The Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating continued with the sixth of eight events, the Croatia Cup, in Zagreb from October 6 to 9.

 Men (Friday and Saturday)
 Adrian Schultheiss captured the gold medal in Zagreb thus becoming the first male skater from Sweden to win a Junior Grand Prix event. Geoffrey Varner (USA) and Japan’s Ryo Shibata followed in second and third. Shibata won the short program with a triple flip-triple toeloop combination (step out on the second jump), a triple Lutz, double Axel and showed flexibility in his spins. Performing to “Malaguena” in the free skating, the 18-year-old reeled off a triple flip-triple toeloop combination followed by a double Axel and triple Lutz and triple loop as well as two more clean triple jumps, but he stepped out of a triple toeloop and missed some of his planned positions in his spins. Shibata had 107.65 points for the free skating and 165.65 overall. Varner finished second in the short program with a solid performance that included a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, and he defended this position in the free skating. His routine to the soundtracks of “Conquest of Paradise” and “Last Samurai” contained a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, three more triples and two double Axels, but he stepped out of the last jump in his triple flip-double toeloop-double loop combination and doubled another flip. The American earned 112.66 points for his free program and accumulated 170.48 points overall. Schultheiss turned in a clean short program with a triple flip-double toeloop combination and a solid triple Lutz as well as a combination spin that was graded a level three. He was ranked third but then pulled up with a strong free program set to a selection of music by Jean-Michel Jarre. The 17-year-old nailed two triple Axels (one in combination with double toeloop), triple Salchow, loop, flip and toeloop, just both his triple Lutzes were shaky and she stepped out of the first one. The Swede also produced good spins including a change foot sit spin that featured difficult positions and change of edges and was graded a level four by the technical specialists. He received 117.98 points for his performance and took the gold with a total score of 174.10. “I’m proud of myself”, Schultheiss commented. “Last time (at the JGP in Andorra), I was the first Swede on the podium, and now I’m the first Swede to win a Junior Grand Prix event. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew that I can pull the program off like I can in practice. It was the best program I’ve skated so far, I think.” Schultheiss now qualified for the first time for the Junior Final and currently tops the standings with 28 points.

Ladies (Friday and Saturday)
Veronika Kropotina of Russia won the Ladies’ event and for the first time stood on top of the podium in a Junior Grand Prix competition. Nana Takeda (JPN) captured the silver medal, while the bronze went to Christine Zukowski (USA).
Kropotina grabbed an early lead in the short program, hitting a triple Lutz, a triple flip-double toeloop combination, a double Axel and difficult spins. Skating last in the final flight of the free skating, the 14-year-old from Moscow landed a triple Lutz, triple flip-double toeloop combination, a triple toeloop and maintained high speed throughout her performance to a pop version of Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. But she missed her solo triple flip and singled her Axel. Kropotina was ranked second in the free skating with 83.77 points but remained in first place overall with 135.61 points. “I was very happy with my short program here, but I’m not satisfied with how I skated the free”, Kropotina said. “I was too nervous, maybe because I was in the lead after the short program. For the Junior Final, I hope to skate without mistakes in both short and free program.” She is training together with Elene Gedevanishvili (GEO), who most likely qualified as well for the Final. “We aren’t rivals, but of course we’re looking at each other and we’re pushing each other”, Kropotina added. Takeda, who finished second in the short program, won the free skating. Performing to “Otonal”, the Japanese landed a triple loop, triple Salchow, a triple loop-double Axel sequence as well as a triple toeloop, but she doubled the Lutz and underrotated and stepped out of a triple flip attempt. The 16-year-old scored 88.79 points for the free program and collected 134.88 points overall. Zukowski was second in the short program but slipped to third in the free. The American popped her opening triple loop, but recovered to land a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination. She went for a triple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, but the second jump was underrotated and not clean. Zukowski picked up 77.25 points for this performance and 124.72 overall.

