2011-12 Junior Grand Prix Announcement & early discussion thread

[Sylvia]

Just noticed that the 2011-12 Announcement is up on the JGP page of the ISU site: http://www5.isu.org/vsite/vnavsite/p...v-list,00.html

Bad news is that the JGP Final is down to 6 ladies and men from 8 (pairs and dance were cut to 6 this past fall).

ETA: The charts that break down the number of allotted JGP spots per country per discipline for each of the 7 JGPs begin on page 17 of the Announcement.

The seven events of the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating are:

1st event Riga, LAT (including Pairs) August 31–Sept. 4, 2011
2nd event Brisbane, AUS Sept. 7–11, 2011
3rd event Gdansk, POL (including Pairs) Sept. 14–18, 2011
4th event Brasov, ROU Sept. 21–25, 2011
5th event Innsbruck, AUT (including Pairs) Sept. 28–Oct. 2, 2011
6th event Milan, ITA Oct. 5–9, 2011
7th event Tallinn, EST (including Pairs) Oct. 12–16, 2011

The combined ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (Juniors and Seniors) will be organized for the best
Men, Ladies, Pairs and Ice Dance Couples in
December 8–11, 2011, Quebec City / Canada

[Jenna]

for the reduced # of spots. Good prep. for the senior ranks, though, I suppose.

[oleada]

I'm so disappointed at how spots are being cut all over the place

[Hedwig]

me too.

Who from the Russian wonderbabies is going to be on the JPG this season?

I assume Lipnitskaya, Sheveleva and Ovcharova if she is healthy again. Is Deeva old enough now?

[Autumn_girl]

me too.

Who from the Russian wonderbabies is going to be on the JPG this season?

I assume Lipnitskaya, Sheveleva and Ovcharova if she is healthy again. Is Deeva old enough now?

Yes, Deeva was born in May 1997, so she already was eligible this season but didn't have good results to qualify.
So I think we will see on JGP for sure:
Lipnitskaya
Sheveleva
Agafonova

Others are question marks and I think all depends on test skates for juniors in July-August:
Ovcharova (missed the season, so it's hard to tell anything about her now)
Daria Medvedeva (also was injured, but looked much better at her last competition, so I think she will be okay in summer and has a chance to get JGP spot)
Deeva (reworking her technique this season, so her results wasn't as good as they could be but still has time to prepare for the test skates, she already has great skating skills, spins and presentation, and her jumps are huge, more work and she can be unstoppable)
Korobeinikova (deserves a spot according her results this season, but don't have 3Lz, if she'll get her lutz soon I think we will see her on JGP)

Dark horses:
Gosviani (too inconsistent, so I don't think she'll get a spot, but who knows what can happen)
Zaseeva (she is with Vodorezova now and it shows, spins are getting much better, 3T-3T is back and still has time to work on her jumps and prepare for test skates)

[Aimless]

This sure makes the JGP/GP final in Quebec City a very attractive competition to attend. Good bang for the buck. I'm disappointed that there is no JGP comp in the States, but there you go. Loved that event in Lack Placid a couple years ago.

[pinky166]

Regarding American ladies, I assume Gao and Gong will move to seniors, so likely candidates are:

Siraj - could opt for SGP but she'd likely only get 1 assignment if that due to the limited number of international competitions she's attended
Lam - same as Siraj, although she's only competed once internationally
Hicks - same as Lam, again probably smarter to stay junior
Dinh - 2nd at nationals, 1st at Gardenia, should be given an initial spot
Kulgeyko - 3rd at nationals, 2nd at Gardenia, lots of potential, should get an initial spot
Daniels - 4th at nationals, don't know if that will be enough for an initial spot but my guess is probably

and then we have some question marks such as:


Miller - 1st in novice and she's old enough I think
Long - 3rd in novice, really impressive tech content
Baga - injured this season and I doubt would be able to get a SGP assignment, but will she even get a JGP assignment where she competed in so few competitions last season and didn't put up great scores?
Cesario - also injured this season and didn't compete at nationals, but maybe a little old for JGP and will opt for senior Bs and maybe try and get the SA host spot instead
Marley, Cain, Edmunds, Jiang - maybe if they have great summer competition results they can get an assignment

I doubt Angela Wang, Leah Keiser, and Gracie Gold will be given any assignments regardless of summer competition results just where they did not qualify for nationals last season.

