Junior skaters fly high at JGP Gdansk (POL)

FIGURE SKATING

Young skaters fly high at JGP Gdansk (POL)

05 Oct 2025

The ISU Junior Grand Prix series continued with a great sixth event at the Solidarity Cup in Gdansk (POL) with many outstanding performances and nine skaters/couples securing their spot in the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Pair skaters Xuanqi Zhang/Wenqiang Feng (CHN) skated to gold and led the top four teams into the Junior Final. . Yujae Kim (KOR) and Habin Choi (KOR) celebrated their first JGP victory while Ice Dancers Iryina Pidgaina/Artem Koval (UKR) earned the third JGP title of their career.

Relive all the action and catch the winners’ interviews on the ISU YouTube channel.

Yujae Kim (KOR) flies high in Gdansk

What a competition! The Women put out a fascinating fight for the podium in Gdansk. Korea’s Yujae Kim skated to her first JGP title and also qualified for her first Final. Alica Lengyelova made history for Slovakia, taking the silver and the first JGP medal for a Slovak woman.

Yujae Kim (KOR) delivered a great Free Skating at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Gdansk (POL) to win her first gold on the circuit

Kim stood in third place after a somewhat shaky Short Program but then she nailed her Free Skating. The JGP Ankara silver medalist produced a triple Axel and seven more triples in her spectacular performance to “Lord of the Rings” to achieve a new personal best in the Free Skating and overall with 199.86 points.

Kim is in the Final for the first time and still has hope that her twin sister Yuseong will qualify as well. However, while Yuseong Kim won the week before at the JGP Baku (AZE), she finished fifth at her first event in Riga (LAT) and thus will have to wait and see what happens next week at the last JGP event.

“I’m so happy to win the gold medal and I feel like I’m flying,” a very excited Kim shared. “I would love to have a clean and perfect performance at the Final.

“When Yuseong advanced to the Final, I was cheering her up at home because she wanted to be in the Final so much.”

Lengyelova took the lead with an excellent Short Program and delivered again in her Free Skating to “My Way” by Luca D’Alberto that featured seven triple jumps. The 14-year-old scored 191.53 points, a new personal best. However, as she ranked 8^th at the JGP Baku last week, she has not enough points to make the Junior Final.

The bronze went to Sophie Joline von Felten (USA) who landed a quadruple Salchow and two triple Axels in the Free Skating to "Frida" (190.67 points). It was the second bronze medal on the circuit this season for von Felten but it will not be enough to get into the Final.

JGP Varese Champion Sumiko Kanazawa (JPN) slipped from second to fourth place but still has a chance to make the Final (188.41 points), depending on what happens next week.

Habin Choi (KOR) claims first JGP gold and spot in the Final

JGP Varese Champion Taigo Nishino of Japan and JGP Varese silver medalist Habin Choi of Korea met again in Gdansk and this time, Choi came out on top.

Habin Choi (KOR) qualified for his first Junior Final at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Gdansk (POL)

Nishino edged Choi in the Short Program but in the Free Skating the Korean laid down a strong performance to “Pirates of the Caribbean” to pull up to first place and win his first JGP gold medal on 227.26 points. Choi went for a quad Lutz (slightly under-rotated) and a quad toe in his program. With his silver from Varese and his gold from Gdansk, the Korean advances to the Final for the first time.

“I am so happy and grateful that I was able to win a medal and that my friend (teammate Yujae Kim) won one at the same time,” Choi shared. “We really support each other. We often talk about jumps and technical details. We give each other advice and help each other in many ways.”

Choi is now looking forward to the Final. “For the Final, I want to improve and deliver a perfect performance,” he said.

Nishino missed his opening quad toeloop and dropped from first to second place at 219.35 points but will be in his first Final in Nagoya (JPN) in December.

Germany’s Genrikh Gartung was edged out of the silver medal by just 0.21 points and picked up the bronze like he had in Riga. He impressed once again with his quad flip and quad Lutz (219.14 points). Two bronze medals will not be enough to make the Final, though.

Zhang/Feng (CHN) victorious, Pairs JGP Finalists determined

China’s Xuanqi Zhang/Wenqiang Feng skated to gold in Gdansk and right into the Junior Final in their first year on the circuit. Silver medalists Jazmine Desrochers/Kieran Thrasher of Canada qualified for their third consecutive Junior Final while Yuxuan Chen/Yinbo Dong of China captured their ticket to Nagoya by earning the bronze.

