Day 3- Results/Full highlights - 2008 World Juniors




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ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships,
Day 3

The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2008
continued Thursday in Sofia, Bulgaria with the Original
Dance and the Mens? Free Skating.

Ice Dancing, Original Dance
The Ice Dancing event continued with the Original Dance.
The Original Dance for the 2007/2008 season is the
Folk/Country Dance. The 30 couples presented an
interesting variety of dances from Russia, Turkey, Spain,
Poland, India, China, Romania, Italy, Switzerland,
Austria, Germany, USA, Ireland, Denmark, Finland,
Hungary, Slovakia, the Ukraine, Greece, South Africa and
Serbia.
Emily Samuelson/Evan Bates (USA) strengthened their lead
while Vanessa Crone/Paul Poirier of Canada moved up to
second and Russia?s Kristina Gorshkova/Vitali Butikov
came in third. The top two couples are separated by less
than two points, and the couples ranked third and fourth
are not far behind.

Samuelson/Bates had chosen a Russian Dance to "Kalinka"
and "Russkie Napievi" that was highlighted by precise
steps, a rotational lift and a straight line lift. Bates
slipped briefly after the side by side footwork, but
recovered instantly. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final
silver medallists earned a level four for all their
elements but for the spin that was graded a level three.
They got a new personal best score of 57.84 points
(31.74/26.10) for this dance and so far have accumulated
92.95 points. "We had a lot of fun out there and
hopefully portrayed Russian Folk as best we could. It
felt great. When we originally heard that it was Folk, it
was definitely something new and interesting. We were
excited to try something we?ve never done before. Our
coaches brought us DVDs and had us watch Russian Folk
dancing so we could really get the feeling what we?re
supposed to portray on the ice. Even now we?re still
happy with the program and with the folk. I think it?s a
great choice, because you see so many different
countries? folk dances out there", Samuelson commented.
"For us today?s performance was pretty good, we just had
one small error that I made, but other than that we were
really happy with how we skated and the rest of it went
pretty well", Bates added.
Crone/Poirier put out a characteristic Romanian Gypsy
Dance, completing a difficult circular and side by side
step sequence as well as curve lift and a dance
combination spin with change of direction. The Canadians
were awarded a level four for all six elements of the
dance and picked up 57.52 points (32.45/25.07), which was
a new personal best for them. They pulled up from third
to second at 91.23 points overall. "We were really happy
with the performance, because we were able to do
everything we had been working on the last month
especially. I think the performance was really good and
went to the audience as well", Poirier told the press. "I
think it was a great opportunity for all the different
teams to show the different strengths and to show the
diversity of ice dance, because everybody was able to do
something different", he said, referring to the Folk
Dance as the OD this season.
Gorshkova/Butikov had chosen a Greek Dance that featured
a well synchronized side by side step sequence, a
serpentine step sequence, a curve and rotational lift.
The Muscovites received a level four for all these
elements and a level three for their combination spin to
score a new personal best of 55.46 points (30.53/24.93).
They now have collected 88.98 points and moved up one
spot from fourth to third. "The battle will continue",
Butikov said. "We chose the Greek dance right away. We
liked the idea (of the Folk OD), because it wasn?t all
the same like last year the Tango. I think it would be
good to have the Folk at the Olympics. Who didn?t yet
develop their best this year will still have time to
think about it and can develop a strong dance", he added.


Skating to a Russian Folk song named "I?m going out on
the street" and wearing colourful costumes, Maria
Monko/Ilia Tkachenko (RUS) produced a smooth circular
step sequence, a combination spin and curve lift, but she
stumbled on a twizzle in the side by side footwork. The
Junior Grand Prix Final Champions dropped from second to
fourth, but remain in contention for a medal (88.69
points). Madison Hubbell/Keiffer Hubbell (USA) came in
fifth with a "Schuhplattler Dance" from the Alpes (81.82
points). Ekaterina Riazanova/Jonathan Guerreiro (RUS)
moved up one spot to sixth with a Russian Gypsy Dance
(79.65 points).

