Help on Jr. Championships | Golden Skate

Help on Jr. Championships

Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Can anyone explain the difference between:

the Junior Championships held in Cleveland this year; and

the Junior Championships to be held at US Nats in January?

Joe
 

SeaniBu

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 19, 2006
Like Ruan, Firth as well as Zhang, Nelson too? Or am I confused on something?

Yep Joe you started my interest a little.:agree: and must add gkelly to that.
 
Last edited:

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
The Junior Championships that were just held are for INTERMEDIATES and JUVENILES. The Championships that will be held in January are for SENIORS, JUNIORS and NOVICES.

Kristine Musademba was last year's Intermediate Champion, and she is competing as a Novice this year. Other top Novices are Armin Mahbbanoozadeh, Scott Dyer and Alexander Aiken; Masha Leonov, Carolyn Ann Alba and Ellie Kawamura.

Anyone who has subscription access to icenetwork.com can see some of these skaters, plus the Intermediates and Juveniles, in their Regionals performances.
 

SeaniBu

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 19, 2006
OK, now I am starting to understand this situation, it is like US collage football, and by the time I do they are moving on to a different league or not, what division, etc... .:banging: :cool:

Pick a fave watch them and hope.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Thanks guys. That cleared it up for me.

Musademba will light up the Novice Nats this year and go on to win the Worlds Juniors next year. Remember you heard it here first. :yes:

Joe
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Thank you so much,NC. That will save me a lot of posts next season. Meanwhile, it should be required reading for all American fans of figure skating.

Just looking at that flow chart makes me feel for the work involved by the USFS.

Joe
 

Numbers Cruncher

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 28, 2005
Flow Chart Skating

:laugh: :laugh: Joe!

Are you pulling my chain a bit? Isn't it a hoot that we need a flow chart to figure out who does what?

Don Korte's site is really good though, he puts in a ton of info so we don't have to go searching the convoluted USFS rule book and website.

It's really interesting when we get four accountants in one room trying to decipher proper draw group rules during a qualifying comp!

NC
 

mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
Thanks guys. That cleared it up for me.

Musademba will light up the Novice Nats this year and go on to win the Worlds Juniors next year. Remember you heard it here first. :yes:

Joe

While Musademba is good, she will have to get past DeeDee Leng who has all triples except Axel in her LP now and is working on 3Lutz-3 Loop, 3 Loop-3 Loop, and 3 Flip-3 Loop. Leng was the only skater at any Sectional Championship in Novice to land a 3 Flip (flip out). Maybe I am biased because I skate with DeeDee, but she's got a special something when she skates where you just need to watch her. :rock:

Musademba probably won't even get a shot at Junior Worlds (assuming she is on the podium in Juniors next year) until Zhang and Flatt are age eligible for Seniors (I think they've both got 2 years). Also, it's common for US Figure Skating to send the highest ranking age eligible seniors to Worlds, assuming they aren't on the Senior World team, so a lot of the times, Junior National Champion (or sometimes the other 2 podium skaters) do not get a shot a Junior Worlds.
 

Nigel

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Musademba probably won't even get a shot at Junior Worlds (assuming she is on the podium in Juniors next year) until Zhang and Flatt are age eligible for Seniors (I think they've both got 2 years). Also, it's common for US Figure Skating to send the highest ranking age eligible seniors to Worlds, assuming they aren't on the Senior World team, so a lot of the times, Junior National Champion (or sometimes the other 2 podium skaters) do not get a shot a Junior Worlds.

Flatt is 14, Zhang is 13. IIRC, isn't age 19 the cut off for Jr Worlds for the young ladies? So, they have several yrs of eligibility ahead of them for Jr Worlds.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Flatt is 14, Zhang is 13. IIRC, isn't age 19 the cut off for Jr Worlds for the young ladies? So, they have several yrs of eligibility ahead of them for Jr Worlds.
I believe Flatt is scheduled for Seniors this year. I don't think she is permitted to do both but it would be hoot if she won both in the same year. :)

Joe
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I think Rachael can skate in U.S. Nationals as a senior, but can't skate in senior international events yet. What would really be a hoot is if she became the U.S. senior ladies champion, but could only compete in Junior Worlds on the international scene.
 
Last edited:

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
The rules are different for national and international competition.

In international competitions sanctioned by the ISU, the distinction between junior and senior is by age only. And skaters who are 15 through 18 (or 20 for male pair/dance partners) as of July 1 are eligible for both junior and senior events.

Except for pairs (because there are so few of them), it's not allowed to compete on both the junior and senior Grand Prix circuits in the same year. Other than that, it's perfectly legal to skate at both junior and senior international events. It's very common for age-eligible skaters to compete at senior events all year and then go to Junior Worlds, and in some cases to senior Worlds after that.

It's up to the individual national federations to determine which skaters they want to send to international events at which level(s) that they're eligible for. The national federations also determine the requirements for competing at each level at national championships and other domestic events.

In the US, which level you compete at within the US system is determined by test level. The highest test you've passed is the level you compete at. Even if you're not old enough to compete internationally at that level.

Rachael Flatt chose to pass her senior freestyle test and entered (and won) regionals and sectionals at the senior level this season, so she will be competing at Nationals at the senior level. She was also scheduled to compete internationally on the Junior Grand Prix but had to withdraw because she was injured.

If she places well in the senior competition at Nationals, she will be one of the prime candidates to represent the US at Junior Worlds. Even if she medals at Nationals at the senior level, she won't be sent to Four Continents or senior Worlds because she is too young according to the international age requirements. (Like Meissner in 2005)

No US skater is yet "scheduled" to compete at any of the ISU championships at any level -- the USFSA won't make those decisions until after Nationals.
 
Top