Junior Grand Prix 2009

Initial assignments are announced by JSF
http://www.skatingjapan.or.jp/cgi-bin/news/usrNewsView.cgi?10949

JGP Hungary
Men: Takuya Kondoh
Ladies: Haruka Imai

JGP Lake Placid (USA)
Men: Kento Nakamura
Ladies: Yukiko Fujisawa
Pairs: Takahashi & Tran

JGP Poland
Men: Yuzuru Hanyu
Ladies: Kanako Murakami
Pairs: Takahashi & Tran

JGP Belarus
Men: Ryuichi Kihara
Ladies: Yuki Nishino

JGP Germany
none

JGP Croatia
Men: TBA
Ladies: TBA

JGP Turkey
Men: TBA
Ladies: TBA

I'm pretty much sure two ladies make to JGPF. The question is who gets the third spot at NHK. Maybe they are planning a skate-off for skaters like Takeda, Mari Suzuki, Ayane Nakamura. As for men's side, Daisuke Murakami is finally going senior. He and Machida will be considered for NHK TBA. Mura will get the second spot as soon as a vacancy happens.

We see the usual suspects. I expect - and hope - Kanako/Yukiko to rip through the competition this season, as they are virtually unmatched in terms of scoring potential out of the eligible junior ladies as of now with the exception of Angela Maxwell. Best wishes to Yuki...I hope this will be a good comeback season for her.

I certainly hope Nana is indeed the TBA spot for NHK, because its a shame to see her drop down to the junior ranks again (a likely skate-off during the Int'l B comps is going to be key as zooma mentioned). Yuzuru is still 14 so I'm in no hurry to see him nail the 3A yet...although if he does, he's going to undoubtedly become a threat in the Jr. ranks.

Quote :

I'm pretty much sure two ladies make to JGPF. The question is who gets the third spot at NHK. Maybe they are planning a skate-off for skaters like Takeda, Mari Suzuki, Ayane Nakamura. As for men's side, Daisuke Murakami is finally going senior. He and Machida will be considered for NHK TBA. Mura will get the second spot as soon as a vacancy happens

Maybe Mai will be selected to go the NHK Trophy. We'll never know. I'd like Mai or Nana to go.

http://www.isuresults.com/results/jgphun2009/
Results for JGP Hungary are in the link above

Polina entered this competition with a considerable amount of hype and expectations and she delivered. Her combined score is already top-notch for a junior level skater and she quickly established herself as one of the big guns in the JGPF, IMO. Angela made some silly mistakes and Haruka crumbled in the second half of her FS, unfortunately.

(only time will tell if this marks the beginning of a three-way battle between the Americans, Japanese, and Russians in the ladies event once the Sochi cycle comes into full swing...)

Lake Placid is next!

Someone uploaded home videos of Imai's programs. I quite like the choreography.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPRJr2JhK8M&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGtQotz-ytU

But JSF's selection means only a maximum of two Japanese girls can possibly attend the JGPF, right?

Aibhlin wrote:

But JSF's selection means only a maximum of two Japanese girls can possibly attend the JGPF, right?

Pretty much - there's no way the JSF will allow a fifth girl into the JGP, and they are firmly locked-on with Kanako, Yukiko, Haruka, and Yuki as their top 4 junior hopes at this point. The two girls with the best results at their first event will each be given their 2nd JGP assignment and that's that.

Haruka and Mari's results in Sofia were particularly regrettable since it not only resulted in just one spot for next year's Jr. Worlds but also limited the number of entries for the Japanese juniors in the JGP too. It really is a pity because the JGPF (and GPF) will be held in Japan this season.

Quick JGP Update:
http://www.isuresults.com/results/jgpusa2009/
The Shibutanis were amazing!

Kento placed a respectable 2nd behind Ross Miner overall, while Takahashi/Tran came back from a 5th place SP to 3rd overall (they were actually 2nd in the FS).

Good job everyone! Yukiko is currently 2nd in the SP and I will be holding my breath for the FS...

clovera wrote:

Quick JGP Update:
http://www.isuresults.com/results/jgpusa2009/
The Shibutanis were amazing!

Kento placed a respectable 2nd behind Ross Miner overall, while Takahashi/Tran came back from a 5th place SP to 3rd overall (they were actually 2nd in the FS).

Good job everyone! Yukiko is currently 2nd in the SP and I will be holding my breath for the FS...

I have been following this JGP event avidly!!

The Shibutanis blew me away!! (They have a great fan site at: www.maia-alex-shibutani.blogspot.com if anyone wanted )
They have improved about...tenfold from last season--and I didn't think that was possible.

I was really happy to see that Kento was pleased with his 2nd place finish. He seemed to be joking around with the other podium boys while waiting for the award ceremony to begin. Great job!

Takahashi/Tran seem to have improved a lot, too! Despite their mistakes (darn Thr3Sal!) , their musical interpretation was excellent here!

I will be pulling for Yukiko! Her SP was really cute and fun.

