The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2009 opened Tuesday in Sofia, Bulgaria with the Compulsory Dance and the Pairs Short Program. A record number of 208 skaters have been entered for the competition. Singapore is for the first time represented at ISU Figure Skating Championships with an entry in the Ladies event. Bulgaria has hosted the World Junior Championships before in 2001 and 2008.
Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance
The Compulsory Dance at the ISU World Junior Championships 2009 was the Paso Doble. The Paso Doble is a dramatic and powerful Spanish dance requiring good body control and precise footwork. It can be expressed in terms of its origins from the music of bull fighting or in Flamenco style. The Paso Doble was created by Reginald B. Wilkie and Daphne B. Wallis. It was first performed in London in 1938.
Madison Chock/Greg Zuerlein (USA) took the lead ahead of their teammates Madison Hubbell/Keiffer Hubbell and Russia’s Ekaterina Pushkash/Dmitri Kiselev.
Chock/Zuerlein put out a solid performance of the Paso Doble, interpreting the character of the dance very well and posted a new seasons best of 33.15 points (17.92 element score/15.23 program component score).
“We are happy with our result, but it wasn’t our best performance. We were solid, though, in our patterns”, Chock commented. “It’s one of my favourite dances of all the compulsories. It is very expressive and fun to do. We were not nervous. We are well prepared. We trained for this. We just put this behind us and then start fresh again”, she continued, referring to the Original Dance. “We like the dance; it’s a good dance for us. We’ve done it the whole year now. This (competition) was our goal the whole year, to make the Junior Worlds and hopefully medal”, Zuerlein added.
Hubbell/Hubbell delivered a nice Paso Doble as well and scored 31.29 points (16.90/14.49) to come second on Madison Hubbell’s 18th birthday. Pushkash/Kiselev’s third place came as a little surprise, but the Muscovites’ Paso Doble was solid and smooth. They picked up 30.44 points (16.70/13.74).
Pairs, Short Program
The competition continued with the Pairs Short Program. The required throw jump in the Junior Pairs Short Program in the 2008/2009 season is the throw loop (double or triple). The required solo jump is the double Lutz.
Russia’s Liubov Iliushechkina/Nodari Maisuradze captured the lead with Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir (USA) and Ekaterina Sheremetieva/Mikhail Kuznetsov of Russia following in second and third place.
Iliushechkina/Maisuradze landed a high double twist, throw triple loop and showed difficult spins and spirals, earning a level four for the two spins and the death spiral. Iliushechkina only turned out of the landing of the side by side double Lutz. The Junior Grand Prix Final Champions were awarded 55.12 points (32.28/22.84). “We skated with a lot of expression today, we made some small errors, but overall it was a successful performance”, Maisuradze said. “Pressure or not, there is always a certain nervousness before the competition, but we’ve been to bigger events before and we’ve learned to be calmer”, Iliushechkina added.
Castelli/Shnapir gave a solid performance to “The Survivor” soundtrack that featured a double twist, one-armed hand-to-hip lift and a throw triple loop. Their pair combination spin, lift and spiral sequence were graded a level four while the death spiral was a level one only. The U.S. Junior Champions picked up a new seasons best with 49.10 points (28.62/20.48).
Skating to “Wild Dances” by Ruslana, Sheremetieva/Kuznetsov produced a solid throw triple loop, a double twist, and a difficult hand-to-hip lift with changes of positions. However, she singled the side by side Lutz. The Muscovites scored 48.84 points (28.72/20.12).
The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2009 continue Wednesday with the Men’s Short Program and the Pairs Free Skating. For more information and full results please see: www.isu.org and http://www.isuworldjunior2009.com. An extended version of this report will be available on the website later tonight.
For further information please contact:
ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships
Devra Pitt-Getaz, ISU Media Coordinator Ani Doncheva, Press Chief
+41 21 612 66 66 +359 2 961 70 98 (press room)
email: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]
