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Noemi Maria Tali/Noah Lafornara (ITA) were in perfect rhythm and danced to a strong lead at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2025 in Debrecen (HUN) Wednesday. The Ice Dance couples lit up the ice at the Phoenix Arena with their upbeat and fun performances, infused with the vibes of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s and many collected personal and season’s best scores.

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

Tali/Lafornara (ITA) poised for gold

ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions Noemi Maria Tali/ Noah Lafornara of Italy were spot on in the Rhythm Dance and took a strong lead with five points to spare. Katarina Wolfkostin/ Dimitry Tsarevski (USA) and Germany’s Darya Grimm/Michail Savitskiy are almost tied, sitting in second and third place. 

Hot favorites Tali/Lafornara looked smooth and confident in their dance to “How Deep Is Your Love” and “You Should Be Dancing” by the Bee Gees, executing difficult steps and twizzles with ease. The Italian Junior Champions set a new personal best score with 70.92 points. 

Although the Italians, who dominated the junior season, are poised for gold, they tried not to think about that too much.

“Tonight we'll go to sleep and tomorrow is going to be a different day. We're going to focus on the free dance just as much as on the short dance, without thinking about scores or whatever we cannot control,” Tali commented. “We'll focus on our steps, ourselves and just go for it like we did today.”

Lafornara agreed: “Even though today was really good, and we are happy with how we skated, this competition isn’t over and we cannot celebrate yet.”

Katarina Wolfkostin/ Dimitry Tsarevski (USA) put on a dynamic performance to “Car Wash” and “Disco Inferno“ that was highlighted by fast-paced footwork and a rotational lift. The ISU Grand Prix Final silver medalists picked up 65.71 points. 

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

The couple obviously didn’t expect to be in the top three, and returned to the hotel, only to rush back for the small medal ceremony and the press conference. 

“Everything about today just left our minds and we started just getting ready to go to sleep and preparing for the free dance,” Tsarevski admitted.

Grimm/Savitskiy skated last and capped off a perfect first day of competition with an excellent performance to a Gloria Gaynor medley. The 2024 ISU World Junior bronze medalists set a season’s best of 65.42 points and are less than half a point behind Wolfkostin/Tsarevski. 

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

The Germans were overjoyed with their performance. Until last week, they were not even sure they would be able to compete as Savitskiy had a back injury. 

“I had problems with three spinal discs and one was pressing on the nerve,” Savitskiy shared. 

“I was out completely for two weeks and we had only one week of effective practice. Considering the little preparation we had, we couldn’t have skated better.”

“I think we left everything out there, and we tried our best,“ Grimm noted. 

Celina Fradji/Jean Hans Fourneaux (FRA) came fourth with 62.87 points after she had a little wobble in the side by side step sequence. Iryna Pidgaina/Artem Koval (UKR) placed fifth on 62.64 points, followed by 

Caroline Mullen/Brendan Mullen (USA) on 61.83 points. With the score being so close, get ready for an interesting Free Dance on Thursday.  

What and when 

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

• Wednesday, February 26: Junior Men’s Short Program, Junior Rhythm Dance
• Thursday, February 27: Junior Women’ Short Program, Junior Free Dance
• 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. 

Where to watch the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2025:

The ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships will be live streamed on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. Geo-restrictions will apply in markets where TV rights are in place. You will find the full list in the Where to Watch news here. 

Subscribe to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive alerts when the live streams start and when new videos are posted.