(12 December 2014)  On the second day of the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona the four free programs concluded the Junior events, followed in the evening by the Senior short program for Men and the Short Dance for Ice Dance.  Russian skaters won eight of the twelve medals in the Junior events, including a sweep of the Pairs event.

Ladies

The junior ladies competition had the expected high level with five really good free programs. Evgenia Medvedeva from Russia won with 190.89 points. The bronze medalist of the Junior World Championships had a bit more sparkle than the other junior ladies. Skating to a modern “Summer nights dream” and a tango, her first element was an excellent combination of triple flip and triple toe loop, followed by a so-so triple Lutz. Four good triple jumps and excellent spins followed. She commented: “This was not an ideal performance.  There were some small errors. I did the combination not as planned (2A-3T instead of 3S-3T), but I did it. In training I usually skate clean, so I don’t have to change anything, but here I decided to do the combination (2A-3T) as I was going.”

Serafina Sakhanovich, also from Russia, finished second, earning186.01 points. She has moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow in springtime, because training conditions in the many new rinks in the capital of Moscow are much better. St. Petersburg will soon have almost no more top Russian skaters. She also had seven good triple jumps in her program, but her last spin had only level 2. Right after per performance she said: “I am very disappointed today. I can’t find any happiness at all. I don’t know why I could not do the combination (on her first attempt). I know I can do it but I didn’t. I don’t understand anything today.” Later she was a bit more relaxed: “Actually, I had to change two combinations as I was supposed to do it with the Salchow as well. I went on in the program and kept thinking about it and I waited until the last jump.”

Japanese skater Wakaba Higuchi prevented a Russian sweep because she moved up from fifth to third spot and finished third with 178.09 points after a strong free program, also with seven triple jumps. “I`m very pleased that I skated better than yesterday.  My goal was to land the triple Lutz-triple toe cleanly. I enjoyed skating today and didn’t make any big mistakes. Today was a much happier day than yesterday.”

The third Russian skater Maria Sotskova ended up fourth after winning 175.99 points. Six of her triple jumps were good, but she stepped out of the triple loop. She said: “I have a lot to work on now. My competitors are very strong and they have got better. I only started jumping again (after injury) at the end of August.” Yuka Nagai from Japan finished fifth with 172.34 points, and her countrywoman Miyu Nakashio on sixth place with 144.44 points.

Ice Dance

In ice dancing there was a Russian sweep because its junior dancers won all three medals. Anna Yanovskaya (18) & Sergej Mozgov (19), second at Junior Worlds in 2014, won gold without any problems and with 148.58 points, twelve more than the second placed team. They interpreted Argentine tangos in quite an authentic way with typical tango movements. Four of their elements got a level 4, among them the two excellent lifts, and the two step sequences had a level 2. The big majority of the GOE were +2 and the average of their components 7.9. Yanovskaya commented: “This was the best performance of the season, maybe not score-wise, but emotionally. We want to give the audience emotions so that they know what we are performing. We felt very strong emotions and wanted just enjoy skating.” Mozgov added: “We were just happy that we skated our free dance better than at the Junior Grand Prix events. It was clean. The audience supported us a lot which also means a lot to us.”

Their countrymen Alla Loboda & Pavel Drozd have the silver medal, earning 136.31 points. They have an elegant style and skated to the classical ballet music of Giselle by Adolphe Adam. Three elements had a level 4, the  twizzles level 2 and the step sequences level 2 and 3. The majority of their GOE were +1, the average of their components 7.3. Drozd said: “We enjoyed skating so much today. We showed what we could do. We had maybe a little bit of worry before but then we were able to just take a deep breath and skate.” Loboda added: “You can skate with complete happiness when you are performing in such a warm and happy atmosphere as we were today. It is simply a pleasure.”

Betina Popova & Yuri Vlasenko ended up of third place with 131.88 points. The two lifts and the spin in their program to “1001 Nights” had level 4, but one step sequence only level 1. Vlasenko said: “We skated with confidence. The audience gave us a lot of good energy and we were very calm and didn’t think about anything. As a result what we did was excellent.”

Mackenzie Brent & Garrett MacKeen from Scarborough in Canada are fourth with 128.61 points after getting a level 4 for four elements and a level 2 for their two step sequences. “Well, it definitely went a lot better than yesterday”, Bent commented. It felt like a very solid program. We went out there feeling like we had nothing to lose and attacked it as best we could. But you know we’re our own biggest critics and we got off and thought it was good but it could have been better.” Their countrymen Madeline Edwards and Zhao Kai Pang finished fifth with 122.39 points and the fourth Russian couple of Daria Morozova & Mikhail Zhirnov (he fell on a linking step) sixth with 113.26 points.

