He placed 11th at JGP USA.  His 
personal best is 133.24.  He is 14 years old.

Steven Spencer Baker, CRO: This is his international debut.

Mislav Blagojevic, CRO: This is his JGP debut.

Petar Cetinic, CRO: This is his international debut.

Tino Olenius, FIN: This is his JGP debut.  His personal best is 127.12.  He is 16 years old.

Lap Kan Yuen, HKG: He placed 24th at JGP Italy last season.  His personal best is 84.93.  He is 16 years old.

Kristof Forgo, HUN: His personal best is 98.55.  He is 18 years old.

Carlo Vittorio Palermo, ITA: This is his JGP debut.  His personal best is 125.55.  He is 16 years old.

Jin Seo Kim, KOR: He won bronze at JGP Slovenia.  His personal best is 175.87.  He is 15 years old.

Maxim Kovtun, RUS: He won gold at JGP Romania and silver at JGP Estonia last season to qualify for the JGPF where he placed 4th.  His personal best is 193.76.  He is 17 years old.

Alexander Samarin, RUS: He won bronze at JGP Croatia.  His personal best is 183.03.

Nicky Obreykov, SWE: This is his JGP debut.  He is 16 years old.

Osman Akgun, TUR: He placed 16th in the preliminary round at Junior Worlds.  He finished 13th at JGP Turkey.  His personal best is 131.15.  He is 16 years old.

Nathan Chen, USA: He won gold at JGP Austria.  His personal best is 222.00.  He is 13 years old.

Harrison Choate, USA: He placed 4th at JGP France.  His personal best is 169.70.  He is 18 years old.

JGP Austria Men's Free Skate Results

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	SS	TR	PE	CH	IN	Ded. -	StN.
1	Nathan CHEN	USA	146.85	79.51		67.34	6.75	6.46	6.86	6.71	6.89	0.00	#22
2	Jin Seo KIM	KOR	126.27	71.07		55.20	5.89	5.00	5.75	5.50	5.46	0.00	#12
3	Ryuju HINO	JPN	125.44	69.88		57.56	6.21	5.43	5.64	5.75	5.75	2.00	#21
4	Petr COUFAL	CZE	118.87	61.59		57.28	5.71	5.46	5.82	5.79	5.86	0.00	#19
5	Jay YOSTANTO	USA	111.90	59.84		53.06	5.50	4.93	5.32	5.46	5.32	1.00	#20
6	Mitchell GORDON	CAN	111.54	55.84		55.70	5.71	5.39	5.43	5.68	5.64	0.00	#14
7	Sei KAWAHARA	JPN	108.68	53.96		55.72	5.75	5.29	5.50	5.71	5.61	1.00	#18
8	Andrei LAZUKIN	RUS	105.63	55.75		51.88	5.36	5.04	5.00	5.36	5.18	2.00	#17
9	Feodosiy EFREMENKOV	RUS	105.12	55.42		49.70	5.21	4.75	5.00	4.96	4.93	0.00	#15
10	Niko ULANOVSKY	GER	91.80	46.28		45.52	4.79	4.25	4.61	4.57	4.54	0.00	#11
11	Viktor ROMANENKOV	EST	91.65	43.27		48.38	5.11	4.57	4.79	4.93	4.79	0.00	#13
12	Sondre ODDVOLL BOE	NOR	89.57	48.07		41.50	4.39	3.75	4.32	4.18	4.11	0.00	#6
13	Nicola TODESCHINI	SUI	89.09	47.79		42.30	4.54	4.04	4.21	4.29	4.07	1.00	#10
14	Matthias VERSLUIS	FIN	84.50	37.58		47.92	4.89	4.64	4.82	4.86	4.75	1.00	#16
15	Jordan JU	TPE	77.22	42.94		38.28	4.39	3.46	3.68	3.93	3.68	4.00	#8
16	Marco KLEPOCH	SVK	66.06	30.50		36.56	3.89	3.43	3.50	3.89	3.57	1.00	#9
17	Suchet KONGCHIM	THA	65.87	33.15		32.72	3.71	2.93	3.32	3.29	3.11	0.00	#2
18	Giorgio SETTEMBRINI	ITA	62.14	26.70		37.44	3.96	3.54	3.61	3.82	3.79	2.00	#4
19	Manuel DRECHSLER	AUT	61.36	31.08		30.28	3.32	2.64	3.11	3.11	2.96	0.00	#3
20	Simon-Gabriel IONIAN	AUT	58.14	22.86		37.28	4.00	3.39	3.68	3.82	3.75	2.00	#7
21	Kristof BREZAR	SLO	57.28	29.86		27.42	3.07	2.57	2.68	2.82	2.57	0.00	#5
22	Pavel STRAKACH	BLR	56.39	25.21		31.18	3.71	2.71	3.07	3.21	2.89	0.00	#1

