The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating reached its climax this weekend in Bolzano, Italy with the remaining places in December’s Junior Grand Prix Final up for grabs.
The home audience had reason to cheer as Matteo Rizzo triumphed in the men’s event inside the Egna-Neumarkt rink. This was the first Junior Grand Prix medal of any colour for the Italian. In his third season on the circuit, Russia’s Vladimir Samoilov also captured his first podium finish with a second place. Tomoki Hiwatashi of the United States picked up his second bronze medal of the season. None of the medallists were in the hunt for Junior Grand Prix Final qualification, although fourth place finish Andrew Torgashev from the United States did seal his berth.
Russia’s maintained its perfect winning streak in the ladies event with Sofia Samodurova narrowly edging out compatriot Alena Kostornaia by just 0.04 points in the end. Japan’s Rika Kihira took bronze. All three medallists qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final.
The ice dance event also saw a Russian battle for the top two spots. Arina Ushakova and Maxim Nekrasov moved up from second after the short dance to claim their first Junior Grand Prix title. Sofia Polishchuk and Alexander Vakhnov had to settle for silver, but both teams advanced to the Junior Grand Prix Final. Alicia Fabbri and Claudio Pietrantonio from Canada won bronze, the first Junior Grand Prix medal of their career.
Junior Grand Prix Egna/Neumarkt Full Results
The roster for the 2017/2018 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final is as follows:
Men
Alexey Erokhov (RUS)
Alexei Krasnozhon (USA)
Camden Pulkinen (USA)
Mitsuki Sumoto (JPN)
Makar Ignatov (RUS)
Andrew Torgashev (USA)
Ladies
Alexandra Trusova (RUS)
Sofia Samodurova (RUS)
Alena Kostornaia (RUS)
Daria Panenkova (RUS)
Anastasia Tarakanova (RUS)
Rika Kihira (JPN)
Pairs
Daria Pavliuchenko/Denis Khodykin (RUS)
Apollinariia Panfilova/Dmitry Rylov (RUS)
Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya/Harley Windsor (AUS)
Anastasia Poluianova/Dmitry Sopot (RUS)
Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovski (RUS)
Yumeng Gao/Zhong Xie (CHN)
Ice Dance
Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA)
Anastasia Skoptcova/Kirill Aleshin (RUS)
Sofia Polishchuk/Alexander Vakhnov (RUS)
Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha (CAN)
Sofia Shevchenko/Igor Eremenko (RUS)
Arina Ushakova/Maxim Nekrasov (RUS)
China Claim Two Titles At Coupe de Nice
After missing the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships through injury, Han Yan returned to competition at Coupe de Nice this weekend and comfortably won the men’s title. Jorik Hendrickx bagged his second international medal of the season by finishing second and Peter Liebers took bronze.
Alisa Fedichkina made her senior international debut in Nice and, despite coming second in the free skating, she had enough of a lead after the short programme to clinch the title. Xiangning Li from China and Anna Khnychenkova from Ukraine ended up behind the Russian in second and third respectively.
There was more gold for China in France with Xiaoyu Yu and Hao Zhang romping home to the pairs title. Annika Hocke and Ruben Blommaert from Germany took silver with Kyueun Kim and Alex Kang Chan Kam from South Korea picking up bronze.
Penny Coomes and Nicholas Buckland continued their winning comeback streak this season in the ice dance competition. The British team were over 19 points ahead of second place finishers Shiyue Wang and Xinyu Liu from China. Marie Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac won bronze and were the only French skaters to medal in the senior events.
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