2014 Junior World Championships: A Guide
SYWTW FS
The 2014 Junior World Championships (Jr. Worlds for short) are held in Sofia, Bulgaria this week from March 12-16. Here is a guide on how to watch and previews of the competitors!
ENTRIES, LIVE RESULTS AND SCHEDULE
SCHEDULE
Mar. 12: Short dance 13:00, Pairs’ SP 19:15
Mar. 13: Men’s SP 11:30, Pairs’ FS 19:15
Mar. 14: Ladies’ SP 11:00, Free dance 19:00
Mar. 15: Men’s FS 13:00
Mar. 16: Ladies’ FS 11:00, Gala 16:00
HOW TO WATCH
If you live in the US and have an Icenetwork subscription, they will show all of the competitions live.
ETA: The official ISU livestream is showing all of the competition, but it is blocked in USA, Canada, Japan, Korea, and most of Europe. It should work for all of South America and Australia - basically, countries that have not bought TV rights for Jr. Worlds. You can use VPN services like Hola Unblocker to unblock the site - I’ve tested it with an Australian VPN and it works.
Unlike the Olympics, videos from most “normal” skating competitions are uploaded fairly quickly onto Youtube as long as it is broadcasted live somewhere (bless the people who do it) and they generally don’t get quickly deleted. So if you can’t watch the competition live, a quick Youtube search afterwards for the skaters’ names will usually satisfy all your video needs.
There will be short, delayed broadcasts on CBC and BS Fuji next week. The Japanese pay channel JSports 4 will have a full broadcast next week.
PREVIEW
Men:
Five of the six Junior Grand Prix Finalists from earlier this season are competing at Jr. Worlds - medalists Boyang Jin (CHN), Adian Pitkeev (RUS), and Nathan Chen (USA), as well as Alexander Petrov (RUS) and Keiji Tanaka (JPN). Barring meltdowns or something really weird happening (which is ALWAYS possible in juniors, especially with junior men), I expect the podium will be the same as the JGPF, though the order might be different. Boyang attempts two quads in his free program, the only junior to do so, and his high base values will help him even if he doesn’t land everything. If he does land everything, he will probably win by technical content alone, but his relatively low PCS might hurt a bit, and if he bombs his jumps, he doesn’t have anything to fall back on. Adian Pitkeev has been strong on the JGP this season and has fairly stable 3As. He has a pretty good chance of making the podium if he lands his jumps. USA’s wunderkind Nathan Chen is probably one of the most “complete” juniors in this field, with excellent skating skills and well-constructed programs. His biggest asset is his consistency and ability to do many jumps in the second half of his programs in order to gain bonus points. His biggest weakness is his 3A, which is still not really consistent, but he is capable of scoring pretty high with or without it.
Nam Nguyen (CAN) has the potential to place well but he is notoriously inconsistent and does not have a super stable 3A, so I really have no idea how he’ll do here. Alexander Petrov could also potentially place well if he lands his jumps. Keiji Tanaka has been the most notoriously inconsistent of Japanese junior men for the last few seasons but he seems to have finally gotten things together (sort of) this season, setting personal best scores on the JGP, but I don’t really expect him to medal because he can almost never string together two clean programs. If he lands most of his jumps - he has a 3A and attempts a quad in the free skate - he can place decently enough. Shotaro Omori (USA) was the bronze medalist at last season’s Jr. Worlds but he has been injured for most of this season and I’m not sure what his condition is right now.
He Zhang (CHN) and Shoma Uno (JPN) are my bbs at this event but neither of them have a 3A and so will likely not place very high. (ETA: Apparently He Zhang landed a 4T in practice?? But I’m still too cynical to expect anything!!) Pay attention to them anyway because they are quite pleasant to watch. Other skaters who probably won’t medal but are nice to watch: June Hyoung Lee (KOR), Jordan Moeller (USA). Unfortunately, Michael Christian Martinez (PHI) has withdrawn due to a nagging ankle injury.
Ladies:
Russian ladies have dominated the junior ranks for the last three seasons, with at least two Russian ladies on the Jr. World podium since 2011. Last season they swept the Jr. World podium. This season, they swept the Jr. Grand Prix Final. Russia is sending a strong team of Evgenia Medvedeva (bronze at JGPF), Serafima Sakhanovich (silver at JGPF) and Elena Radionova, the reigning Jr. World champ who competed on the senior Grand Prix this season. Normally I’d say that Elena will win, but she has been suffering from an injury recently and I’m not sure what her condition is now. No junior lady has ever defended the Jr. World title. In any case, Elena’s pretty nice to watch and will probably get the highest PCS of the field. All the Russian ladies bring a lot of difficult technical content to the table; Evgenia attempts two 3-3 combos in her free skate.
Looking to challenge the Russians are USA’s Amber Glenn, Tyler Pierce and Karen Chen. I like Karen a lot but an injury forced her to withdraw from the JGPF in December; her condition was still poor at Nationals in January and she withdrew from that competition too. Amber is the current Jr. National champ and is making her Jr. World debut this season. She has the technical content to contend for the podium; she also includes two 3-3 combos in her free skate. Tyler Pierce, also making her Jr. World debut, could potentially place well too.
Japan’s Satoko Miyahara at her best could challenge for the podium, but underrotations are her enemy and she may be at the mercy of the technical panel (then again, so will the other girls). She competed on the senior Grand Prix this season and won the silver medal at the 2014 Four Continents Championships. She has a pretty mature style for her age and good programs, so if she can rotate her jumps, she is capable of putting up some good scores. Japan’s Rika Hongo has good jumps but is not very consistent in her international competitions.
Other skaters who could place well: Elizabet Turzynbaeva (KAZ), Alaine Chartrand (CAN).
Pairs:
Yu/Jin of China have won two JGP events and the JGPF this season and are likely the favorites going into Jr. Worlds. They are quite technically proficient and I really like their short program this season. However, they sometimes make mistakes in the free skate, so the title isn’t locked up for them in any sense. The Russian teams Vigalova/Zakroev, Tarasova/Morozov and Davankova/Deputat will also challenge for the podium. Between the Russians and the Chinese team, it’s unlikely that any other country’s team will make the podium. (Pairs is always a small field.) USA’s Aaron/Settlage will probably have a decent placement.
Dance:
All six teams that made the JGPF this season are competing at Jr. Worlds - in order of JGPF placement, they are: Yanovskaya/Mozgov (RUS), Hawayek/Baker (USA), McNamara/Carpenter (USA), Popova/Vlasenko (RUS), Nazarova/Nikitin (UKR), and Parsons/Parsons (USA). This is probably a reasonable preview of how Jr. Worlds might go. Yanovskaya/Mozgov have the highest scores this season and will probably win; the order of the other teams may change. Look for Russia’s Kosigina/Moroshkin and Canada’s Edwards/Pang and Bent/MacKeen to challenge for top spots as well.