Polish Junior Nationals, 31 Jan - 2 Feb | Golden Skate

Polish Junior Nationals, 31 Jan - 2 Feb

Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Time Schedule (in Polish)
Starting Orders/Results

Polish Junior Nationals are starting today in Oswiecim, Poland (that's where Zagorska/Siudek originally trained, home to the biggest and most successful Polish figure skating club and incidentally where the Auschwitz concentration camp was located).

Junior Ladies, Men and Pairs will compete. The winners will be sent to Junior Worlds.

Junior Ice Dance took place during Three Nationals and Joanna Zajac/Cezary Zawadzki from Lodz were the only competitors and became Polish champions. I don't think they have the minimum score to go to Junior Worlds, though.

Junior Ladies should be comfortably won by Agata Kryger who is the only Polish Junior lady at the moment to land triple jumps. She is the Senior National Champion, having landed 3t/2t, 3f and 1a in the SP and two 3toes, two 2axels and an underrotated 3s in the FS.

Junior Men should be a close battle between Kamil Dymowski who only has 2a, 3t and 3s but is more consistent and Krzysztof Gala who has all the triples through 3axel but lacks in the PCS area and doesn't land his jumps very consistently. If Gala lands his jumps (3a in particular), he will win. But that's a big if.

Junior Pairs will be a battle between Klatka/Chruscinski and Lech/Tyc (although not sure if they're not aged out now?).

To be frank: Out of all these skaters Agata Kryger is the only one showing a high level of skating. I hope she kicks some major butt. :)
 
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Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Do you think Agata Kryger will be on the JGP next year? How old is she?

Agata Kryger is 14.

She became age-eligible for Juniors last season and took part in two JGPs in 2011 (Gdansk and Talinn).

This season she had to miss JGP because of injury but she recovered in time for Warsaw Cup where she placed 4th and skated very well at Nesquick Cup placing 2nd behind Gosviani.

Next season, she will become age-eligible for senior competitions so I imagine that she will do JGP, some senior international events, Euros, Junior Worlds and Worlds (if she'll get minimum score) given she is the only Polish female skater at the moment at the elite competitive level. So as long as she's healthy, they'll surely send her everywhere.

Here are her performances from Senior Nationals:
Agata Kryger SP - 3Nats (Masquerade Waltz: 3toe/2toe, 3flip (hand close), 2axel, layback much improved since last season, clean performance!)
Agata Kryger FS - 3Nat (Moonlight Sonata: not everything clean but 5 triples and two 2axels!!!)

She needs more expression, her movements could be finished off better and some of her spins are a little weak but she's 14 and going for and staying upright on 5 triple jumps in her program! Given the level of Polish skating at the moment, you can understand my excitement. ;P
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
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I can indeed. And the 3t2t in the short was very, very nice indeed. It looked like she might manage a 3t3t with work, which would definitely put her in the hunt on the JGP next year. There is something quite endearing about her very serious, workmanlike demeanor on the ice.

I can see why you're excited :jaw:
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
And very nice 3toe/2toe/2loop with arm above in the FS as well. :)

Unfortunately 3loop is in the SP next season and that's one triple that's not very consistent for her but who knows what will happen between now and September. She's already improved loads since last season. :)

I've been following her since the Novice level. She's always been really promising and hard-working and I am glad to see it coming together now. She usually spends the summer in Canada and the US and Manon Perron helps Dorota and Mariusz a bit as well remotely so she has a great team behind her. :)

Starting Orders/Results link added to the OP.
http://www.pfsa.com.pl/results/2012/MPJ2013/index.htm

Entries are available now and I see Klatka/Chruscinski are not entered. If they get sent to Junior Worlds without having competed head to head with Lech/Tyc, I will be very angry.

Lech/Tyc did not have great competitions so far this season but it's their second season together with Lech being new to pairs and they are at least attempting and rotating 2axels, throw 3salchow and throw 3loop.

Klatka/Chruscinski, on the other hand, have been skating together for a long time now and they aren't even trying throw triples. 2axel she lands forwards and their performance at Euros was very disappointing. Alas, the politics are on their side. :/
 
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Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Short Programs done.

In Ladies, as predicted Agata Kryger was head and shoulders about everybody else after a good performance: 3toe/2toe (0.23), 3flip (-0.93) and 2axel (0.50).

No other triples and three other 2axels were landed. Sitting in second place is Marta Olczak who has retired a while ago but returned to competitive skating this season. She's quite an elegant skater but she never had any consistent triples.

In Men, Dymowski leads easily despite problems on two jumping passes (3salchow/3toe and 3flip both -2GOE, 2axel clean). 13-year old promising new talent Peteja is second having skated pretty much clean (3toe/2toe, 2axel and 2lip). Gala bombed. :( He fell three times: on 3axel, on 3lutz, on a camel spin and then stepped out of his 3flip. All of his jumps were fully rotated and off the correct edges though at least.

