ISU JPG Brisbane 2017

ISU Júnior Grand Prix Brisbane 2017

Hello fellow figure skating fans. It’s with pleasure that the Magia Gelada blog will once again cover the competitions that are part of the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit. Usually, the posts here in the blog are written in Portuguese but I’m aware that many people that don’t speak Portuguese at all visit the blog anyway. Last year, I planned to post some stuff in English but due to lack of time and confidence I ended up not doing it. English is not my first language but I’ll give it a try. So please forgive me any mistakes J

But let’s focus on what matters.

The first junior grand prix event of the season took place in Brisbane in the lovely Australia. Russian athletes won six medals, including two golds. USA, Japan and Canada were the other countries who managed to put skaters on the podium.

In my opinion, Alexandra Trusova was the highlight of the entire competition. The 13 year old Russian skater brought quite some tricks to the game. She landed a triple lutz+triple loop combo and even attempted a quadruple salchow in the free program! This was a very promising debut in the international scene and one just has to wonder again about how the Russians keep on finding these amazing girls. And guess who coaches her? Yes, Eteri Tutberidze and Sergey Dudakov. They’re the same coaches who are responsible for the two time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva and current junior world champion Alina Zagitova.

Trusova scored 65.57pts in the short program and all the technical elements benefited of positive GOE (grade of execution). All of the jumping passes took place in the second half of the program and because of that they guaranteed 10% extra in the base value. Trusova landed and unsual triple flip+triple loop combo (12.24pts), a triple lutz (7.80pts) and a double axel (4.42pts). The spins were all level 4 and allowed her to collect 11.06pts. The level 3 step sequence got 3.94pts. In what concerns the program components score, Trusova got 6.50 in skating skills, 6.39 in transitions, 6.71 in performance, 6.54 in composition and 6.50 in interpretation of the music.

Alexandra Trusova won the free skate with an over 14.00pts lead over her compatriot Anastasiia Guliakova. The big moment took place right at the beginning of the program. Alexandra attempted the quad salchow! It wasn’t perfect but that was a brave effort. The quad was under-rotated and therefore lost 1.37 of the base value due to negative GOE. The jump still guaranteed her 6.73pts. All the other jump passes were done in the second half of the program: triple lutz+triplo loop combo (13.01pts), triple flip+double toeloop+double toeloop combo (9.59pts), triple lutz+triple toeloop combo (12.63pts), triple flip (6.83pts), triple salchow (5.54pts) and double axel (4.49pts). All her spins managed to get level 4 and earned her 11.70pts. Her first spin on the program was a flying change foot combination spin, the second one was a flying camel spin and the final one was a change foot combination spin. The step sequence was also a level 4 and got her 5.10pts. Components wise, Alexandra got 7.07 in skating skills, 6.89 in transitions, 7.18 in performance, 7.14 in composition, 7.04 in interpretation of the music.

I was really impressed by Trusova because she didn’t seem to hold back or to be afraid of stepping into the ice. Before the LP started she just stroke that starting pose looking like she was meaning business. Quite a competitor.

Anastasiia Guliakova was second both in the SP and LP. In the SP, Guliakova scored 63.47pts. She did a clean program with triple flip+triple toeloop combo (10.90pts), triple lutz (7.30pts) and double axel (4.34pts). However, when compared with Trusova, Guliakova’s double axel was the only jump done in the second half of the program. The spins were all level 4 but the step sequence was just a level 2. Her component scores ranged between 6.46 and 6.79.

In the LP, Anastasiia did well but the triple loop was under-rotated and lost 0.70 of the base value due to the negative GOE. It was great to see her go for a triple lutz+loop+triple salchow. That’s an unusual jump combination in the ladies discipline. The double axel only managed to secure the base value of 3.63pts. The rest of her jumps got positive GOE. The flying camel spin and the change foot combination spin were level 4 while the layback spin was level 3. The step sequence was level 3. There was also a point deduction due to time violation. Components wise, Guliakova got scores between 6.57 and 7.14.

Japanese Riko Takino finished in 3^rd place in both SP and LP to get the bronze medal. In the SP, Takino achieved a score of 60.55pts. The triple lutz (6.20pts) was penalized with negative GOE due to the fact the take off edge wasn’t clear. She also did a triple flip+triple toeloop combo (10.50pts) and a double axel (4.27pts). Her spins were all level 4 and the step sequence was level 3. In the second score, Takino’s components ranged from 6.00 to 6.43.

Takino did well in the FS. However the triple lutz was once again under-rotated. Also, the take off edge was not clear and the lutz lost 1.20 of the base value because of negative GOE. The triple flip+double toeloop+double loop she did in the second half of the program was a nice attempt but only got the base value of 9.24pts. The rest of the jumps deserved positive GOE from the judges. The flying sit spin, the layback spin and the change foot combination spin all managed to get level 4 which is the maximum level. On her level 3 step sequence she got 3.87pts. In the second mark, her scores ranged from 6.57 to 6.89. Judge n.º 6 was bit harsher than the rest of the panel and only awarded her scores of 5.25 (skating skills and performance) and 5.00 (transitions, composition and interpretation of the music).