Am I forgetting anyone?

[Sylvia]

Long - 3rd in novice, really impressive tech content

Barbie Long was 2nd in Novice (landed 4 different triples in competition, including 2A+3T, 3S, 3Lo, 3Lz+2T+2Lo; was even attempting 3Lz+3T in Nationals practices that I saw), but was not included in the initial ISP... probably because JGP ladies are more likely to come from the Senior/Junior ranks.

The JGP age-eligible singles skaters currently listed in USFS' International Selection Pool (ISP) are (2011 Nationals placement & relevant or recent international results included; names aren't listed in any particular order):

* denotes previous JGP experience

LADIES (14 slots)
*Vanessa Lam S7
*Yasmin Siraj S8
Courtney Hicks J1 (6th, Jr. Worlds)
Lauren Dinh J2 (Gardena Jr. gold)
Katarina Kulgeyko J3 (Gardena Jr. silver)
McKinzie Daniels J4
Mary Beth Marley J5
Ashley Cain J6
*Kristiene Gong S11
*Kiri Baga S-wd
*Samantha Cesario S-wd
Polina Edmunds J7
Haley Dunne J8
*Nina Jiang J9
*Angela Wang (4th at JGP JPN last fall)
Hannah Miller N1
Kelsey Traunero S13
*Ellie Kawamura S16

MEN (7 slots for now)
*Jason Brown S9
*Joshua Farris S21 (skated injured at Nationals)
Emmanuel Savary J5 (Gardena Nov. gold)
Philip Warren J6 (Gardena Jr. silver)
David Wang J7
Harrison Choate J8 (Gardena Jr. gold)
*Timothy Dolensky (4th at JGP GBR last fall)
Shotaro Omori J9 (Gardena Jr. bronze)
Jordan Moeller N2
Nix Phengsy N3

[Stephanie]

I doubt we'll see Gong on the SGP, her scores weren't super high. She has a decent shot at a JGP (my guess is that Hicks, Lam, Siraj, Dinh, Kulgeyko, and Baga will get initial spots), but if we don't see her there I'd think she'd get a senior B.

As for Baga, she made two straight JGP finals (even though she didn't compete in the last one due to injury) and has good component scores, so I think USFS will give her the benefit of the doubt as long as she does reasonably well in her summer monitoring event. She also added the triple lutz last season, so that should help as well given that the solo jump this coming season is the lutz.

[oleada]

Thanks everyone for the info.

Autumn Girl, do you know if Sheveleva is working on a 3+3? Her jumps are so big that I can't see why she wouldn't be able to do one. I really like her skating and I hope she can skate more consistently next year.

[Autumn_girl]

^^ Don't know really, I think she is but who knows if she will try it in programs. Rosa has enough of speed and height on her jumps I guess we will see 3-3 from her soon, the second half of the season was really great for her, impressive skate at Nationals and Jr. Nationals, then the Russian cup final where she beat Leonova and Makarova. She can do really great at JGP I think

[sandra_persch]

I am absolutely delightes for the Australian ... having the JGP at home means having 3 spots with little travel expenses. having 8 ladies and 6? men spots should be a great development opportunity for the skaters. can´t wait to see who will get the Brisbane spots and who will be in the JGPs.

Germany on the other hand is screwed! 5 spots for ladies and men they bether send the 16 and olders ones to the Senior Bs and let the younger ones do the JGPs!

[maclou]

I like trying to figure out which Japanese skaters will be sent to the JGP, I came up with the list of eligible skaters from the list of skaters that are receiving funding from the jfed next season.

Men:
Ryuichi Kihara S12 J2 (10th junior worlds)
Ryuju Hino S13 J3
Keiji Tanaka S11 (silver junior worlds)
Shoma Uno J4 N1
Yoji Tsuboi S20 J5
Sei Kawahara J7
Jun Suzuki J8

It seems a bit silly going over the men since all of them are pretty much guaranteed spots that is if they choose to send them all. I'm looking forward to Shoma's debut and I hope Keiji can do well!

Haha now the real fun...

