Zagreb, Croatia

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Polina Kostiukovich and Dmitrii Ialin skate their way into the lead in the Junior Pairs Short Program 2019©International Skating Union (ISU) 

World Junior silver medalists Polina Kostiukovich/Dmitrii Ialin topped the Junior Pairs Short Program ahead of teammates Apollinariia Panfilova/Dmitry Rylov and Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov as the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships continued Wednesday in Zagreb (CRO).

Skating last out of the 17 pairs, Kostiukovich/Ialin put out a confident performance to “Survivor”, completing a triple twist, side by side double Axel, throw triple Salchow and a spectacular lift.

The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalists posted a new season’s best with 68.31 points to edge their teammates for a narrow lead. “It was a decent performance, but by far not the best that we can do,” Ialin said. “If it is not our best, it means there is room to grow. We want to fix our mistakes in the future and we’ll focus on the free skating like we did today.”

Panfilova/Rylov’s performance to “I Put A Spell On You” included a high triple twist, double Axel, throw triple Salchow as well as three level-four elements. However, the death spiral was rated a level two. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalists scored 67.91 points, which was a season’s best.

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Apollinariia Panfilova and Dmitry Rylov strut their stuff in Zagreb 2019©International Skating Union (ISU) 

“It was a good performance, one of the best of the season and we got a season's best. We skated well, but the death spiral and the twist could have been better,” Panfilova said.

Performing to “Party Like A Russian”, Mishina/Galliamov produced a triple twist, throw triple Salchow and picked up a level four for the lift, footwork, side by side spin and death spiral. However, Galliamov wobbled on the double Axel and on the spin. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions nevertheless managed a season’s best score with 67.02 points.

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Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov complete a Russian sweep in the Junior Pairs Short Program 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

“Our short program was normal but it wasn’t good. We had a small mistake, I think because we were nervous,” Mishina said. Galliamov added: “The short program is over and there will be a new day and a new performance tomorrow.”

Feiyao Tang/Yongchao Yang (CHN) came in fourth on 60.77 points with a solid performance. Laiken Lockley/Keenan Prochnow (USA) finished fifth (59.96 points) while ISU Junior Grand Prix Finalists Sarah Feng/TJ Nyman (USA) are currently ranked sixth on 58.43 points.

The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships will be available to watch at https://www.isu.org/figure-skating in certain countries.

Click on the highlighted text for resultsentry lists and the official website. Follow the event on social media using the hashtags #WorldJFigure and #FigureSkating.