Oona Brown/Gage Brown (USA) danced to a confident lead in the Rhythm Dance with Canadians Natalie d’Alessandro/Bruce Waddell and Nadiia Bashynska/Peter Beaumont following in second and third place.
Oona Brown and Gage Brown (USA) compete in the Junior Ice Dance Rhythm Dance in Tallinn © ISU
Performing a fast paced Hip Hop dance to “How Ya Like Me Now”, Brown/Brown earned a level four for the twizzles and the rotational lift while the midline step sequence and the second Blues Pattern Dance were rated a level three. The brother and sister team set a new personal best with 66.98 points.
“It was a clean skate, it was strong,” said Oona Brown. “Maybe there were little things here and there that could have been better, but I feel like today it was definitely a strong enough performance that we put out,” she added.
“There were a lot of cancellations (of competitions), we had Covid in January, there were a lot of setbacks,” Gage Brown said. “The last time we competed was in October. Just to get actually out here and compete was an amazing feeling.”
D’Alessandro/Waddell put out a strong dance to music from the “Pulp Fiction” and “The Good Wife” soundtracks. They picked up a level four for the stationary lift, her twizzles and a level three and two for the Blues Pattern. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Kosice Champions earned 64.00 points.
Natalie D'Alessandro and Bruce Waddell (CAN) in the Junior Ice Dance Rhythm Dance of the World Junior Figure Skating Championships © ISU
“We are definitely very happy with our skate today,” D’Alessandro said. “Of course, we had a couple of technical lower levels, but overall we put out today what we’ve been doing in practice and we felt like we pushed everything we could.
“We said to each other when we got off we gave it everything, and that's something I think we are really proud of after this season.”
Bashynska/Beaumont’s Blues and Swing program was highlighted by a level-four stationary lift and level-four twizzles. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Linz bronze medalists posted a personal best of 63.45 points.
Nadiia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont (CAN) in the Junior Ice Dance Rhythm Dance © ISU
“Honestly it’s insane. I felt so in the moment. I kind of live for the feeling for performing for the audience, for the people in the crowd,” Bashynska said.
“Coming to this competition, we didn’t have any expectations as a team. We just wanted to enjoy it and let our skating speak for itself. We're really happy with how that went,” Beaumont said.
Darya Grimm/Michail Savitskiy (GER) placed fourth with an upbeat Rhythm Dance at 62.47 points.
Angelina Kudryavtseva/Ilia Karankevich (CYP) are currently ranked fifth at 62.15 points while Angela Ling/Caleb Wein (USA) round up the top six (61.43 points). Medal hopefuls Katarina Wolfkostin/Jeffrey Chen (USA) finished a disappointing ninth after she fell on the twizzles (57.05 points).
Event Schedule
The schedule of the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 is as follows:
Friday, April 15 Ice Dance/Rhythm Dance, Pairs Free Skating
Saturday, April 16
Women’s Short Program, Men’s Free Skating
Sunday, April 17 Ice Dance/Free Dance, Women’s Free Skating
* Following the IOC recommendation, in order to protect the integrity of ice skating competitions and for the safety of all the participants of international ice skating competitions, the ISU Council based on Article 17.1.q) i) of the ISU Constitution, agreed that with immediate effect and until further notice, no Skaters belonging to the ISU Members in Russia (Russian Skating Union and the Figure Skating Federation of Russia) and Belarus (Skating Union of Belarus) shall be invited or allowed to participate in international ice skating Competitions including ISU Championships and other ISU Events (Full Statement to be read on ISU website).