Ladies:
Risa Shoji S5 J1 (5th at junior worlds)
Yuki Nishino S6 (12th at junior worlds)
Kako Tomotaki S15 J2
Miyabi Oba S8 J3 (8th at junior worlds)
Kana Muramoto S10
Ayumi Goto S11 (silver at Gardner Trophy)
Satoko Miyahara J4 N2 (silver in novice at Triglav Trophy, gold in novice at Asian Figure Skating Trophy)
Saya Ueno S25 J6
Roanna Sari Oshikawa S17 J7
Haruna Suzuki S14 J8
Riona Kato J26 N1 (gold in novice at Gardner Trophy)
Rin Nitaya J13 N3
Hinano Isobe J22 N4 (gold in novice at Triglav)
Saki Kawakami N5
Karen Kemanai S13 J8
Kono Yuka S16
Yukiko Fujisawa J11
Miu Sato J14
Ayana Yasuhara J16

Hopefully I got them all right... If they do it like they did last season they're probably most likely to just give 2 spots to 7 of the top girls though I wish they'd be more willing to give some of the girls who probably won't place that well one spot each just to give them some experience. Also if last year is anything to go by they seem to choose assignments mostly on nationals placements and not take other competitions in to account... Miyahara, Kato, Isobe and Nitaya are all very promising novice girls moving up to junior but the only one I see possibly getting a spot is Miyahara since the other three did so poorly at junior nats.

[NMURA]

The JSF is placing more weight on jumping abilities than national placements these day. The most important criteria should be the 3Lz. They have a test skate in summer. I guess following eight girls will have the priority slots.

Shoji - flutz, all triples
Miyahara - real lutz, at least no edge call received, all triples
Oba - flutz, Lz and F are not reliable
Tomotaki - flutz, all triples
Fujisawa - real lutz, no salchow, attempting 3A with no success yet
Kemanai - flutz, all triples
Kato - minor flutz, all triples
Miu Sato - real lutz, no loop

Nishino should move up to the senior (NHK or Nebelhorn/Finlandia).

[blademate]

who's in for junior pairs? with most of the top contenders from last year aging out, it could be a pretty weak year

[oleada]

who's in for junior pairs? with most of the top contenders from last year aging out, it could be a pretty weak year

I agree that this could be a transitional year for pairs, since the top teams are aging out. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing, there will be new teams for us to enjoy

Russia has a lot of young teams aging in. A small sample (The technical content listed here is from this season, but it could improve over the summer):

Tatiana Tudvaseva/Sergei Liseev (J6, 1997/1993) - coached by Liudmila Kalinina (B/L's coach). They have a 3TTh and a 2A. Very nice speed, flow and musicality. They have a very classical look. This was their first full year together.

Elizaveta Semenova/Maxim Petukhov (J8, 1997/1991) - Also coached by Kalinina. Have 2A, 3Sth, 3Loth. I think they could make a statement this year. They made some mistakes at Junior Nats which prevented a higher finish.

Lena Fedorova/Maxim Miroshkin (1997/1994, J11) - very, very cute and charismatic, but also really young. They have a 3Twist and a 2A and side by side Biellmans

Evgenia Kazantseva/Antonio Souza - Cordeiro (1997/1993)- very new team, her first year in pairs. They are quite charming but lack the technical yet. They are coached by Arina Ushakova.

I don't know which teams will get JGPs ( I think it's quite likely the first two will), but they all show potential in varying degrees.

I was also really impressed with the American team of Aaron/Settlage when they won their novice title - far more impressed with them than any of the junior teams. I thought they had really nice musicality and programs. I remember they had at least a throw 3S and a 2A. I also think the Czech team of Kadlecova/Bidar hasn't aged out. They made the FS at Worlds. Ekaterina Petaikina/Maxim Kudukov (RUS) are also age-eligible, but I'm not sure if they are a match, size wise....a shame as they have really lovely moves.

Can anyone remind me what the throw for the pairs is this year? The loop?

[Sylvia]

US JGP age-eligible pairs: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...3&postcount=47

US JGP age-eligible dance teams: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...9&postcount=25

Any new teams will be added to USFS' International Selection Pool (ISP) after they are monitored and/or compete this summer.

[oubik]

I also think the Czech team of Kadlecova/Bidar hasn't aged out.

Can anyone remind me what the throw for the pairs is this year? The loop?

1/ Yes, Petr has one more year of Junior eligibility
2/ Yes, it´s loop

[sammyf]

who's in for junior pairs? with most of the top contenders from last year aging out, it could be a pretty weak year

These are the skaters who haven't aged out or split and should be skating junior next year. I'm not sure all these teams are official, but they've all been mentioned on FSU or competed last year and are all age eligible.

