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Noemi Maria Tali/Noah Lafornara (ITA) made history for Italian Figure Skating, winning the very first ISU World Junior title for their country as the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2025 continued in Debrecen (HUN) on Thursday with the Free Dance. The Ice Dancers gave it their all, and brought romance, drama, entertainment and fantastic skating to the ice in the Fönix Arena.

Noemi Maria Tali and Noah Lafornara  (ITA) win the Free Dance at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Debrecen, Hungary © ISU

Tali/Lafornara (ITA) dance into history

 Noemi Maria Tali/Noah Lafornara of Italy danced right into history, claiming the very first ISU World Junior title in any discipline for their country. Katerina Wolfkostin/Dimitry Tsarevski (USA) took the silver while Germany’s Darya Grimm/Michail Savitskiy repeated as bronze medalists. 

Overnight leaders Tali/Lafornara looked confident when they took to the ice. The Italians had dominated the junior season and now they were only the Free Dance, or three-and-a-half minutes away, from achieving their dream of gold. And the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions did not set a foot wrong, cruising through their lovely Love Story Free Dance, executing intricate footwork, lifts and spins. To top it off, Tali/Lafornara set a new personal best in the Free Dance with 106.58 points and 177.50 points overall.

“I honestly don't know how to put it into words what it feels like to be the first ever Italian junior team to win Junior Worlds, that this is ours (now),” Lafornara said. 

“We could not be happier right now,” Tali agreed. “We not only skated clean in both programs, but we make history. It's just amazing. A few years ago I wouldn't have ever thought we'd be here right now. We’ve only been skating (together) for nearly two years and it feels great.”

The dancers enjoyed their last performance of the season.

“We work all season on the same two programs. So this being the final event, this is the final product,”  Lafornara noted. “Our goal all season was to skate clean. I think it had a different meaning to it (here) because this is the final product, and we wanted to give it justice, and we feel that we did that.”

Wolfkostin/Tsarevski delivered a dramatic dance to “Moulin Rouge”, highlighted by difficult lifts and smooth steps. The ISU Junior Grand Prix silver medalists achieved a personal best of 101.80 points for a total of 167.51 points.

Katarina Wolfkostin and Dimitry Tsarevski (USA) at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Debrecen, Hungary © ISU

”We worked really hard for it and enjoyed it,” said Tsarevski. “We had a lot of fun skating for everybody, ourselves, the audience, the judges, and there's really not anything else that we could have done differently.”

Performing to “Adagio”, Grimm/Savitskiy gave an emotional performance to end a season, full of ups and downs, on a high note. The Germans produced a stunning stationary-rotational lift and fast twizzles to earn 98.84 points. They accumulated a new personal best total score of 164.26 points to take home their second consecutive bronze medal. 

Darya Grimm and Michail Savitskiy (GER) at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Debrecen, Hungary © ISU

“The best way to describe how we feel is relief. We're definitely super happy with how the season ended, with how we delivered the final product, especially considering our not-so-good preparation,” Savitskiy said, referring to his back injury that had cost precious training time.

“Just staying in that ending pose was so many feelings, and most of them were positive - joyful, happy. We're glad the season is over and we could end the season on a high note,” he continued. 

All three medal-winning teams are excited to move up to the senior level in the next season. 

Iryna Pidgaina/Artem Koval (UKR) moved up one spot to fourth place at 158.93 points while Celina Fradji/Jean Hans Fourneaux (FRA) slipped to fifth at 157.71 points. Caroline Mullen/Brendan Mullen (USA) are in sixth place at 153.76 points.

What and when 

The schedule of the ISU World Junior Championships 2025 is as follows:

• Friday, February 28: Junior Pairs Short Program & Junior Men’s Free Skating 
• Saturday, March 1: Junior Women’s & Junior Pairs Free Skating

For more information, full entry lists and results, visit the ISU event page of the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2025 and the official event website of the Championships. Follow the discussion on social media using #WorldJuniorFigure and #FigureSkating.