China’s Rui Guo & Yiwen Zhang (CHN) grabbed the lead as the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final kicked off in Nagoya (JPN) with the Junior Pairs Short Program on Thursday.

Rui Guo/Yiwen Zhang (CHN) in the lead

Rui Guo & Yiwen Zhang and Xuanqi Zhang & Wenqiang Feng put the Chinese Junior Pairs into the lead while Canadians Ava Kemp & Yohnatan Elizarov are currently ranked third.

Performing to “Roll Your Eyes”, Guo & Zhang produced a triple twist and throw triple flip as well as a level-four lift to score 63.84 points, not far off their personal best.

Rui Guo & Yiwen Zhang (CHN)  © ISU

“We are satisfied with our performance, it maybe was a bit tight compared to before, but the transitions between the elements were much better than before,” Zhang said. “I felt that the audience here was very enthusiastic, and I was very happy to be here. I felt very impressed and that the venue was particularly good and comfortable for skating.”

Zhang & Feng’s performance to “The Last Emperor” included a triple twist, throw triple Lutz and double Axel. The JGP Gdansk Champions set a new personal best with 62.89 points. 

Xuanqi Zhang and Wenqiang Feng (CHN) ©ISU

“It was not our best performance,” Zhang admitted. “There were small mistakes on the throw and the side by side jump. We’ll try to improve in the Free Skating.” 

“I was still quite nervous before I went out because the venue is very large and excellent, and there are many outstanding athletes here,” Feng said. “Having these top athletes competing alongside us is very exciting and makes me feel incredibly energized. We got a lot of inspiration from them watching their practice.”

Top seeded Kemp & Elizarov completed a triple twist and throw triple flip, but Kemp missed the double Axel. The JGP Riga and Ankara Champions earned 62.82 points.

Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov (CAN) © ISU

“We have mixed emotions, for sure we had some elements that were really nice,” Kemp said. “Obviously, the Axel makes me mad, I thought I would land it. I think that we made progress and improvements in other areas and we really wanted to show that.”

Yuxuan Chen & Yinbo Dong (CHN) came fourth on 55.63 points followed by Jazmine Desrochers & Kieran Thrasher (CAN) on 54.45 points and Julia Quattrocchi & Etienne Lacasse (CAN) with 51.88 points.

ISU Junior Grand Prix Final schedule:

Thursday, December 4: Junior Pairs, Junior Men’s & Junior Women’s Short Programs
 Friday, December 5: Junior Rhythm Dance, Junior Men’s & Women’s Free Skating
 Saturday, December 6: Junior Pairs Free Skating, Junior Free Dance
 Sunday, December 7: Exhibition Gala

Where to Watch

All the Junior events will be live-streamed on the  Skating ISU YouTube channel.

ISU Junior Grand Prix Standings

Check out the road to the ISU Junior Grand Prix 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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