Stina Martini/Severin Kiefer AUT
Mariya Polyakova/Mikhail Fomichev BEL
Katie Bobak/Ian Beharry CAN
Margaret Purdy/Michael Marinaro CAN
Krystel Desjardins/Charlie Bilodeau CAN
Alexandra Young/Matthew Young CAN
Xiao Xue Chen/Bo Wen Song CHN
Mei Yi Li/Bo Jiang CHN
Yu Xiao Yu/Jin Yang CHN
WenJing Sui/Cong Han CHN
Xin Xin Fan/Xin Ze Liu CHN
Klara Kadlecova/Petr Bidar CZE
Minami Dobashi/Alexander Völler GER
Monika Peterka/Konrad Hocker-Scholler GER
Karolin Salatzki/Nolan Seegert GER
Linda Wenzig/Matti Landgraf GER
Heather Murdoch/Lewis Gibson GBR
Lidiya Voblenko/Vladimir Rudi KAZ
Racheal Epstein/Dmitry Epstein NED
Chiara Laffranchi/Benjamin Naggiar ITA
Sonia Manfredi/Nicolò Macii ITA
Magdalena Klatka/Radoslaw Chruscinski POL
Magdalena Jaskółka/Peter Snopek POL
Aleksandra Malinkiewicz/Sebastian Lofek POL
Anna Siedlecka/Jakub Tyc POL
Kristina Astakhova/Nikita Bochkov RUS
Anastasia Dolidze/Igor Chudinov RUS
Nadezhda Egorova/Andrey Kositsyn RUS
Lina Federova/Maxim Miroshkin RUS
Valeria Grechukhina/Andrey Filonov RUS
Yevgenya Kazantseva/Antonio Souza-Cordeiro RUS
Ekaterina Kuklina/Eduard Kushtanov RUS
Anastasia Ortikova/Mikhail Akulov RUS
Ekaterina Petaykina/Maksim Kurdukov RUS
Tatiana Tudvaseva/Sergei Lisyev RUS
Elizaveta Semenova/Maxim Petukhov RUS
Aleksandra Vasileva/Uriy Shevchuk RUS
Yana Volkova/Alexej Petrjanin RUS
Alexandra Rodriguez/Aritz Maestu ESP
Michelle Lundberg/Richard Lundberg SWE
Anais Morand/Timothy Leemann SUI
Julia Lavrentjeva/Jurij Rudyk UKR
Madeline Aaron/Max Settlage USA
Morgan Agster/Adam Civiello USA
Jessica Calalang/Zack Sidhu USA
Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier USA
Kylie Duarte/Colin Grafton USA
Olivia Oltmanns/Joshua Santillan USA
Audrey Goldberg/Joseph Dolkiewicz USA
Christine Mozer/Daniel O'Shea USA
Alexandria Shaughnessy/James Morgan USA
Britney Simpson/Matthew Blackmer USA
Ali Smith/Craig Segall USA


Teams that I'm not sure if they are age eligible but they may be
Tamara Jurkiewicz/Alex Arpin CAN
Melissa Kustra/Paul Schatz CAN
Rebecca Marsh/Christopher Blackmore CAN
Gabriella DeBono/Christopher Sisca CAN
Mary Orr/Anthony Furiano CAN
Leah Hyslop/Bob Goodwin CAN
Dylan Conway/Dustin Sherriff-Clayton CAN
Vasilisa Davankova/Semen Kazantsev RUS
Maria Deryabina/Vladimir Arhipov RUS
Ekaterina Krutskikh/Vladimir Morozov RUS
Natalia Kolodko/Alexander Myskina RUS
Catherine Pribilof/Arseniy Repkin RUS
Zoya Rogovtseva/Pavel Kovalev RUS
Ekaterina Serzhantova/Yaroslav Maslov RUS
Pauline Vetoshkin/Ivan Pavlichenko RUS
Maria Vigalova/Egor Zakroev RUS

[HisWeirness]

I'm thinking Sui/Han will go fully senior for 2011-12 because she will be 15 years old (according to ISU bio) by July 1, so they can do senior ISU Championships in 2011-12. They've already won the Jr. World title twice and medaled at the senior GP final.