| 2002 World Junior Figure Skating Championships: Day 1 |
The 2002 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships opened on Monday in Hamar, Norway, with 170 skaters participating from 43 ISU Members. The Championships are staged for the first time ever in Norway.
Men, Qualifying Rounds
The Championships launched with the Men's' qualifying round, which counts for 20% of the skaters' final score. 40 skaters participated in this phase of the event. While some of the favorites faltered, other skaters surprised with good results.
Group B was drawn to skate first. Japan's Daisuke Takahashi put in a strong performance to win this group. The 15-year-old produced two triple Axels (one with double toeloop), five more triples and good spins in his classical program to Max Bruch's Violin Concerto. However, Takahashi fell on his final jump, which was a double Axel. His marks ranged between 5.1 and 5.6 for technical merit and between 5.2 and 5.6 for presentation. "I was dynamic but my legs were a bit stiff, because I was nervous", the Japanese said. "I landed two triple Axels in one program for the first time in competition, which makes me especially happy."
Kevin van der Perren of Belgium came in second. The bronze medallist from the Junior Grand Prix final doubled his planned triple Axel, but he did not let his program go downhill. He hit seven triples, including two triple-triple combinations. "I could have done better", van der Perren commented. "I'm angry about not doing a triple Axel today. I'm very nervous about (tomorrow's) short program, especially about the spins! The (required) spins this year are very difficult, and spins are my weak spot."
Damien Djordievic (FRA) completed five clean triples but fell on his second triple Axel to place third. "I was tight, because I'm not used to do a qualifying round", the Frenchman said. "I'm for the first time at Junior Worlds, but it's like any other international competition to me. I just want to show what I can do." Stanislav Timchenko (RUS), winner of the Junior Grand Prix Final, made some errors and finished fifth
In group A, Xiadong Ma of China - one of the top contenders in this event - easily took the victory. On his opening triple flip, Ma touched down with his hand, but then he went on to nail a triple Axel-triple toeloop combination and four more triple jumps. "It was so-so", a very self-critical Ma said. "I'm glad that I did my triple Axel-triple toeloop, but I'm not happy about the flip. I'm competing for the fourth time at Junior Worlds and I really want to win a medal this year."
Two French skaters finished second and third. Jean-Michel Debay's program to "Night on the Bald Mountain" featured six triples (including two triple-triple combinations), but he fell on the second triple Axel and on the triple Lutz. "I did almost everything today, I did my job", Debay remarked. "I knew that I can achieve a good result if I skate well, but I'm not one of the favorites in this event. My goal for the short program is to stay in the last warm up group for the free skating."
His teammate Yannik Ponsero proved to be courageous when he repeated a missed triple Lutz immediately afterwards. Ponsero landed four more triple jumps, but his Axel was wobbly. "I didn't think of any placement", Ponsero revealed. "I just did what I do in practice. I'm quite impressed by this championship, everything is so big here. It's a very important competition to me."
From both qualifying groups, the top 15 skaters will advance to the Short Program on Tuesday.
Pairs, Short Program
Russia's Julia Karbovskaya/Sergei Slavnov took the lead in the Pairs' Short Program ahead of their teammates Elena Riabchuk/Stanislav Zakharov and Yang Ding/Zongfei Ren of China.
Skating to a Tango, Karbovskaya/Slavnov completed side by side double Axels, a double twist, a solid double throw toeloop and a strong footwork sequence. They received marks up to 5.3 for required elements and up to 5.5 for presentation. The team from St. Petersburg received seven out of nine first place ordinals. "We are not overly pleased, because we didn't perform all elements perfectly", Karbovskaya explained. "My partner was nervous. There are many strong competitors here. We hope to have a strong free skating on Wednesday."
Riabchuk/Zakharov started off strongly with a high double twist and side by side double Axels, but then Riabchuk stepped out of the double throw toeloop. "I can't explain it", she said on the mistake. "Maybe it was nerves, although I felt confident going into the program. The rest of the performance was fine. For the free program, we'll give our best and will fight for a medal."