Men

Shoma Uno from Nagoya in Japan, whose 17^th birthday is next week, was by far the best skater in the free program of the six men and won with 238.27 points. The student of Machiko Yamada, the former coach of Midori Ito, interpreted the soundtrack of “Don Juan de Marco” with a lot of heart. At the last world championships eight months ago he had been fifth, but is a favorite for the title in 2015 in Tallinn. He skates with deep edges, his jumps cover much distance and all his elements were clean. The spectators saw it in the same way and he therefore received by far the biggest applause (standing ovation are almost unknown in Spain). His first element was a good quad toe loop, followed by an outstanding triple axel (two judges gave a +3) and a second triple axel in combination with a double toe loop. Six triple jumps in the second half of the program followed. His step sequence was another highlight of his program.

Right after the event he said: “I am surprised with myself. I skated much better than I expected. After the short program I was sad, but today’s free skating made up for it. I know I have a long way to go compared to the senior skaters. I want to watch their skating skills and expression today and tomorrow to learn from them. It was more important to me to skate perfectly than to get a high ranking. After the skate I was happy that I was able to show what I have practiced. I tried to put a lot of effort on my jumps but also to perform the best I could at the same time.”

Uno’s countryman Sota Yamamoto won the silver medal with 213.12 points. At the beginning of his program, he singled the axel which was planned triple. But afterwards he performed seven triple jumps, six of them clean and a flip with an edge call. “I’m happy about the result and the placement today”, he said. “But my goal was to land a triple Axel and I didn’t do it so I regret that a little bit. I understand that all the top skaters are here so I want to watch them and learn what I can and my favorite skater is Yuzuru Hanyu.”

Alexander Petrov from Russia won the bronze medal with the second best free program, earning 207.14 points. The first triple axel of the student of Alexei Mishin and his wife Tatiana Mishina at the beginning of the program was a bit shaky as well as the triple Lutz. But the other elements were clean, including a sequence of triple flip- single loop- triple Salchow. Overall it was a solid program without anything excellent. He said: “I’m happy about being in third place because I was fourth after the short program and if I hadn’t missed the Lutz maybe I could have been second. For me it is a personal victory. The skater I like best is Javier Fernandez. I admire his commitment and how he connects with the audience and the way he works.”

Boyang Jin from China finished fourth with 201.12 points. He had announced to perform three quad, but he showed weak nerves and could not land one of them correctly and made two more mistakes. Roman Sadovsky from Canada is fifth with 185.47 points. He did not try a triple axel or a quad, but six of his seven triple jump were very clean, only a flip got an edge call. His spins were excellent.” June Hyoung Lee from South Korea finished sixth with 180.39 points.

Pairs

Julianne Seguin & Charlie Bilodeau from Canada were the favorites in the junior pairs competition. They confirmed that role with a flawless free program and clearly won with 175.57 points. The students of Josée Picard performed eleven clean elements, including two triple throws, a triple twist and a side by side triple Salchow. They had not a single negative GOE by any judges. Séguin said: “Of course we are very happy with our performance today. We feel the music really well and we skate with our heart to this music. We’ll be going to nationals at senior level in the New Year and we`re really looking forward to that.”

Lina Fedorova & Maxim Miroshkin from Russia took the second place, earning 165.78 points. Their triple twist was huge and got seven +3. Their parallel Biellmann spin was a highlight of their program, but Miroshkin missed the easy double toe loop after the double flip. He commented: I am disappointed about the jump today. Even in training I can do triple flip but today after the double flip my shoulder was back and it was all wrong. There is a high level at this competition for sure and we need to be looking forward.” Their countrymen Maria Vigalova and Egor Zakroev finished third with 161.75 points. Vigalova stepped out of the double toe loop, otherwise their program was good. Both Russian top teams have no side by side triple jump in their repertoire and it is questionable if they will continue together next season.

Daria Beklemisheva & Maxim Bobrov ended up fourth with 131.57 points. Kamilla Gainetdinova & Sergei Alexeev are fifth with 130.14 points. The US team of Chelsea Liu & Brian Johnson stayed in the sixth and last place although they skated the fourth-best free program and made no serious mistake. Liu said: “It was a whole lot better than yesterday, I feel really good right now. It was the best we could have done at this moment. I think the happiest part was ending spot on the same time at the end.”