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Nathan CHEN	USA	222.00	1	1
2	Ryuju HINO	JPN	185.85	3	3
3	Jin Seo KIM	KOR	175.87	10	2
4	Petr COUFAL	CZE	175.72	5	4
5	Sei KAWAHARA	JPN	170.41	2	7
6	Jay YOSTANTO	USA	165.74	6	5
7	Andrei LAZUKIN	RUS	163.27	4	8
8	Mitchell GORDON	CAN	162.62	9	6
9	Feodosiy EFREMENKOV	RUS	158.57	7	9
10	Viktor ROMANENKOV	EST	144.00	8	11
11	Niko ULANOVSKY	GER	139.19	12	10
12	Sondre ODDVOLL BOE	NOR	134.88	13	12
13	Matthias VERSLUIS	FIN	133.26	11	14
14	Nicola TODESCHINI	SUI	130.91	15	13
15	Jordan JU	TPE	120.55	14	15
16	Marco KLEPOCH	SVK	105.99	16	16
17	Suchet KONGCHIM	THA	98.31	19	17
18	Giorgio SETTEMBRINI	ITA	97.59	18	18
19	Simon-Gabriel IONIAN	AUT	95.10	17	20
20	Kristof BREZAR	SLO	85.93	21	21
21	Pavel STRAKACH	BLR	85.62	20	22
22	Manuel DRECHSLER	AUT	84.99	22	19
WD	Johannes MAIERHOFER	AUT

JGP Austria Men's Short Program Results

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	SS	TR	PE	CH	IN	Ded. -	StN.
1	Nathan CHEN	USA	75.15	43.05		32.10	6.50	6.14	6.57	6.39	6.50	0.00	#22
2	Sei KAWAHARA	JPN	61.73	34.66		27.07	5.61	5.00	5.46	5.43	5.57	0.00	#18
3	Ryuju HINO	JPN	60.41	33.41		27.00	5.75	5.00	5.21	5.61	5.43	0.00	#7
4	Andrei LAZUKIN	RUS	57.64	32.79		24.85	5.21	4.75	4.93	5.00	4.96	0.00	#3
5	Petr COUFAL	CZE	56.85	31.66		25.19	5.32	4.68	5.04	5.11	5.04	0.00	#6
6	Jay YOSTANTO	USA	53.84	27.69		26.15	5.43	4.93	5.25	5.29	5.25	0.00	#23
7	Feodosiy EFREMENKOV	RUS	53.45	29.51		23.94	5.11	4.43	4.79	4.82	4.79	0.00	#12
8	Viktor ROMANENKOV	EST	52.35	26.17		26.18	5.21	4.96	5.29	5.29	5.43	0.00	#13
9	Mitchell GORDON	CAN	51.08	24.86		27.22	5.43	5.32	5.36	5.54	5.57	1.00	#14
10	Jin Seo KIM	KOR	49.60	25.71		24.89	5.50	4.89	4.43	5.18	4.89	1.00	#17
11	Matthias VERSLUIS	FIN	48.76	24.00		24.76	4.93	4.68	4.86	5.04	5.25	0.00	#8
12	Niko ULANOVSKY	GER	47.39	25.39		22.00	4.64	4.14	4.29	4.54	4.39	0.00	#4
13	Sondre ODDVOLL BOE	NOR	45.31	23.34		21.97	4.32	4.18	4.50	4.43	4.54	0.00	#20
14	Jordan JU	TPE	43.33	22.61		21.72	4.61	4.00	4.29	4.43	4.39	1.00	#5
15	Nicola TODESCHINI	SUI	41.82	20.26		21.56	4.46	4.07	4.36	4.46	4.21	0.00	#15
16	Marco KLEPOCH	SVK	39.93	20.32		19.61	3.93	3.96	3.86	4.11	3.75	0.00	#2
17	Simon-Gabriel IONIAN	AUT	36.96	18.39		19.57	4.07	3.50	3.82	4.18	4.00	1.00	#16
18	Giorgio SETTEMBRINI	ITA	35.45	14.44		22.01	4.50	4.11	4.29	4.54	4.57	1.00	#10
19	Suchet KONGCHIM	THA	32.44	13.97		18.47	3.86	3.43	3.71	3.79	3.68	0.00	#11
20	Pavel STRAKACH	BLR	29.23	12.52		18.71	4.04	3.57	3.64	3.75	3.71	2.00	#21
21	Kristof BREZAR	SLO	28.65	14.42		15.23	3.29	2.79	3.04	3.18	2.93	1.00	#19
22	Manuel DRECHSLER	AUT	23.63	11.02		14.61	3.14	2.79	2.71	3.04	2.93	2.00	#9
WD	Johannes MAIERHOFER	AUT											#1