Men, Free Skating
The Men?s event concluded with an exciting Free Skating
with many strong performances. Adam Rippon (USA) took the
gold medal ahead of Russia?s Artem Borodulin. Jinlin Guan
of China captured the bronze.

Overnight leader Rippon had drawn to skate first out of
the top contenders. Performing to "Moonlight Sonata", he
nailed a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a triple
Lutz, triple loop, triple Lutz-double toe-double loop as
well as another triple flip and two double Axel. The only
error came when he did one step too many in his double
Axel-triple Salchow sequence and subsequently the second
jump didn?t count. The American earned a level four for
all three spins and a level three for both step sequences
and picked up 130.55 points (66.27 element score/64.28
program component score), which added up to 199.90 total.
It was Rippon?s first appearance at Junior Worlds. "It
feels great. I wish I just could have skated a little bit
better, but I?m so happy with the result. I was hoping it
would be enough, but I didn?t think I had skated well
enough to hold the lead after the free skate, but I?m
happy with the overall result", Rippon commented right
after he knew that he had won. "Coming into the Junior
Worlds I had a lot of expectations for myself, not for
results, but for my skating. I put a lot of pressure on
myself, and before the short program, I told myself I had
to shut my head off. I think I did a pretty good job
doing that for the short program, but for the long
program, I tried to shut my head off as much as I could
and just run on auto-pilot. The pressure of Junior Worlds
is so much. To be able to perform - not my best but still
be able to perform well ? I?m very happy", the
18-year-old told the post-event press conference.
Borodulin opened his dramatic performance to "Berlin
Concert" with a high triple Axel followed by a triple
Lutz-triple toeloop combination, but he stepped out of
the second jump. The 18-year-old Russian recovered to
land five more triples and also showed a level-four
combination spin. He scored a new personal best of 128.61
points (67.17/61.44) and racked up a total of 194.77
points. Borodulin competed for the second time at the
World Junior Championships and was ranked 7th last year.
"I think my performance was very strong. I did all I
could do. The most important thing for me was to land the
triple Axel and it was perfect. The placement doesn?t
depend on me, it depends on the judges, but I?m pleased",
the athlete commented.
Guan, who stood in fourth place following the Short
Program, delivered a strong routine to a medley of
soundtracks by Ennio Morricone that featured a triple
Lutz-triple toeloop combination, a triple flip, a triple
loop, three more triples and a level-four flying sit and
change-foot-sit spin. The Chinese earned 127.13 points
(68.49/58.64) and moved up one spot with a total of
189.60 points. The bronze medal was his first at Junior
Worlds in his fourth consecutive appearance in the event.
"I am very pleased with my performance. I didn?t think
about my score, I just thought about completing the
elements, and I?m very happy to finish third. I didn?t
think about the podium, I was just training very hard
every day, I made progress and I felt comfortable in
competition the past two years", Guan explained.

Brandon Mroz (USA), who was ranked third in the Short
Program, slipped to fourth (186.20 points). He, too,
skated very well and hit a triple Axel-double toeloop,
another triple Axel and five more clean triples. Michal
Brezina (CZE) finished fifth with a dynamic Swing Program
that contained a triple Axel-triple toeloop combination
and four other triple jumps, and he only doubled a
Salchow (184.40 points). Kevin Reynolds (CAN) was the
only skater to land a quadruple jump, a Salchow, in the
competition and soared from 13th to sixth at 180.78
points. He also attempted a quadruple toeloop, but missed
it.

The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2008
continue Friday with the Ladies Short Program and the
Free Dance. For more information and full results please
see: www.isu.org and http://www.juniorworlds2008.com.

http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/transnews/0,10869,4844-128590-19728-18885-283005-3787-4771-layout160-129898-news-item,00.html
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