Two-time and reigning ISU World Junior silver medallist Jia Shin (KOR) cruised into the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final with another victory during the latest ISU Junior Grand Prix event that took place in Budapest (HUN) on September 20-23, 2023. Teammate Hyungyeom Kim (KOR) and Pair Skaters Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (GEO) will join Jia Shin in the Final to be held in Beijing (CHN) on December 07-10, 2023. Ice Dancers Iryna Pidgaina/Artem Koval (UKR) danced off with gold, but will have to wait and see if that is enough to make it to the Final. Budapest hosted the fifth ISU Junior Grand Prix event of the season.
Supreme Shin (KOR) earns third JGP gold
Korea’s Jia Shin once more reigned supreme and claimed the title in Budapest – her third ISU Junior Grand Prix gold medal.
Jia Shin (KOR) performs during the 2023 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Budapest, Hungary. @ISU
The ISU World Junior silver medallist took a clear lead in the Short Program to “Fascination”, although she underrotated the back-end of her triple flip-triple toe combination. Performing to “Not About Angels” and “Portion of Eternity”, the 15-year-old put out an impressive performance. The only glitch was a slightly underrotated triple Lutz. Shin achieved a seasons best score in the Free Skating and totalled 200.74 points.
Jia Shin (KOR) performs during the 2023 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Budapest, Hungary. @ISU
“Because it was my second time (event) I was more nervous due to more pressure. So I focused more”, Shin revealed. She hid her nervousness well in her performances, though. “Last year was my first time attending the final. And this season is my second (time), so I am honoured and I will do my best.”
Shin’s teammate Yuseong Kim claimed the silver in Budapest, and with her silver medal already won in Bangkok, she most likely has a spot in the Final. The 14-year-old ranked sixth in the Short Program, but moved up to second overall even though she missed her triple Axel in the Free Skating (176.98 points).
Yuseong Kim (KOR) performs during the 2023 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Budapest, Hungary. @ISU
Ayumi Shibayama (JPN) clinched the bronze medal, but as she was sixth at the event in Linz (AUT), has very slim chances to get into the Final. Anastasia Brandenburg, an up and coming Skater from Switzerland, put out the second-best Free Skating to come at the fourth place.
Kim (KOR) books ticket to Beijing
Hyungyeom Kim of Korea celebrated a clear victory in the Junior Men’s and booked his ticket to Bejing as he already had a silver medal from Linz. Kim made an error on the triple Axel in the Short Program that was called underrotated and came second in the segment. The Korean then opened his Free Skating to “Requiem for a Dream” with a bang – a quad toe - and went on to complete seven triple jumps. He only fell on a triple loop. His performance lifted him to first place (222.15 points).
Hyungyeom Kim (KOR) performs during the 2023 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Budapest, Hungary. @ISU
“I am satisfied with my performance, because it was nice. I am so happy and excited with my program”, Kim said and added that he is really excited now to go to his first ISU Junior Grand Prix Final.
Gold medal winner Hyungyeom Kim (KOR) reacts during the 2023 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Budapest, Hungary. @ISU
It was an interesting event with a lot of movement in the standings. ISU World Junior silver medalist Naoki Rossi (SUI) moved up from third to second to win his first ISU Junior Grand Prix medal on 204.79 points.
Naoki Rossi (SUI) performs during the 2023 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Budapest, Hungary. @ISU
However, the Swiss most likely will not be in the Final as he ranked fifth in his first event in Linz. Haru Kakiuchi (JPN) came from fourth place to take home his first Junior Grand Prix medal, the bronze (200.82 points).
Metelkina/Berulava (GEO) golden again
Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava of Georgia continued their winning ways in Budapest by claiming the second gold medal in their young career as a team. The Georgians led following a flawless Short Program to “Summertime” and widened the gap with their Free Skating to “The Millionaire Waltz” that was highlighted by their triple throws and strong lifts. However, the solo jumps were somewhat shaky. Nevertheless, the ISU JGP Istanbul Champions improved their scores from Austria to win with 37 points to spare on 190.45 points total.
Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (GEO) perform during the 2023 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Budapest, Hungary.@ISU
“We are happy that we won. Now we know what we need to work on, we’ll get home and will work to skate clean in the Final and to improve more and more,” Metelkina commented. “The second part of our program was better than in Istanbul, I had more stamina”, Berulava added.
The couple has qualified for the Final but will use the time until Beijing to get some international senior-level experience.
Ukraine’s Violetta Sierova/Ivan Khobta skated off with the silver medal. The ISU World Junior bronze medallists turned in a solid Short Program and held on to second place in the Free Skating in spite of her fall on a double Lutz. The Ukrainians - who train in Germany because of the war in their home country - restricted themselves mostly to double elements as she is recovering from an injury (153.77 points). Sierova/Khobta will compete again in Gdansk (POL) next week and have a good shot to make the Junior Final.