JGP Austria Junior Mens Short Program Results

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	SS	TR	PE	CH	IN	Ded. -	StN.
1	Han YAN	CHN	68.78	37.42		32.36	6.64	6.21	6.43	6.54	6.54	1.00	#13
2	Gordei GORSHKOV	RUS	61.70	33.27		28.43	5.79	5.50	5.75	5.71	5.68	0.00	#12
3	Keiji TANAKA	JPN	59.73	31.30		28.43	6.00	5.54	5.68	5.64	5.57	0.00	#7
4	Sei KAWAHARA	JPN	59.14	32.74		26.40	5.43	5.11	5.32	5.29	5.25	0.00	#14
5	Philip WARREN	USA	58.97	30.53		28.44	5.75	5.50	5.79	5.61	5.79	0.00	#6
6	Petr COUFAL	CZE	56.15	30.16		25.99	5.32	4.89	5.36	5.21	5.21	0.00	#17
7	Maurizio ZANDRON	ITA	55.00	30.40		24.60	5.11	4.71	4.96	4.89	4.93	0.00	#18
8	Timothy DOLENSKY	USA	54.35	26.78		27.57	5.71	5.32	5.39	5.61	5.54	0.00	#19
9	He ZHANG	CHN	50.28	23.96		28.32	5.75	5.54	5.61	5.71	5.71	2.00	#21
10	Niko ULANOVSKY	GER	48.83	26.08		22.75	4.82	4.39	4.54	4.54	4.46	0.00	#16
11	Liam FIRUS	CAN	48.73	24.66		26.07	5.50	5.25	4.96	5.25	5.11	2.00	#20
12	Stanislav PERTSOV	UKR	48.63	25.73		24.90	5.18	4.75	4.89	5.04	5.04	2.00	#5
13	Victor BUSTAMANTE	ESP	46.56	24.75		21.81	4.39	4.14	4.46	4.43	4.39	0.00	#1
14	Simon HOCQUAUX	FRA	44.06	21.53		22.53	4.71	4.43	4.54	4.39	4.46	0.00	#9
15	Bela PAPP	FIN	43.78	24.15		20.63	4.46	3.96	4.11	4.14	3.96	1.00	#2
16	Tomi PULKKINEN	SUI	42.34	20.69		22.65	4.68	4.29	4.50	4.61	4.57	1.00	#10
17	Peter-James HALLAM	GBR	41.95	21.56		21.39	4.54	4.14	4.25	4.25	4.21	1.00	#15
18	David KRANJEC	AUS	41.08	20.55		21.53	4.57	4.14	4.25	4.36	4.21	1.00	#22
19	Harry Hau Yin LEE	HKG	40.34	19.87		20.47	4.29	3.96	4.04	4.11	4.07	0.00	#4
20	Burak DEMIRBOGA	TUR	34.59	16.69		18.90	3.86	3.54	3.79	3.89	3.82	1.00	#8
21	Marco KLEPOCH	SVK	33.22	15.30		17.92	3.82	3.57	3.46	3.68	3.39	0.00	#11
22	Manuel DRECHSLER	AUT	24.87	13.05		13.82	3.25	2.50	2.64	2.82	2.61	2.00	#3

Junior World Championships: Mens Preliminary Round

27 men will compete in the qualifying round.  The top 14 skaters advance to the short program (bold indicates that the skater has qualified).