Alexei Krasnozhon (USA) dominated the men’s event and got the gold medal with a 13.17pts lead over Russian Roman Savosin who had to settle for silver. The bronze medal ended up in the hands of Russian Egor Rukhin.

Alexei Krasnozhon did well in the short program and got a score of 75.04pts. He landed a triple lutz (6.80pts) right in the beginning of the program. His second element was a triple axel (7.50pts). The axel turned out to be the only element in this program to be penalized in the grade of execution. The mistake on the axel cost him one point of the 8.50 base value. The triple flip+triple loop was done in the second half of the program and was awarded 12.24pts. As for spins, Alexei did a change foot camel spin (3.27pts), a flying sit spin (3.50pts) and a change foot combination spin (4.14pts). All the spins managed to get a level 4. The level 3 step sequence got 3.94pts. Components wise, Alexei’s unfactored scores ranged between 6.32 and 6.93.

In the free program, Alexei managed a total score of 134.33pts. As said above, Alexei won this portion of the competition as well. However, it wasn’t a clean skate. He made two obvious mistakes which occurred in the quad loop (4.40pts) attempt and in the second triple lutz (2.52pts). Alexei fell twice and got two deductions because of it. The quad loop was under rotated. And off course that the quad loop and the second triple lutz were penalized with negative grade of execution. The triple axel (8.64pts) was the other jump in which he lost points due to negative grade of execution. His other jumps were the triple salchow (5.10pts), triple axel+triple toeloop combo (13.51pts), triple flip+double toeloop+double loop combo (9.74pts), a triple lutz (6.90pts) and a double axel (3.99pts). The step sequence was level 3 and got him 3.66pts. His spins were all level 4. Alexei did a change foot camel spin (3.56pts), a change foot combination spin (4.00pts) and flying sit spin (3.43pts). In components, his average unfactored scores were 6.86 for skating skills, 6.43 for transitions, 6.61 for performance, 6.79 for composition and 6.75 for interpretation of the music.

Roman Savosin played safe in the short program where he finished in third place. His jumping layout consisted of a triple axel (8.64pts), a triple lutz (5.70pts) and a triple loop+triple toeloop combo (10.64pts). But in the free program he attempted three quads! He went for two quad toeloops, the first one in a combo, and a quad salchow. I confess that I was a bit surprised with this strategy. The quad toeloop+double toeloop combo was ok. On the other hand, the quad salchow was under rotated and the quad toeloop was downgraded.

Egor Rukhin was a nice surprise. The thirteen year old finished the short program in seventh place but bounced back in the free and managed to get the bronze. Rukhin is coached by Eteri Tutberidze and Sergey Dudakov and guess what… in the short program, all his jumps were performed in the second half J I’m really curious to see how this young Russian will develop in the future.

Canadian Joseph Phan just missed the podium by 1.45pts.

Thumbs up for Mexican Donovan Carillo who finished in seventh place overall.

In the ice-dance discipline, Russian teams got gold and bronze medals while Canada took silver.

Sofia Polishchuk & Alexander Vakhnov, coached by Svetlana Diapina, claimed their first gold medal in the junior GP circuit, after getting a bronze and a silver last season. Fun fact about this team is that they listed Jonathan Guerreiro as one of their choreographers. As you may know, Jonathan is partnered with Tiffany Zahorski.

Sofia and Alexander won the short dance with a 61.08 score. The twizzles (7.80pts), the rotational lift (5.70pts) and the first Cha-Cha sequence (5.60pts) were all level 4. The second Cha-Cha sequence (4.85pts) and the non touching midline step sequence (8.48pts) were level 3. They did well in the second mark by getting 7.25 for skating skills, 7.00 for transitions, 7.19 for performance, 7.25 for composition and 7.13 for interpretation of the music/timing.

They did well in the free dance and scored 84.78pts to win this portion of the competition. The circular step sequence (8.75pts) was the only level 3 element. The rest were level 4: twizzles (7.50pts), the spin (6.50pts), the rotational lift (5.85pts) and the curve lift (5.70pts). Their choreographic elements that they showed in the program were a twizzle (2.40pts) and a lift (1.70pts). Sofia and Alexander were rewarded with average unfactored scores of 7.63 for skating skills, 7.63 for transitions, 7.75 for performance, 7.75 for composition and 7.88 for interpretation of the music.

As for the others, I was a bit disappointed with the result of the American teams. When I first checked the entries for this event, I thought that Gropman & Somerville and Lewis & Bye had a good chance of getting on the podium. But hey… that’s how it is. No matter the expectations, anything can happen during the competition. In fairness, Gropman & Somerville did manage to finish in third place in the free dance. They didn’t make their lives easy by losing levels in the short dance and by making mistakes on the twizzles. Otherwise they could have made it to the podium.

Ladies

Vídeos

Alexandra Trusova

Short