ISU JGP Cup of Austria 2015 preview

For those who usually doesn’t pay a lot of attention to junior competition I’ll try to make a short list of whom probably will be interesting to watch in Austria. Thanks to the ISU we have great opportunity to see live translation of JGP events.

Junior men

For some junior skater it’ll be second JGP event in this season, so they have a chance to get their ticket to ISU JGP Final in Barcelona. Actually, two participants of this event have this chance. They are Dmitri Aliev (Russia) and Vincent Zhou (USA). Dmitri to get to the final need to place no lower that third and Vincent no lower than second.

Good chances to medal has Ivan Pavlov (Ukraine), Shu Nakamura (Japan) and Chih-I Tsao (TPE).

Junior ladies

I don’t know what can prevent Maria Sotskova (Russia) from getting to the JGP Final, however I hope she will skate clean. I really like her skating and her beautiful programs. She’s a real joy to watch, a lady of the figure skating.

Her main competitor on this even of course will be Wakaba Higuchi (Japan). I’m intrigued how she is doing, whether her jumps are still so huge and powerful? But my main interest is whether Wakaba improved in second mark. Because If she did….she will be one of the main contender for the Junior Worlds title.

Da Bin Choi (Korea) and Mai Mihara (Japan) also have chances to medal on this event. I also think that we shouldn’t forget about another Russian – Diana Pervushkina who also can deliver a solid performance.

Junior pairs

Ukrainian pair Renata Oganesian and Mark Bardei have good chances to win another gold and get to the JGP Final. But this won’t be as easy as it was at their previous event. I also hope that they will skate their free program more clean.

Theirs main competitors on this event will be Anastasia Poluianova and Stepan Korotkov who placed second at ISU JGP in Riga.

Junior ice dance

I think that the main contenders for the golden medal is Russian duo Alla Loboda and Pavel Drozd. Maybe they started no as strong as they wish but they had some time to correct some mistakes and levels and also gain some confidence about their dances.

They don’t have strong competitors on this event but some duos will totally try their best to prevent the Russians from the easy win. I think it can be Elliana Pogrebinsky and Alex Benoit (USA). We also can expect some improvements from other Russian duo Sofia Evdokimova and Egor Bazin.

See also my highlights from the ISU JGP in Riga.

Related topics: Alla Loboda Pavel Drozd, Anastasia Poluianava Stepan Korotkov, Chi-I Tsao, Da Bin Choi, Diana Pervushkina, Dmitri Aliev, Elliana Pogrebinsky Alex Benoit, Ivan Pavlov, junior grand prix, junior skaters, Mai Mihara, Maria Sotskova, Renata Oganesian Mark Bardei, Shu Nakamura, Sofia Evdokimava Egor Bazin, Team Japan, Team Russia, Team USA, Vincent Zhou, Wakaba Higuchi