The Hague (ISU) – Wenjing Sui/Cong Han of China grabbed the lead in the Pairs Short Program ahead of Japan’s Narumi Takahashi/Mervin Tran and Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov of Russia.

Performing to the upbeat Russian folk music “Barynia”, Sui/Han hit a solid side by side double Axel, a high double twist and earned a level four for the death spiral and the pair combination spin,  but Sui touched down with her hand on the throw triple Salchow. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions posted a seasons best score of 60.94 points (36.46/24.48). “Overall we’re quite satisfied with our performance although in some places it wasn’t our best”, Han said.

Takahashi/Tran’s expressive Flamenco program featured a double Axel, double twist, one-armed lift and throw triple Salchow. Both spins were graded a level four, and the reigning ISU Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalists picked up 59.54 points (36.46/23.08), which also was a seasons best. “Today was really good. We had a few wobbles here and there, but we were together in the side by side spin, which is better than usual”, Tran commented.

Stolbova/Klimov landed a beautiful throw triple Salchow, a double twist, the double Axel in their routine to Russian folklore, but had only a level one for their straight line footwork. The couple from St. Petersburg earned a seasons best of 54.26 points (32.12/22.12). “We executed all our elements, we did our minimum and we didn’t outdo ourselves, but we are pleased that it was a clean performance and that we got our best score of the season”, Klimov told the press.

Britney Simpson/Nathan Miller (USA) turned in another clean program to finish fourth at 52.20 points. Tatiana Novik/Mikhail Kuznetsov (RUS) are currently sitting in fifth place after she fell on the double Axel (49.38 points).

The Hague (ISU) – Russia’s Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov danced to the lead in the Westminster Waltz Compulsory Dance followed by Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA) and Ekaterina Pushkash/Jonathan Guerreiro of Russia.

Ilinykh/Katsalapov delivered a flowing, confident performance of the Waltz to score a seasons best of 37.52

points (20.24 element score/17.28 program component score). “It is a little unexpected for us to be in the lead, after all, we are not the top ranked Russian team”, Ilinykh said, referring to the fact that they placed second to Ksenia Monko/Kirill Khaliavin at the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final and Russian Junior Nationals. “We’ve worked very hard since the Final in December, we worked especially on our technique and physical strength, we did many run-throughs of our programs. We are pleased that we were able to improve the technical side of our skating”, Ilinykh continued.

The couples ranked second through fifth are separated by less than one point.

Shibutani/Shibutani put out a solid Westminster Waltz and picked up 34.27 points (18.48/15.79). “We’re very happy with our dance, and we really enjoy skating the Westminster. It’s very joyful. We just want to put out strong performances. We think this is a great start to the week and we’re just going to focus on the skating”, Maia Shibutani commented. “We skated really well and we just had a lot of fun out there. We were relaxed”, her brother added. “The placement is the placement. We still have our goals how we want to skate and we’re going to stick to that.”

Pushkash/Guerreiro skated last out of the 34 couples and produced a strong Waltz as well, showing off their elegant lines. The Russians earned 34.20 points (18.38/15.82). “We showed everything as we can do it in practice, and so we are happy and our coach was pleased as well. We like the Waltz. The flow of the Waltz suits us probably better than sharp movements in other dances”, Pushkash said. “We skated last and we were a bit nervous, but we actually like to skate last. We won’t relax now, as the difference in points between the couples is very small”, she explained. “We are in our first season and we are still gelling as a team, but the Waltz works well for us as we have matching body lines. A Quickstep probably would have been a little harder for us”, Guerreiro offered.

ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions Maria Monko/Kirill Khaliavin (RUS) came fourth at 34.17 points and Alexandra Paul/Mitchell Islam (CAN) follow in fifth with 33.32 points. Lorenza Alessandrini/ Simone Vaturi (ITA) are ranked sixth (32.35 points).

ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2010

Preview

The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2010 will open in The Hague, The Netherlands, on March 9. The Hague is hosting the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships for the second time. The first time the event was held in The Hague in 2004.

211 skaters/couples from 53 ISU members have been entered for the Championships. All skaters/couples will compete in the Short Program and the top 24 Men and Ladies and the top 16 Pairs will proceed to the Free Skating. In Ice Dance, all couples will compete in the Compulsory Dance, the top 30 couples will advance to the Original Dance and the top 20 dance teams will compete in the Free Dance.