Xuanqi Zhang/Wenqiang Feng (CHN) impressed with their throw jumps at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Gdansk (POL)

Zhang/Feng took the lead with a flawless Short Program to “Rain” from the “Last Emperor” soundtrack that was highlighted by a big throw triple flip. The JGP Riga silver medalists followed up with a strong Free Skating that featured big triple throws and excellent lifts. The Chinese team set a new personal best score of 169.11 points to win with almost nine points to spare.

“I am still very excited because this is the first international event that we have won this season and it is also a very good result for all our training we’ve put in this season,” Feng noted.

“I feel that after winning this championship, I will probably have more confidence in the next competitions,” Zhang added.

The next competition will be the Junior Final in December for the young team. “The Final is first about to show our level from training, then we’re aiming for the podium,” Feng said.

“It’s about performing what we can do in training but also to show what wasn’t perfect yet at this competition,” Zhang pointed out.

The experienced Desrochers/Thrasher impressed especially with their lifts but a fall in both Short Program and Free Skating on a throw jump cost precious points. Nevertheless, the two-time ISU Junior Final bronze medalists achieved a new personal best in the Free Skating and remained in second place at 160.50 points.

Chen/Dong pulled up from fifth to third to win their first medal on the ISU Junior Grand Prix on 152.77 points. Julia Quattrocchi/Etienne Lacasse (CAN) finished fourth but also qualified for the Final (150.45 points). The 2024 ISU World Junior bronze medalists Naomi Williams/Lachlan Lewer (USA) slipped from third to fifth place in the Free Skating and missed out a making the Final.

The top four teams from Gdansk booked a ticket to Nagoya for the Final where they will be joined by Ava Kemp/Yohnatan Elizarov (CAN) and Rui Guo/Yiwen Zhang (CHN).

Pidgaina/Koval (UKR) confirm status as favorites

Ukraine’s Iryina Pidgaina/Artem Koval confirmed their status as favorites and took home their second JGP gold this season. JGP Riga Champions Layla Veillon/Alexander Brandys of Canada claimed the silver and both teams will meet again at the Junior Final.

Iryna Pidgaina/Artem Koval (UKR) danced to "Moulin Rouge" at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Gdansk (POL)

Pidgaina/Koval won the Rhythm Dance segment and defended their lead with their captivating Free Dance to “Moulin Rouge”. The Ukrainians set a seasons best score with 164.13 points and will return to the Junior Final.

“We feel amazing,” Pidgaina said. “Our Rhythm Dance was a bit more nervous because we had the first (starting) number.”

The couple felt some pressure. “Here were a lot of good couples”, Pidgaina noted. “Of course we felt a little bit of pressure but we did it and I’m super happy that it happened like this.”

“I was also a bit nervous from the start of the competition,” Koval agreed.

The Final is the next stop for the Ukrainians that came fourth last year in the Junior Final. “Of course, we don’t want to make any predictions (about the placement). What we want to show the most is improvement of our programs and more mature skating to show to the world,” Pidgaina explained.

Veillon/Brandys turned in another strong performance to “Summer 2” by Max Richter and “Vorsprung” by Peter Whitfield to earn the silver on 161.44 points. The Canadians have qualified for the Junior Final for the first time in their career.

After coming fourth in their very first JGP event in Varese, Arianna Soldati/Nicholas Tagliabue of Italy now collected the bronze with a personal best score of 144.18 points.

A total of 139 young athletes from 38 countries competed in Gdansk.

What will happen next week?

Get ready for an exciting seventh and last event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix series 2025/26 in Abu Dhabi/UAE with the skaters competing for the last available spots in the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final. Abu Dhabi will host an ISU Junior Grand Prix event for the very first time.

Three-time ISU Junior World Champion Mao Shimada (JPN) is aiming at an eighth JGP gold medal and her fourth Junior Final
Competition should come from JGP silver medalist Jiyu Huh (KOR) who also has a shot to make the Final
In the Men’s three JGP silver medalists from this season will battle it out for the Final: Sena Takahashi (JPN), Grayson Long (CAN) and Denis Krouglov (BEL)
The Ice Dance event will see JGP Bangkok Champions Hana Maria Aboian/Danil Veselukhin (USA) competing against JGP Riga silver medalists Dania Mouaden/Theo Bigot (FRA) and JGP Baku silver medalists Zoe Bianchi/Daniel Basile (ITA) for the podium and a spot in the Final

Check out the ISU Junior Grand Prix Standings to find out who is on their way to qualify for the Final:

Men Women Pair Skating Ice Dance

Full entry lists, results and further information are available on the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series page.

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The schedules of each ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating event are available below: