For the first time in the World Junior Championships, which were instigated in 1976 in Megeve, France, with Californian Mark Cockerell winning, Takeshi Mura of Japan in second and Brian Orser (here as a coach) third, one nation has dominated the Men's podium.

And that country is . . . . the USA! 

)(Orser is in Milan, witnessing the historic moment. The Canadian twice Olympic silver medalist is now a coach.)

The three American men switched places with each other in the two sections of the event, with Josh Farris hanging onto his lead from the Short Program, although he was second in the Free Skate; Jason Brown rising from third after the Short Program to claim silver by winning the Free Skate, and newcomer Shotaro Omari, who would have been delighted to be just near the podium, taking second initially and then third in the Free and Overall.

1.Overall 228.32; 2.FS 152.48 (82.70+70.78 -1) Joshua Farris, who turned 18 on January 6, is from Renton, Washington State, but moved to train in Colorado Springs in 2007. He was second in this event last year and will not be able to defend his title because he ages out.

He presented an incredibly complex routine to Rachmaninov’s famous “Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor”, opening with a +1.86 triple Axel to triple toe loop which was so high and solid it was rewarded with +2 Grades of Execution from seven of the nine judges, with the other two punching in +1 for “superior”. (The panel included American judge Roger Glenn. The Technical Controller, who supervises the two “Specialists” who determine the Level of each skater’s elements, was also an American, Charlie Cyr.)

Farris fell on his second element, a quad toe. His only other error in a routine packed with interesting transitions, which not only delighted both the judges and audience, but make the routine far more difficult and exhausting, came on his ninth of the 12 elements. He was saddled with an “e” for wrong edge take-off on his triple flip into double toe loop to double loop.

That combination, along with his second triple Axel, second triple Lutz, a triple loop and a triple Salchow were in the second half of the routine where the 10% bonus marks are activated because the jumps are harder to do then due to oxygen starvation. All three spins and his straight line step sequence were the maximum Level 4.

Farris’ mother introduced him to skating when he was five. A year after winning the U.S. Juvenile title in 2006, he moved to Colorado Springs and started to develop a taste for gold medals. He won the U.S. Intermediate title in 2008 and the Novice title the following year. He soon made his international debut, coming home with silver from “The Challenge Cup” in The Netherlands.

Trained by Christy Krall & Damon Allen, he has already competed at senior level in the U.S. finishing fourth in Omaha. He already had a collection of five gold medals in Junior Grand Prix events which have taken him to Britain, Poland, Estonia, and, in this season to Slovenia and Lake Placid  

His showing on Saturday would definitely do well in the World Seniors. He doesn’t anticipate any problems moving to this elite level internationally. “I like that there are thirty seconds extra time in seniors, which gives you a little more relax time,” he said. “But my principle thoughts now are to get the quad 100%.”

He suffers from severe allergies, and must constantly be wary and travel with his own food supplies. An attack in December, at the Grand Prix Final in Sochi, dropped him from the lead to second place overall.

2. Overall 224.15; 1.FS 154.09 (81.03+73.06) Jason Brown drew to skate last, right after Farris’s excellent showing. He won bronze in this event last year when it was held in the capital of Belarus. A former U.S. Junior champion (2010), Brown, who wears his long hair tied back hippy-style, was born in Los Angeles less than a month before Farris, but now lives in Highland Park, Illinois, training with Kori Ade & Rob Peal at the Skokie Valley SC in Northbrook, Illinois.

Performing to Liszt’s immortal “Liebestraum”, Brown, earned the best component score of 73.06, which was an incredible 13.28 points ahead of the top non-US competitor, Boyang Jin from China, who earned a mere 59.78 for this category for his pleasing Charlie Chaplin routine.

Unlike almost all competitors, Brown chooses not to start with his most difficult element, which they like to “get out of the way”. Brown reveals he opens his Free Skate with the (relatively) easy double Axel (+0.71) because he doesn’t like the immediate pressure and likes to get the feel of the ice first.

(Ice surfaces do change with a variety of factors including temperature of both the ice and the air above it, which, in turn, is a factor of the number of people in the rink, along with the purity of the water used, how well and how often they are remade, and also the altitude of the location. For many years, almost all speed skating records were set high up in the Ural Mountains where the ice was completely free from pollution.)

After his “relaxed” double Axel, Brown soared through two triple Axels, the first combined with a double toe loop (+0.14) and the second worth an extra full point over its base value of 8.5. After a change foot combination spin (+0.57), he executed another double Axel (+0.50) and a triple loop (+0.20). All three spins and the footwork were rewarded with the maximum Level 4.

Brown pointed out that the triple Axels are extremely important. His policy of having four immediate spots for Axels is partly because of the rule that you can only repeat two triple jumps, which doesn’t apply to doubles. So, if either triple Axel becomes a double, then he still has an alternate spot for it.

After the halfway point when the 10% bonus marks click in, he executed a +1.30 triple Lutz, his second spin (+1.0), a triple Lutz to triple toe loop (+0.10), the required step sequence (+1.40), a triple flip to half loop to triple Salchow (0.80) and finished with his flying camel combination spin (+0.50).

3. Overall 204.34; 3.FS 133.52 (70.46+63.06) Shotaro Omori, USA, was certainly happy with his bronze medal but he looked like a deer caught in headlights, unable to fully comprehend what was happening but unable to stop grinning. The 17-year-old from La Miranda in California was runner-up in Omaha for the U.S. Junior title.

This is only his sixth international. He won bronze in the Gardena Challenge Cup in Italy in his first international in 2011. Later that year, he placed fifth and fourth in Junior Grand Prix events in Estonia and Rumania. In 2012 he was fourth in both the German and Turkish Junior Grand Prix competitions.

He began his Free, set to Rachmaninov’s “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini” with a +0.40 triple flip, followed with a +0.14 triple Axel to double toe loop and a +0.20 triple Lutz. His Level 3 step sequence gained the element’s base value, and the flying combination spin was Level 4 with +0.07. However, at the “bonus” point, he stepped out of his second triple Axel, and lost two full points from its base value. The following triple loop was penalized with -0.70. The triple Lutz to triple toe loop made its base value plus 10% so he banked a total of 11.11. His change foot combination spin had a minimal +0.07 added to its base value. His triple Salchow to double toe loop to double loop received the base value plus 10%. His final jump was a +0.29 double Axel and he closed with a +0.36 Level 4 change foot sit spin. His components ranged from three 5.75s up to one 7.25.

He is the third child of a Japanese couple who emigrated to the United States, where he was born. Although he speaks Japanese at home, his main language is English. He has an older sister, 21, and older brother, 18. His father is an engineer and his mother now teaches Japanese. He was a swimmer before taking up skating. “I was really nervous before my long program today but my coach (Tammy Gambill) reassured me and kept me calm and focused.”

4.Overall 192.58; 4.FS 129.76 (69.98+59.78) Boyang Ji, China, who opened his Free with a quad toe loop which got credit for the full rotation, but lost -1.29 because he landed on a very bent knee, and tripled his second attempt, gave a promising showing to a medley of music association with Charlie Chaplin to moved up two places.

5.Overall 191.64; 7.FS 124.63 (65.51+59.12) Michael Christian Martinez, dropped a place with a Free which was ranked seventh best but he has still achieve the best ISU standing for a person from the Philippines.

6.Overall 189.94; 5.FS 128.44 (68.24+61.20 -1) Mikhail Kolyada, Russia, fell on his first triple Axel but landed the second attempt which was combined with a triple toe loop. He was saddled with an “e” for wrong edge take-off on his triple flip, but still pulled up two places from eight.

7.Overall 187.08; 6.FS 125.42 (62.12+63.30) Shoma Uno, Japan, replaced Keiji Tanaka, who had a left thigh problem. He stayed seventh although he was sixth in the FS.

8.Overall 186.96; 8.FS 123.89 (63.25+60.64) Alexander Samarin, Russia, had difficulty with his second to last jump, a triple Salchow, and dropped three places from fifth after the SP.

9.Overall 178.18; 11.FS 117.76 (60.54+58.22 -1) He Zhang, China, stayed ninth although he was only 11^th in the FS.

10.Overall 176.85; 10.FS 119.14 (66.58+53.56  -1) Ryuju Hino, Japan, had a major disappointment here. In December, the twice Japanese Junior champion won the bronze medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final in Sochi. But here he was buried in 12^th place after the short program.

11.Overall 174.32; 12.FS 114.88 (59.74+55.14) Martin Rappe, is the 2010 & 2011 German Junior champion.

12.Overall 172.58; 9.FS 119.15 (61.51+57.64) Nam Nguyen, who made history when he became the youngest male to win the Canadian junior championship at the age of 12 in 2012, is competed with an injury. The 5 ft., 85 pound bundle of energy, pulled up four places here, but was hampered by a recent collision in which he needed 10 stitches to close a blade slash to a calf muscle. He is still being lauded as the Patrick Chan of the future.

13.Overall 166.21 June Hyoung Lee; South Korea, made history when, in 2010, he became the first Korean to win an ISU medal when he gained bronze in the 2010 Junior Grand Prix here in Milan.

14.Overall 165.27 Pavel Ignatenko, Belarus, dropped from 10^th.

15.Overall 161.71; 14.FS 109.23 (60.13+50.10 -1) Luis Manella, Brasil, pulled up two places.

16.Overall 161.61; 15.FS 107.57 (55.33+54.24 -2) Michell Gordon, Canada, was unlucky in that he was 15th in both sections but 16^th overall. The 15-year-old is the current Canadian Junior champion.

20.Overall Ivan Pavlov, from the Ukraine, at 13 was the youngest competitor in the mens championship.