Overview over the top contenders
None of the medallists in the Men’s event will return to the Championships this year. Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN/seasons best 206.77 points) won the Junior Grand Prix Final and after placing 12th in his debut at the ISU World Junior Championships in 2009, now has his eyes set on the podium. Competition should come from Denis Ten (KAZ/seasons best 211.25 ), who ranked 11th at the Olympic Winter Games as well as from Junior Grand Prix Final runner up Nan Song (CHN/seasons best 209.68), who also debuted successfully at the senior level by ranking sixth at the ISU Four Continents Championships end of January. Other contenders include Armin Mahbanoozadeh (USA), who competed at the senior Grand Prix circuit this season, Junior Grand Prix events medalists Grant Hochstein (USA), Artur Gachinski (RUS) as well as Keegan Messing (USA).

In the Ladies’ event, the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final medalists will meet again: Junior Grand Prix Final Champion Kanako Murakami (JPN) comes with a seasons best of 160.85 points to The Hague, silver medalist Polina Shelepen (RUS) has as seasons best of 159.29 points and bronze medalist Christina Gao (USA) scored a seasons best of 151.47 points at the Final. All three Junior Ladies will debut at the ISU World Junior Championships. Anna Ovcharova (RUS) was ranked fifth in the Junior Final and hopes for more in The Hague. Kiri Baga (USA) won two Junior Grand Prix events this season and now is looking forward to her debut at Junior Worlds. Others to watch include Joshi Helgesson (SWE), who finished fourth in this event in 2009, Junior Grand Prix event medalists Kate Charbonneau (CAN) and Polina Agafonova (RUS).

The Pairs competition features the top junior teams of this season. Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (CHN) have won each event they entered so far this season and would like to continue the golden streak in their debut in The Hague. They have a seasons best of 164.84 points. Both Narumi Takahashi/Mervin Tran (JPN) and Yue Zhang/Lei Wang (CHN) compete in their third ISU World Junior Championships and are eyeing the podium after taking the silver and bronze medals respectively at the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in December. The Chinese couple has a seasons best 147.89 points while the Japanese team scored 151.83 points. After not doing so well in the Junior Final, the Russian couples are looking to prove that they are back in business in The Hague. Tatiana Novik/Mikhail Kuznetsov, Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov and Anna Silaeva/Artur Minchuk will represent Russia in The Hague. Other contenders are Kaleigh Hole/Adam Johnson (CAN) and Britney Simpson/Nathan Miller (USA).

The Ice Dance competition shapes up to be a battle between the best young teams from Russia and the USA. ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions Ksenia Monko/Kirill Khaliavin (RUS) will face Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalists Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov (RUS) and reigning World Junior silver medallists Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA), who came third at the Junior Final. Monko/Khaliavin earned a seasons best of 173.15 points, while Ilinykh/Katsalapov have 171.61 points and Shibutani/Shibutani got 175.95 points. The two Russian teams will debut at the ISU World Junior Championships, while Shibutani/Shibutani come back after taking the silver last year. Ekaterina Pushkash/Jonathan Guerreiro (RUS) want to challenge the leaders. Both competed at the 2009 World Junior Championships, but with different partners. Guerreiro is the 2009 World Junior bronze medalist with former partner Ekaterina Riazanova. Piper Gilles/Zachary Donohue (USA), Lorenzo Alessandrini/Simone Vaturi (ITA), Stefanie Frohberg/Tim Giesen (GER) and Rachel Tibbetts/Collin Brubaker (USA) are others to watch.

The 2010 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships are held in The Hague, The Netherlands, for the second time in history. The Hague hosted the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in 2004.

211 skaters from 53 ISU member countries have been entered for the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2010.

