Alexandra Trusova of Russia jumped into the gold medal position in Zagreb on Saturday to retain her title as World Junior Ladies champion. Overnight leader Anna Shcherbakova, also from Russia, had to settle for the silver medal and Ting Cui (USA) claimed the bronze.
Alexandra Trusova (RUS) on her way to retaining her title on Saturday 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)
After finishing second in the Short Program on Friday, Trusova fell on her opening quad Lutz (underrotated) as she skated to “The Fifth Element” in the Free Skating. But she recovered instantly to hit a quad toe-triple toe and quad toeloop as well as five triple jumps and a double Axel plus level-four spins and footwork.
The Russian Junior champion scored 150.40 points and racked up 222.89 points overall to successfully defend her title.
“I’m pleased with my performance, but I will continue to work on my quads, triples, spins and skating skills,” the 14-year-old said. “I’m looking forward to performing at the senior level, I really liked it at senior Nationals and I hope I can compete on the Grand Prix. I want to learn new elements, the triple Axel and quad loop.”
Overnight leader Anna Shcherbakova (RUS) had to settle for the silver medal 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)
Shcherbakova stepped out of her quadruple Lutz and then reeled off a triple flip-triple loop combination, triple Lutz-triple toe and three more triples as well as exquisite spins in her routine set to “Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso” by Camille Saint-Saens.
The Russian Champion earned 147.08 points and slipped to second at 219.94 points overall. “I’m quite pleased with what I did today,” said the 14-year-old Muscovite. “There were some small mistakes and I’ll work on them. The landing of the quad Lutz was not perfectly clean, but it was still better than last time.”
Ting Cui (USA) in her Free Sating routine in Zagreb on Saturday 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)
Cui’s performance to “Giselle” included six clean triple jumps and two level-four spins, but she fell on an underrotated triple flip. With 126.72 points, the USA skater was ranked third in the Free Skating and remained in third overall at 194.41 points.
“My program wasn’t clean like I was hoping for, but I am still very happy with it, how I skated and performed the character of the story,” the 16-year-old said. “This is my second Junior Worlds so coming in I was a little bit more relaxed because I knew a bit more what to expect. I am very happy I was able to medal and make it to the podium.”
Junior Ladies medalists (from left) Anna Shcherbakova (RUS), Alexandra Trusova (RUS) and Ting Cui 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)
Kseniia Sinitsyna (RUS) came fourth on 188.84 points with a solid performance. Yuna Shiraiwa (JPN) pulled up one spot to fifth (185.46 points) and Young You (KOR) moved up from 11th to sixth on 178.82 points.
The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2019 conclude Sunday with the Exhibition Gala. The championships are available to watch at https://www.isu.org/figure-skating in certain countries.
For more information, full entry lists and results please see the event website and the official website. Follow the event on social media using the hashtags #WorldJFigure and #FigureSkating.