1. Keiji Tanaka, JPN: 72.28 TES + 56.28 PCS = 128.56
2. Ryuichi Kihara, JPN: 66.91 TES + 57.16 PCS - 1.00 = 123.07
3. Artur Dmitriev, RUS: 54.86 TES + 56.00 PCS = 110.86
4. Liam Firus, CAN: 53.67 TES + 55.58 PCS -1.00 = 108.25
5. Petr Coufal, CZE: 56.13 TES + 47.80 PCS -1.00 = 102.93
6. Viktor Romanenkov, EST: 48.97 TES + 49.42 PCS = 98.39
7. Dong-Won Lee, KOR: 46.29 TES + 51.70 PCS = 97.99
8. Bela Papp, FIN: 52.22 TES + 45.38 PCS = 97.60
9. Tomi Pulkkinen, SUI: 49.63 TES + 46.56 PCS = 96.19
10. Saverio Giacomelli, ITA: 50.48 TES + 45.28 PCS = 95.76
11. Ondrej Spiegl, SWE: 42.93 TES + 49.08 PCS = 92.01
12. Jordan Ju, TPE: 46.01 TES + 41.84 PCS = 87.85 
13. Vitali Luchanok, BLR: 44.52 TES + 42.50 PCS -1.00 = 86.02
14. Stanislav Pertsov, UKR: 36.12 TES + 49.22 PCS -1.00 = 84.34
15. Boyito Mulder, NED: 42.71 TES + 37.72 PCS = 80.43
16. Harry Mattick, GBR: 34.26 TES + 48.06 PCS -3.00 = 79.32
17. Brendan Kerry, AUS: 36.54 TES + 43.08 PCS -3.00 = 76.62
18. Vlad Ionescu, ROU: 36.13 TES + 40.58 PCS -1.00 = 75.71 
19. Manol Atanssov, BUL: 34.86 TES + 37.28 PCS = 72.14
20. Harry Hau Yin Lee, HKG: 38.25 TES + 32.42 PCS -1.00 = 69.67
21. Slavik Hayrapetyan, ARM: 32.69 TES + 37.80 PCS -2.00 = 68.49
22. Saulius Ambrulevicius, LTU: 27.46 TES + 38.86 PCS -2.00 = 64.32
23. Ryan Zhi Jwen Yee, MAS: 28.27 TES + 33.30 PCS -2.00 = 59.57
24. Suchet Kongchim, THA: 23.70 TES + 29.64 PCS = 53.34
25. Engin Ali Artan, TUR: 28.09 TES + 32.44 PCS -2.00 = 58.53
26. Armen Agaian, GEO: 20.84 TES + 32.56 PCS -2.00 = 51.40

Girts Jekabsons of Latvia withdrew.

European Youth Olympic Winter Festival

Men

Short Program Results (18 competed):

1. Maxsim Kovtun, RUS: 57.30

2. Matthias Versluis, FIN: 51.96

3. Petr Coufal, CZE: 51.62

4. Simon Hocquaux, FRA: 50.57

5. Slavik Hayrapetyan, ARM: 45.17

6. Victor Bustamante, ESP: 40.42

7. Carlo Vittorio Palermo, ITA: 39.07

8. Nicky Obreykov, SWE: 38.34

9. Carlo Roethlisberger, SUI: 38.09

10. Jamie Whiteman, GBR: 37.90

Final Results (18 competed):
1. Petr Coufal, CZE: 169.73
2. Maxsim Kovtun, RUS: 161.75
3. Simon Hocquaux, FRA: 151.04
4. Matthias Versluis, FIN: 146.96
5.  Slavik Hayrapetyan, ARM:  127.40
6. Kamil Dymowski, POL: 118.43
7. Jamie Whiteman, GBR:  118.37
8. Anton Kempf, GER: 117.53
9. Victor Bustamante, ESP: 117.52
10. Carlo Roethlisberger, SUI: 110.87

Ladies

Short Program Results (30 competed):
1. Polina Agafonova, RUS: 57.80
2. Ira Vannut, BEL: 52.86
3. Lenaelle Gilleron-Gory, FRA: 48.32
4. Monika Simancikova, SVK: 47.20
5. Alina Fjodorova, LAT: 45.38
6. Alina Milevska, UKR: 44.30
7. Patricia Glesic, SLO: 42.66
8. Jasmine Alexandra Costa, EST: 42.16
9. Christina Erdel, GER: 41.26
10. Timila Skhrestha, FIN: 38.36

Final Results (30 competed)
1. Polina Agafonova, RUS: 164.05
2. Ira Vannut, BEL: 152.50
3. Monika Simancikova, SVK: 137.57
4. Lenaelle Gilleron-Gory, FRA: 136.27
5. Alina Fjodorova, LAT: 122.80
6.  Alina Milevska, UKR: 121.18
7. Rebecca Emanuelsson, SWE: 120.94
8. Timila Skhrestha, FIN: 118.21
9. Patricia Glesic, SLO: 116.89
10. Victoria Hubler, AUT: 116.38


Complete results here: http://www.eyowf2011.cz/results-fs.aspx