worlds

Fintastic claims sixth consecutive Junior World Challenge Cup gold medal

The Finnish teams continued to dominate at the Junior World Challenge Cup in Gothenburg on Saturday, as Fintastic won their sixth consecutive (and seventh total) JWCC gold medal, while Musketeers claimed silver. Musketeers finished more than 20 points ahead of the bronze medal winners from Canada, Les Supremes, who moved up from fourth place after the short program, putting Canada back on the podium after missing out on a medal in 2011.

Canada’s Nexxice took advantage of errors made by USA’s Team Braemar and Skyliners, and Sweden’s Convivium, to move up to fourth place in the free, though they ultimately finished sixth overall behind the American teams. Braemar and Skyliners finished fourth and fifth overall respectively, Convivium seventh, and Russia’s Spartak Junost eighth.

Full results are here.

Next year’s Junior championship has been provisionally allotted for Helsinki, Finland, from March 8-9, 2013 and is scheduled to be the first official ISU World Championship for Juniors, rather than a Challenge Cup.

Congratulations to all of this year’s participating teams!

Finns take early lead at Junior World Challenge Cup

Finland’s Fintastic and Musketeers lead the pack after the short program competition at the Junior World Challenge Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden. The only two teams in the event to crack the 50-point barrier, they sit first and second with 55.90 and 54.04 points respectively going into tomorrow’s free program. USA’s Team Braemar are third after the short program with 49.94 points, and Canada’s Les Supremes are close behind in fourth place with 48.64 points. They’re followed by Skyliners (USA), Convivium (SWE), Nexxice (CAN), and Spartak Junost (RUS). Full results are here.

Though the Finnish teams may appear to have a comfortable lead, the free program presents opportunities for trailing teams to make up ground. Valuable points can be gained in the free program: more elements are included, and whereas some elements in the short program are restricted to specific difficulty levels, that’s not the case in the free. Teams will need to be at their best tomorrow to remain in the fight for medals.

The free program begins at 10:30 a.m. EDT tomorrow. Links to live streaming (which was of excellent quality today!), results, and starting orders are available here.

Best of luck to all teams!

2012 JWCC quick links

Junior World Challenge Cup
March 16-17, 2012
Gothenburg, Sweden

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Rockettes and Marigold Ice Unity earn chance to defend at Worlds

Rockettes and Marigold Ice Unity will have the chance to defend their World medals in Gothenburg, Sweden, after the two teams won gold and silver medals respectively at Finnish Nationals yesterday.

Rockettes, Marigold, and Team Unique were all in the running for Worlds berths after trading placements in various international and domestic competitions all season. Finnish Nationals was the final test to determine which two teams would represent Finland at the World Championships in April. Although Rockettes won the National Championship and Marigold Ice Unity took the silver medal, Marigold earned the designation of Team Finland 1 for Worlds based on their cumulative successes this year. Rockettes will attend Worlds as Team Finland 2. Team Unique finished third in both the short and free programs at Nationals to win the bronze medal.

Full results from the competition are available here.

Rockettes and Marigold have won gold and silver respectively at the last two World Championships, while the Haydenettes (USA) are repeat bronze medal winners from 2011 and 2010. The Haydenettes will aim to earn a trip to Worlds when they compete at U.S. Nationals later this week, where they also hope to win their 20th National title.