• 21-year-old pair skater Mikhail KUZNETSOV (RUS) is the oldest skater competing in the Championships (date of birth Jul 6, 1988)
• The youngest competitor is 13-year-old single skater Wenbo ZANG (CHN/dob Jun 19, 1996)
• The youngest female skater competing is 13-year-old pair skater Britney SIMPSON (USA/dob May 5, 1996)

Five skaters celebrate their birthdays during the championships:

• Isabel DRESCHER (GER) turns 16 on March 9
• Bela PAPP (FIN) celebrates his 16th birthday on March 9 as well
• Jaimee NOBBS (AUS) will be 15 on March 10
• Ice Dancer Neil BROWN (FRA) turns 20 on March 11, the day of the Original Dance
• Ice Dancer Kristina TREMASOVA (BUL) celebrates her 15^th birthday on March 13

There are three brother and sister teams competing in The Hague:

• Beata PAPP and Bela PAPP (FIN) in Ladies and Men’s singles
• Fanni FORGO and Kristof FORGO (HUN) in Ladies and Men’s singles
• Maia SHIBUTANI/Alex SHIBUTANI (USA) in the Ice Dance

One skater is competing in two events here in The Hague:

• Petr BIDAR (CZE) competes in Men’s singles and in Pairs (with Klara KADLECOVA)

Also in The Hague:

Alexei Mishin – a remarkable coach

One of the trainers who will be in The Hague at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships is the well-known Russian, Alexei Mishin, the trainer of Evgeni Plushenko, Alexei Yagudin and Alexei Urmanov (the 2006, 2002 and 1994 Olympic champions, respectively).

Indeed, Mishin is not only a top-flight trainer, he is also the only figure-skating trainer who can claim the title of professor. He has written a thesis, on biomechanics, and thereby devised his own technique – very successfully, too, if the results of his pupils are anything to go by. Since 1992, Mishin has been coming to the Netherlands for six weeks every year with his best skaters (including Plushenko, Urmanov and Yagudin) in order to train with the national team. Dutch champion Karen Venhuizen also had many summers’ training with him, learning a great deal in the process. Last summer, she spent time with him as well, and was therefore able to watch Plushenko as he prepared for the Olympic Games, where he finished with a silver medal. Many top-level performers visited Alexei Mishin during the summers in order to learn as much from him as possible. Examples include Adrian Schultheiss (a figure skater from Sweden who finished 15th at the Olympics), Stephane Labiel (European and World Champion, and winner of Olympic silver in 2006), Kevin van der Perren (the top-class Belgian figure skater) and Javier Fernandez (an up-and-coming Spanish skater, who achieved 14th position at the Olympics). Carolina Kostner and Sarah Meier also spent two years with him, and this year Fumie Suguri was in his summer team as well. He has therefore more than earned his stripes, and is now in The Hague with his pupils.

More information about Mishin can be found on his personal website

Nine-time Dutch champion Karen Venhuizen is ambassador for the World Junior Figure Skating Championships

“This event lets us look into the future”

Karen Venhuizen is currently busy promoting the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in The Hague: she is the ambassador for the tournament and is looking forward to it immensely. We asked the former Dutch figure skating champion a few questions.

You once took part in the World Junior Figure Skating Championships yourself. What was it like?

“My one and only World Junior Figure Skating Championships was in 2000, after I had already become Dutch senior-level champion, and after having taken part in my first senior-level European Championships. So it was not the first time I had taken part in a tournament, but it was my first time at the Junior Championships, and it went really well!”

Do Manouk and Boyito have a chance of winning?

“They could reach the final, but I suspect they don’t yet have what it takes to reach the podium.”

What is it like to be the ambassador for this tournament?

“The World Junior Figure Skating Championships is a major global tournament and an outstanding opportunity to give an impulse to figure skating in the Netherlands. That is something I am very pleased to help achieve.”

Do you know the skaters who are taking part in this event?

“I have not followed the junior circuit very closely in the last few years. I know the two Russian male participants: Artur Gachinsky and Artur Dimitriev. They both train with Alexei Mishin, Plushenko’s coach. Every summer since I was twelve I have trained with Mishin, and I have seen how Artur Gachinsky has grown up from being a boy of eight to the skater that he is today.”

Who are the favourites?

“Assuming they reach the final, the favourites in the men’s junior Grand Prix are Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, Nan Song of China, and the American, Grant Hochstein. For the women: Kanako Murakami of Japan, Polina Shelepen of Russia and Christina Gao from America. The Russian women’s champion, Ksenia Makarova, also took part in this year’s senior European Championships. The favourites for the ice dancing title appear to be two Russian pairs, Ksenia Monko / Kirill Khaliavin and Elena Ilinykh / Nikita Katsalapov, together with the Americans, Maia and Alex Shibutani. As expected, the contestants from China, Wenjing Sui / Cong Han and Yue Zhang / Lei Wang are the frontrunners in the pair skating. The Japanese pair, Narumi Takahashi / Mervin Tran, also took their place on the medal stand at the junior Grand Prix final.”

