The ISU Junior Grand Prix was the first international competition ever held in the mountain resort of Courchevel in the French Alps. With this event, the post-Olympic season of figure skating began.

Ice Dance

The highest level of all the medalists was on show in the Ice Dance competition. Oxana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin from Russia have been skating together only since April of this year, but were second and seventh at this year's World Junior Figure Skating Championships with other partners. Within five months their coach Alexei Gorshkov formed a first-class new team which convinced all judges in all dances to give them the highest marks up to 5.5. Their compulsory Westminster Waltz was elegant and fluent, their original dance, consisting of Galop and Waltz, had a high speed and surprising steps. They showed by far the best artistic impression in the Latin free dance and convinced both the judges and the public that dancing is fun, even at the highest speed and during the most difficult steps.

Christina Beier and her brother William, the silver medalists from Germany, showed very good technique, especially in the required step sequences, spins and lifts of the March, the Waltz and their modern free dance to music of the pop group Yello. Melissa Piperno and Liam Dougherty, the bronze medal winners from Canada, impressed mainly with strong, senior-like artistic impression, but received deductions for small mistakes and forbidden elements.

Men

In the men's competition the top two skaters were ahead of the field. In a 4:3 decision Alexander Shubin from Russia took gold, because he was the only skater with a clean triple axel and showed it in both programs, even in combination with a triple toeloop. In the long he landed six other triple jumps but in the short he fell on the triple lutz. In the exhibition he demonstrated his great potential for artistic interpretation.

Evan Lysacek from the USA was first after a clean and mature short program. His long program was perhaps more polished than Shubin's and reminded some observers of Ilya Kulik's early skating style. But this should be no surprise, because both had the same coach in Victor Kudriavtsev. As in the short program he did not risk a triple axel. The seven good other triples were enough for silver, but not for gold. Jordan Brauninger from the US State of Kentucky had four clean triple jumps in his free programme.

Pairs

All pairs and ladies seemed to suffer from the altitude of 1850 meters (about 5500 feet), because they made several significant errors. Canadians Carla Montgomery and Ryan Arnold, however, were almost flawless and very speedy in the short program and therefore took the lead. Two good triple throws and a triple twist helped the pair from Barrie/Ontario to win also the long program, in spite of falls by Montgomery on the side-by-side triple toeloop and a death spiral.

The reigning Junior World Champions Elena Riabchouk and Stanislav Zakharov from Moscow were handicapped by a leg injury to Riabchouk and could not show their best. In spite of two mistakes in the short and three falls in the long they were able to win the silver medal, thanks to a brilliant triple twist and a good triple thrown Salchow. Bronze medal winners Anastassia Kouzmina and Stanislav Evdokimow, the second Russian couple, had only two small mistakes in the short, but missed four of their five key elements in the long program.

Ladies

Many competitors in the ladies' program appeared to struggle with the altitude, with one important exception: Carolina Kostner from Italy performed a brilliant short program which would have placed her in the best group of any European Senior Championships. Her style was as mature and elegant as with the best skaters in the world, her triple loop combination and her triple lutz really looked easy. In the long she even landed a combination of triple lutz and triple toeloop (the toeloop on two feet). Despite errors on the flip, the Salchow and the double axel the difficult combination, a good triple loop and her style were enough to win.

Alissa Czisny from the US State of Ohio impressed judges and public in both programs by an impressive spiral sequence and a Biellmann spin. In both programs the silver medal winner fell on the triple lutz, but had good triple flips. Like most other skaters she had to work hard in the last minute of her free program. Signe Ronka from Canada was coached by 81-year-old Ellen Burka, who had trained Toller Cranston 30 years ago. She tried all the triples, was mainly successful and won the bronze medal.

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