In Junior Pairs, Lech/Tyc finally had a decent performance. They received no credit for the backward outside death spiral but landed sbs 2axels and throw 3salchow both cleanly for the first time this season. I hope they have a similarly good skate in the FS and get sent to Junior Worlds.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
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A lot of teams have not received credit for the Back Outside Death Spiral, and a few more got some credit that probably should not have, IMO, in other competitions than Polish nationals, including US Nationals.

Good on Lech & Tyc for the triple Salchow throw and the double axels :) Can they be the next Zagorska & Siudek, do you think?
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
A lot of teams have not received credit for the Back Outside Death Spiral, and a few more got some credit that probably should not have, IMO, in other competitions than Polish nationals, including US Nationals.

Good on Lech & Tyc for the triple Salchow throw and the double axels :) Can they be the next Zagorska & Siudek, do you think?

Lech/Tyc are actually coached by Zagorska/Siudek in Torun. :)

It's only their second season together as a pair team and she's new to pair skating. I think they are on the right track in terms of technical progress. It's still early days and the pair elements aren't great but it's great they are going for two triple throws already (and starting to land one of them).

What worries me slightly is that naturally she isn't very petite and he isn't very bulky. So weight management for both will be really crucial if they are to continue progressing. Hopefully she won't grow any taller.

ETA: On a different note, it's interesting how the Polish Fed has decided to seed the groups at Nationals based on qualification results. So skaters with weakest results previously skated in the first group and the best skaters in the final one.

And in the FS, they skate in the order opposite to SP placements. So basically like during Grand Prix events.
 
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dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
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I think the placement business is a good idea. I think it is best to have nationals run like internationals, as far as possible. I would think it would be easier to coach skaters what exactly to expect; no bad (or good) surprises.
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Yep, I agree.

So the event is done.

Kryger had a great free program by the looks of it. :) Fell on the 3flip but landed all her other jumps and everything was rotated. 3toe/2toe/2loop, 3salchow/2toe, 2axel/2toe and solo 3toe, 3salchow and 2axel. I will be keeping my fingers crossed she can repeat her SP and FS performances at Junior Worlds. That should easily place her in top 20. :)

Only 3 other skaters landed a clean 2axel so it shows you how low the level is at the moment. :( Kryger's training mate Agnieszka Rejment who bounced back to get a bronze medal (and also silver) landed her first clean 2axel in competition, I think. :)

In Men, Dymowski won comfortably but again he didn't have a good skate. 3salchow/3toe, 3salchow and 2axel were his only clean jumps. His chances of qualifying to the FS at Junior Worlds are very slim.

Gala bombed again. Falls on 3axel, 3lutz< and 3flip but he still had the highest TES because those jumps were rotated and he did land 3lutz, 3salchow and 3toe. He's got a natural talent for jumping. He just needs to improve the rest of his skating and get more consistent. He's only 14/15 still IIRC. Landing 3axels at this age is great and I hope he can get it all together with time.

Fantastic performance from Kedzierski who skated to the top of his ability. Two 2axels, two 3toes, one clean 3sal and one presumably with step out. Not exactly international top level in terms of jumps but great to see a skater deliver their best. :)

13-year old Peteja had some mistakes but landed a 3toe and 2axel. He's the one I have high hopes for, for the future.

In Pairs, Lech/Tyc gave another decent performance. Throw 3salchow was landed and throw 3loop was rotated and she stayed upright (step out or something I would guess). They didn't try 2axels in the FS. Based on those two performances vs. Klatka/Chruscinski's disaster at Euros, I will be very very angry if the federation sends K/C to Junior Worlds.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
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It does seem they should send Lech/Tyc...but I don't expect any federations to make decisions that I understand ;)
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
It does seem they should send Lech/Tyc...but I don't expect any federations to make decisions that I understand ;)

The politics is definitely behind K/C hence my guess K/C used an injury/health issue excuse no to face head to head competition and they'll get a bye based on past results. I do hope I am wrong, though.
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
I was wrong as I've now found out the very secret ;P YouTube channel of the Polish Fed where you can watch Lech/Tyc's test skate done before Euros. And they have now been selected to compete at Junior Worlds.

Polish Winter Youth Olympics are taking place at the moment.

I thought there's no point starting a new thread.

Results - http://www.pfsa.com.pl/results/2012/OOM2013/index.htm
YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/oom2013

There are two age categories. Younger Juniors A are skating Junior programmes, Younger Juniors B are skating Novice programmes. Those age categories are different than ISU ones (because that's how the Youth Olympic system works) so it's sometimes strange because you get Junior skaters skating Novice (since they are so young) and pre-Novice skaters skating Novice, etc.

Some interesting tidbits:

16-year old (iirc) Krzysztof Gala has landed a 3axel in both SP and FS! Out of a spread eagle too! He has loads of potential but unfortunately is not consistent and struggled with some of his other jumps. Presentation needs work but he's slowly improving in that regard.
Krzysztof Gala - Junior Men SP

Rockstar William Moriggi gave another super voidy, amazing performance. :)
William Moriggi - Novice Men SP
 
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