Pairs (Friday and Sunday)
Bridget Namiotka/John Coughlin (USA) claimed the gold medal in what was an interesting pairs competition in Zagreb. Russia’s Ksenia Krasilnikova/Konstantin Bezmaternykh took the silver, and Julia Vlassov/Drew Meekins (USA) settled for the bronze medal.
Namiotka/Coughlin stood in third place following the short program. They turned in a clean performance to a modern version of Igor Stravinski’s “Firebird” that included a throw double loop and hand-to-hip lift with difficult variations. They also landed the required side by side double Lutz.
Skating to “Prince of Egypt” in their free program, the Americans put out a strong performance, nailing a side by side double Lutz, a throw triple Salchow and a throw double loop. They also showed interesting lifts including a level-four one-armed Lasso lift. Namiotka just stepped out of the landing of the second jump in the double flip-double toeloop sequence, and the catch of the triple twist wasn’t perfect. Namiotka/Coughlin earned 89.07 points for their program and scored 134.05 points overall. Their strong performance and victory came as a surprise to the young team as Namiotka spend four days in hospital just before the competition to treat a chronic pancreatitis. “The program we did today was the first run-through in two weeks”, Coughlin explained. “We were fortunate to skate as well as we did. Just to take home a medal is so exciting.”
Krasilnikova/Bezmaternykh took the lead in the short program. They skated to Emmerich Kalman’s “The Circus Princess” and landed a throw triple loop and a group three lift with a change of direction. The team from Perm started strongly with a triple twist, a throw triple loop and a difficult hand-to-hip lift into their free program to “Don Quixote” by Leon Minkus. But both doubled the side by side toeloop, and Krasilnikova fell on the throw triple Salchow, and both struggled with the second jump in their double Salchow-double Axel sequence. The Russians scored 86.21 points for this program and dropped to second with a total of 131.78 points.
Vlassov/Meekins came second in the short program with a throw triple loop and solid side by side double Lutz, but they lost sync in their side by side spin. Vlassov fell right at the beginning on an opening move. In the free program, the Americans produced strong lifts, but a fall on the throw triple loop and singling the opening Axel cost them, and they slipped to third.

Junior Ice Dancing (Friday, Saturday and Sunday)

Natalia Mikhailova/Arkadi Sergeev of Russia won the gold and their second Grand Prix event this season. Trina Pratt/Todd Gilles (USA) earned the silver medal, and Kristina Gorshkova/Vitali Butikov came in third, thus winning their first medal on the Junior Grand Prix.
Mikhailova/Sergeev had to overcome a shaky start into the competition when Sergeev lost his balance and fell on the last steps of the Austrian Waltz Compulsory Dance. The Russian Junior Champions rallied back in the original dance to Cha Cha, Rhumba and Samba with a good performance that included a difficult dance combination spin and a straight line-curve lift. They defended their overnight lead with a romantic free dance set to a modern version of “Adagio” by Tomasini Albinoni. Their dance featured difficult lifts and a combination spin that was graded a level four. The team earned 79.21 points for this routine and won with a total of 160.33.“If not for the fall in the compulsory dance, this would have been better than in Bratislava (their first Junior Grand Prix)”, Mikhailova commented. “We missed some practice time because I had an injury on my left leg, but it’s better now. Before the Junior Final, we want to polish our programs and want to have more speed. We’ll also see what kind of feedback we get from the judges and then we might change some things in our programs.”
Pratt/Gilles finished first in the “Austrian Waltz”. The Americans lost sync in their side by side footwork line in the OD and ranked third in this segment. They finished second with an interesting free dance set to the Chinese movie soundtrack of “House of Flying Daggers”. Their program featured innovative lifts, and they came in second with a score of 75.85 points and 155.64 points overall. Gorshkova/Butikov produced solid performances in all three phases of the competition. They were second in the OD with an energetic performance to Cha Cha, Rhumba and Samba. Their Flamenco free dance included excellent twizzles, but they had a small stumble in the circular footwork and were third with 70.44 points for the free dance and 146.58 points overall.

For full results please see: www.isu.org. The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating continues next week with the Baltic Cup in Gdansk, Poland.

Results