Why is this event a must for figure-skating fans? 

“The World Junior Figure Skating Championships lets us look into the future. After all, many of the competitors at this tournament often go on to become top performers at senior level, so it is quite possible that we will be witnessing future Olympic champions in action. For example, Evan Lysacek won gold at the 2004 Junior Championships, which were also held in The Hague, but it was only this year that he took the gold in the best arena of all: the Olympic Games.”

KCG – Kunstrij Club Groningen – home club of Boyito Mulder, who is representing the Netherlands at the forthcoming World Junior Figure Skating Championships, is aiming to give as many fans as possible the chance to see him in action.

Boyito can therefore be sure of plenty of enthusiastic support at the event in The Hague. The club is planning to charter a coach to take as many of his fans as possible to The Hague, and is giving members and anyone else who is interested the opportunity to travel to The Hague on Thursday (when Boyito will be doing his long programme) and Saturday (when the other Dutch participant, Manouk Gijsman, will be doing her long programme; both will also be in action during the closing gala on Saturday). There will be pick-up points in Groningen and Heerenveen, so the club is hoping for a good turn-out to cheer on Boyito!  

Some 170 participants from 54 countries have now registered for the juniors World Championships. They will bring around 180 coaches with them, along with all the usual officials and jury members. A total of some 600 people.

The skaters come from all corners of the world: from New Zealand to Andorra and from China to Turkey. And countries are represented you might not expect to have much involvement in winter sports, like Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Leading figure-skating countries like the United States, Russia, China and the Ukraine will be bringing the largest delegations, but other nations such as France, Italy, Estonia, Germany and Great Britain will also have substantial representation.

All registrations have to be in by 15 February and the first skaters will be expected in the Netherlands from 5 March. They will all be collected from Schiphol Airport and accommodated in hotels in The Hague, and their daily transportation will be laid on to and from the skating rink in the Uithof. They will have access to it from Sunday 7 March to train, and the first competition begins on Tuesday 9 March at 13.30.

The event’s organising committee has been hard at work with preparations since June 2009. Because there’s definitely lots to be done. For a start, some six or seven forms have to be submitted for each and every entrant, and all of them have to be processed. Among the things involved are their music for the various performances, the technical programme, their previous performance records etc.

Efforts have also been underway to recruit around 180 volunteers needed during the event. Plenty of people have already signed up, and they will be deployed in accordance with a strict plan, working in teams. They will certainly also be treated well: volunteers living some distance from The Hague will be accommodated in a bungalow park in Kijkduin and will be provided with drinks and snacks. The group is also extremely mixed, comprising both men and women aged anywhere between 18 to 60-plus. Only the flower-girls on ice and the members of the DDD ice club from Dordrecht who perform during the opening ceremony, are younger.

Advance accreditation has to be arranged for the media, and from 4 March the site must be prepared and decorated for the event. So the organisers are certainly working flat out!  

Two Dutch figure skaters will also be participating in the World Junior Figure Skating Championships. The Royal Dutch Skating Association (KNSB) appointed Dutch men’s and women’s champions, Boyito Mulder and Manouk Gijsman, to represent the Netherlands at this event.

This will be 18-year-old Boyito’s fifth major international tournament. It is the third time that the Netherlands will be represented among the men at the World Championships for juniors and an enormous challenge for Boyito therefore. The talented skater who was Dutch champion in the debs in 2004 and 2005, in the novices in 2006 and 2007, in the juniors in 2008 and 2009 en 2010 in the seniors, is originally from Groningen and lives and trains in The Hague, the city where the World Championships for juniors is taking place now. An extra boost for him therefore!

Manouk Gijsman, who just turned 17, has had a whirlwind career over the past few years: after becoming Dutch champion in the novices at the age of 14, she received a national title in the juniors the following year, and her first title in the seniors in the year following that. She was only 16 at the time! Last December she managed to hold on to her title and was sent to the European Championships in Talinn. Manouk still attends school (a special school where young athletes can develop both their sport and academics) in her hometown of Alphen aan den Rijn, where she combines senior general secondary education (HAVO) with her many hours of training and competition. She is very happy to be participating in the World Championships for juniors. ‘Especially since it is being held in the Netherlands,’ she wrote on her website.

You can find more news about Manouk at www.manoukgijsman.nl.