Violetta Sierova and Ivan Khobta (UKR)perform during the 2023 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Budapest, Hungary.@ISU
The bronze went to Martina Ariano Kent/Charly Laliberte Laurent (CAN) who together with their first place from Linz qualified for the Junior Final.
Pidgaina/Koval (UKR) celebrate first victory
The Ice Dance event looked open and there were some surprising results. At the end of the day, Ukraine’s Iryna Pidgaina/Artem Koval celebrated their first victory in their career. The couple ranked second in their Rhythm Dance to “Give Me the Night” and “Pump Up the Jam”. They came second in their entertaining Rock’n’Roll themed Free Dance as well, but overall captured gold with 149.42 points, setting new personal best scores en route.
Irina Pidgaina and Artem Koval (UKR) perform during the 2023 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Budapest, Hungary. @ISU
“For us, this is the biggest achievement of our career because we don’t skate together for so long”, Koval noted. The team had to leave their war-stricken home country and moved to Vienna, Austria. “We want to give a big thank you to the Austrian Federation because they give us a place to skate. Without Austria, I don’t know what we would do,” Koval shared. “We are so in love with our programs, we enjoy them so much”, Pidgaina added. Koval chose the music for the Rhythm Dance, while coach Galina Churilova and former Ukrainian top dancers and now coaches and choreographers Oleksandra Nazarova/Maksym Nikitin picked the Free Dance.
For Yahli Pedersen/Jeffrey Chen (USA), the event was like a déjà vu from their first one in Istanbul: The Americans led in the Rhythm Dance, dropped to second because of a fall in the Free Dance and were overtaken by an Ukrainian team (146.28 points). Nevertheless, two silver medals should be enough to get them into the Junior Final in their debut season, while Pidgaina/Koval most likely won’t make it as they ranked sixth in Linz.
At 13 and 14 years old Dania Mouaden/Theo Bigot (FRA) were the youngest couple in the event, but were not intimidated. They turned in two nice programs to pick up the bronze in what was only the second ISU JGP (146.03 points).
Dania Monaten and Theo Bigot (FRA) perform during the 2023 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Budapest, Hungary. @ISU
Three ISU members collected the four gold medals in Budapest: Georgia, Korea and Ukraine. With a total of three medals, Korea was the most successful country followed by Ukraine and Japan with two medals each. The remaining medals went to Canada, France, Switzerland and Canada.
A total of 143 Skaters/Couples representing 41 ISU Members competed in Budapest.
The ISU Junior Grand Prix Series continues next week with the sixth and penultimate event, the ISU JGP in Gdansk/POL.
The ISU Junior Grand Prix features each year about 300 talented young Skaters aged 13 to 19 (21 for the male Ice Dance and Pair Skating partners) from Europe, North and South America, Asia, Oceania as well as Africa. Skaters/Couples earn points according to the results in each event and the top six in each discipline will advance to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, which will take place in Beijing (CHN) on December 7-10.
Full entry lists, results, the General Announcement and further information are available on the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series page.
The 2023/24 season marks the 26th edition of the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating which was introduced in 1997. The Series was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020/21 season.
.
Junior Grand Prix Standings
Men Women Ice Dance Pair Skating
The International Skating Union (ISU) has supported the Skating Federation of Ukraine since the start of the war, implementing ISU Communication 2469, and also granting financial support to assist Ukrainian Skaters. The ISU reiterates its sympathy for and solidarity to all affected by the War in Ukraine. The ISU maintains its condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the strongest possible terms. The ISU Council met on June 9-11, 2023 and discussed the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) recommendations of March 28, 2023 for International Federations on the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarussian passport in international competitions. The ISU Council decided to explore the feasibility issues with regard to potential pathways to implement the IOC recommendations within ISU Sports.The Council will continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine and its impact on the ISU activity as well as the decisions and their implementation within the Olympic Movement. In the meantime, ISU Communication 2469 remains in force.
Where to Watch
The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating events will be live streamed on the official ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating YouTube Channel in most countries.
Subscribe to the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating YouTube Channel to receive all the latest videos and follow the conversation with #JGPFigure.
ISU Junior Grand Prix Schedule
The schedules of each ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating events are available below:
23 - 26 Aug 2023 Bangkok/THA
30 Aug - 2 Sept 2023 Linz/AUT
6 - 9 Sept 2023 Istanbul/TUR
13 - 16 Sept 2023 Osaka/JPN
20- 23 Sept 2023 Budapest/HUN
27 - 30 Sep 2023 Gdansk/POL
04 - 07 Oct 2023 Yerevan (ARM)
.png)