I guess it was a really bad day for Yukiko....
She didn't make it to the podium.

coconut wrote:

I guess it was a really bad day for Yukiko....
She didn't make it to the podium.

I was going to post the same thing.



I'm so sad for Yukiko. I really wanted her to be on the podium.

[quote="MaoMaoRevolution"]

clovera wrote:

Quick JGP Update:
http://www.isuresults.com/results/jgpusa2009/

Takahashi/Tran seem to have improved a lot, too! Despite their mistakes (darn Thr3Sal!) , their musical interpretation was excellent here!

I was really happy to see them skate a really good long program! I saw them 3 weeks ago at the Quebec summer championships and they had an hard time with their long program (but they tried the side by side 3 salchows). They scored only 69 points. However, they skated a wonderful SP there, with 48 points.
I think they improved overall

MikiAndoFan#1 wrote:

I'm so sad for Yukiko. I really wanted her to be on the podium.

With this result, I think she is not going to second JGP competition...
I really wanted to see her at JGP final at Tokyo.

Wow, I'm very happy for Ksenia! As I know she's training with Johnny Weir at the same rink! Wish you all the best girl!

Kanako is the leader after the SP in Poland!



Good luck for the LP!

Narumi and Mervin in 1st place in the SP!

1 Narumi TAKAHASHI / Mervin TRAN JPN 54.53 32.15 22.38 5.75 5.39 5.61 5.61 5.61 0.00 #9
2 Tatiana NOVIK / Mikhail KUZNETSOV RUS 53.31 32.08 21.23 5.50 5.21 5.25 5.36 5.21 0.00 #4
3 Taylor STEELE / Robert SCHULTZ CAN 46.50 27.50 19.00 4.86 4.64 4.68 4.86 4.71 0.00 #6
4 Alexandra VASILIEVA / Yuri SHEVCHUK RUS 45.39 26.78 18.61 4.82 4.46 4.61 4.79 4.57 0.00 #11
5 Brittany JONES / Kurtis GASKELL CAN 43.78 25.63 18.15 4.64 4.36 4.50 4.61 4.57 0.00 #10
6 Margaret PURDY / Michael MARINARO CAN 41.79 23.94 17.85 4.64 4.25 4.46 4.50 4.46 0.00 #13
7 Felicia ZHANG / Taylor TOTH USA 41.39 23.90 18.49 4.82 4.36 4.64 4.75 4.54 1.00 #2
8 Klara KADLECOVA / Petr BIDAR CZE 37.94 21.20 16.74 4.32 3.96 4.25 4.18 4.21 0.00 #14
9 Tori VOLLMER / Zack SIDHU USA 37.68 21.45 17.23 4.46 4.11 4.21 4.39 4.36 1.00 #3
10 Victoria HECHT / Christopher TREFIL HUN 37.06 20.20 16.86 4.25 4.04 4.21 4.29 4.29 0.00 #12
11 Juliana GURDZHI / Alexander VOELLER GER 33.77 20.03 15.74 4.14 3.89 3.82 4.07 3.75 2.00 #8
12 Anastasia LEVSHINA / Jakub TYC POL 33.08 19.54 14.54 4.00 3.43 3.61 3.68 3.46 1.00 #5
13 Catherine CLEMENT / James HUNT GBR 31.13 17.58 13.55 3.54 3.14 3.36 3.54 3.36 0.00 #7
14 Natalia KALISZEK / Michal KALISZEK POL 27.98 15.06 13.92 3.54 3.36 3.39 3.61 3.50 1.00 #1




YAhhh for Narumi and Mervin !!

So far so good! I certainly hope Kanako and T/T can hold it together in the FS (especially since a win here should give T/T enough points to make it to the JGPF).

The Russian juniors are looking incredible in Ice Dance...

ETA: I almost forgot about Yuzuru, who is also in 1st place after the SP (but with a mandatory deduction - his TES is decent so it looks like a time/music deduction more than a fall...hmm)

ETA2: Competition report from 2ch says time deduction. Aww.

Yuzuru in 1st in the SP!

Kanako won with a huge new PB of 160.85 points!



Let's wish all the best to Yuzuru and Narumi/Mervin for the LP!

Congrats Kanako !! I want to see videos :O !!

Very excited for the videos of this JGP.

Team Japan is looking very strong here!


I hope T/T are starting to become much more polished (a.k.a. less random falls .__.).

As for Kanako and Yuzuru...the future is looking bright!!!

Yaay Kanako!! Goooo Team Japan!

Wow!! good job Kanako!! can't wait to see the video..

Good luck Yuzuru and Narumi and Mervin for the free skate!!!

Yuzuru in 1st place with 198.65 points!



Japan already has 2 gold medals!

MikiAndoFan#1 wrote:

Yuzuru in 1st place with 198.65 points!



Japan already has 2 gold medals!

Yeey!! I'm getting really excited about this.
Yuzuru even landed two 3A and one in combination with 3T!!!