2023 Junior Worlds: Info & Pregame Chat

[theblade]

Very much looking forward to seeing what happens in ice dancing. The US is fielding some interesting competitors that could play spoilers, although the top three teams (CAN, CZE, KOR) are strong, well-prepared, and all with fantastic free dances.

The battle for bronze is huge, because of this junior worlds being the determining competition for the Youth Olympic Games next January in Korea. For the US, in 2012 Parsons/Parsons were 4th; in 2016 Lewis/Bye earned a YOG silver medal; in 2020, Wolfkostin/Chen earned a bronze medal. Only 12 teams compete in the ice dance portion of each YOG, and the US has sent one team each time. In 2012, Russia sent two teams. In 2016, both Russia and Ukraine sent two teams. In 2020, both Russia and Canada sent two teams.

The interesting thing is that none of the top competitors (from CAN, CZE, KOR, USA) can compete in the upcoming games due to the age restrictions (must be between 15 and 18 years of age by 31 December 2024, even though the games take place at the beginning of the year in January). So, IMHO, a very high-stakes week for federations in terms of YOG placements.

 

[CoyoteChris]

You kids have fun. Internet hanging by a thread and is at dial up speeds due to trees loaded with 6 inches of heavy wet snow...hopefully, on demand works!

 

[yesterday]

The Junior girls SP looks like a looong JGP

 

[Andrea82]

The Junior girls SP looks like a looong JGP

With all reviews called by Amano making it even longer

 

[yesterday]

With all reviews called by Amano making it even longer

 

[mrrice]

Have all the skaters arrived? I'm surprised we haven't been getting any practice reports.

 

[lariko]

Partner and I are heading out tomorrow for Calgary. Weather looks to be cooperating this week, whew! This event is a bit of a test run for us; if all goes well (that is, my health holds up), we are considering Montreal in 2024.

Lariko, do you have a sense of what security will be like? I have a big purse but it is very easy to search. Do you know what food services are like there? Will we be able to leave and return between afternoon and evening events? I missed out on all-event tickets, so we got individual tickets for the four days of events, and the cost was comparable. We have to give the gala a miss as it's a long (6.5 hours) drive back.

Today, there was zero bag checks. My only run in with security was when I was trying to throw a wrapper into a garbage can located behind a security person and they thought I was a going into a team area and asked for my accreditation. We had a good laugh. The volunteers are super friendly.

 

[lariko]

Have all the skaters arrived? I'm surprised we haven't been getting any practice reports.

Not everyone was there. Gurgenidze didn’t make it and Zich from who I remember by name. The internet is dreadful so I am not posting from the stadium.

 

[lariko]

So, practices wise, mom and I watched most of the women (I was dropping my kid to school so we couldn’t be there before 9:30ish), all pairs and a few groups of men. Memola, unfortunately, looked injured. Miura shone. From ladies Jia was like probably miles ahead everyone (we missed group with Kaiya…)

From pairs we felt Serova/Khobota looked the best in practice.

Dance was too late for us to see, but we glimpsed The Skirt and Mrazkova’s on the smaller practice arena through the passageway door that connects two rinks.

On embarrassing note, mom accosted Nguyen again (she loves the guy) and complained to him that I had to tell the local news about the competition because there was no coverage…

 

[Dreamer57]

So, practices wise, mom and I watched most of the women (I was dropping my kid to school so we couldn’t be there before 9:30ish), all pairs and a few groups of men. Memola, unfortunately, looked injured.

From pairs we felt Serova/Khobota looked the best in practice.

Oh no, I hope Memola hasn't over trained too hard with all his competitions.
& I was wishing that he might be selected for WTT in April!

Sierova/Khobta have been practising in Canada with Murakami/Moriguchi leading up to junior worlds. I hope we will get to see them back at their best!
I was excited to see that I can watch all the pairs short programs Wed evening, only to find that the FS is 2-4:30 am on Friday morning!

My YT has a habit of highlighting the winner videos in my feed too...

 

[lariko]

Oh no, I hope Memola hasn't over trained too hard with all his competitions.
& I was wishing that he might be selected for WTT in April!

Sierova/Khobta have been practising in Canada with Murakami/Moriguchi leading up to junior worlds. I hope we will get to see them back at their best!
I was excited to see that I can watch all the pairs short programs Wed evening, only to find that the FS is 2-4:30 am on Friday morning!

My YT has a habit of highlighting the winner videos in my feed too...

Gosh, yes YT does that! I hope you will be able to duck the spoilers. Honestly, from practices it was hard to tell what’s go into to happen after S/Kh and Australians figure out gold and silver, as the field looks so weak and dicey. But how skaters show in practice is not how they will look in competitions. We really liked a Canadian pair… I don’t remember any names unfortunately, because I wasn’t watching pairs this season.

 

[SubRosa]

I’m in, there are out-and-in privileges, you have to get scanned out when you leave and get scanned back in on return. I have flags for Canada (true patriot love), Ukraine (solidarity), and Saskatchewan (Ashlyn and Tristan). Will bring South Korean flag tomorrow. Am giving Junior Women SP a miss (have family to visit), kudos to anyone who sits through that marathon!

 

[Dreamer57]

Very much looking forward to seeing what happens in ice dancing. The US is fielding some interesting competitors that could play spoilers, although the top three teams (CAN, CZE, KOR) are strong, well-prepared, and all with fantastic free dances.

The battle for bronze is huge, because of this junior worlds being the determining competition for the Youth Olympic Games next January in Korea. For the US, in 2012 Parsons/Parsons were 4th; in 2016 Lewis/Bye earned a YOG silver medal; in 2020, Wolfkostin/Chen earned a bronze medal. Only 12 teams compete in the ice dance portion of each YOG, and the US has sent one team each time. In 2012, Russia sent two teams. In 2016, both Russia and Ukraine sent two teams. In 2020, both Russia and Canada sent two teams.

The interesting thing is that none of the top competitors (from CAN, CZE, KOR, USA) can compete in the upcoming games due to the age restrictions (must be between 15 and 18 years of age by 31 December 2024, even though the games take place at the beginning of the year in January). So, IMHO, a very high-stakes week for federations in terms of YOG placements.

I just went through the SB list, if we're basing it on 2005-08 and 2007-09 like previous YOGs, then Ashlie & Atl are the right ages and currently in pole position! Sofiia & Max from Belgium (not yet on the SB list), Natalie & Filip from CZE and Alexia & Jan from Germany are also eligible.

Although I am positive that USA and Canada have plenty of depth in ice dance, there will be more promising partnerships to emerge!