Ding/Ren had no trouble with the double twist and the double throw toeloop, as they are even practicing quadruple throws. The Chinese pair also hit the double Axels, but overall, their performance seemed a little less polished than the ones of their competitors.
Carla Montgomery/Ryan Arnold of Canada also put in a clean program, but their double throw toeloop lacked power and they are currently sitting in fourth place.
The required elements in the junior pairs' Short Program differ from those in the senior ranks. For example, the couples must do a double loop or a double Axel, as the side by side jump and the required throw jump is the double toeloop.
The Championships continue on Tuesday with the Compulsory Dances and the Men's Short Program.
Men FPl. Name Nat. Points QB QA SP FS 1 Xiadong MA CHN 0.4 1 1 Daisuke TAKAHASHI JPN 0.4 1 3 Jean-Michel DEBAY FRA 0.8 2 3 Kevin VAN DER PERREN BEL 0.8 2 5 Damien DJORDIEVIC FRA 1.2 3 5 Yannick PONSERO FRA 1.2 3 7 Ryan BRADLEY USA 1.6 4 7 Gregor URBAS SLO 1.6 4 9 Nicholas LAROCHE USA 2.0 5 9 Stanislav TIMCHENKO RUS 2.0 5 11 Yingdi MA CHN 2.4 6 11 Nicholas YOUNG CAN 2.4 6 13 Andrei DOBROKHODOV AZE 2.8 7 13 Anton KOVALEVSKI UKR 2.8 7 15 Tristan COUSINS GBR 3.2 8 15 Shaun ROGERS USA 3.2 8 17 Andrei GRIAZEV RUS 3.6 9 17 Jamal OTHMAN SUI 3.6 9 19 Paolo BACCHINI ITA 4.0 10 19 Ari-Pekka NURMENKARI FIN 4.0 10 21 Matthew WILKINSON GBR 4.4 11 21 Bertalan ZAKANY HUN 4.4 11 23 Dong-Whun LEE KOR 4.8 12 23 Shawn SAWYER CAN 4.8 12 25 Niklas HOGNER SWE 5.2 13 25 Sergei KOTOV ISR 5.2 13 27 Martin LIEBERS GER 5.6 14 27 Michal MATLOCH CZE 5.6 14 29 Ivan KINCIK SVK 6.0 15 29 Maciej KUS POL 6.0 15 31 Daniel HARRIES AUS 16 31 Dmitri MALOCHNIKOV BLR 16 33 Vladimir BELOMOIN UZB 17 33 Adrian MATEI ROM 17 35 Alper UCAR TUR 18 35 Benedict WU TPE 18 37 Marc GIRONELLA ESP 19 37 Manuel SEGURA MEX 19 39 Marc CASAL AND 20 39 Gegham VARDANYAN ARM 20 Pairs FPl. Name Nat. Points SP FS 1 Julia KARBOVSKAYA / Sergei SLAVNOV RUS 0.5 1 2 Elena RIABCHUK / Stanislav ZAKHAROV RUS 1.0 2 3 Yang DING / Zhongfei REN CHN 1.5 3 4 Carla MONTGOMERY / Ryan ARNOLD CAN 2.0 4 5 Maria MUKHORTOVA / Pavel LEBEDEV RUS 2.5 5 6 Tiffany VISE / Laureano IBARRA USA 3.0 6 7 Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Petro KHARCHENKO UKR 3.5 7 8 Johanna PURDY / Kevin MAGUIRE CAN 4.0 8 9 Julia BELOGLAZOVA / Andrei BEKH UKR 4.5 9 10 Colette APPEL / Lee HARRIS USA 5.0 10 11 Veronika HAVLICKOVA / Karel STEFL CZE 5.5 11 12 Dominika PIATKOWSKA / Alexandr LEVINTSOV POL 6.0 12 13 Tiffany STIEGLER / Johnnie STIEGLER USA 6.5 13 14 Diana RENNIK / Aleksei SAKS EST 7.0 14 For further information please contact: Aline Bussat Ingwersen, or John Inge Vikan, Press Officer ISU Media Coordinator Tel: +47 625 501 25 Tel: +41 21 612 66 66 Cell phone: +47 900 997 08 E-mail: bussat@isu.ch