Junior Grand Prix (JGP) Italy results

The second of the Junior Grand Prix (JGP) Series concluded yesterday in Merano, Italy. The JGP consists of eight competitions held throughout the world, culminating in the JGP Final. The events are:

• JGP France: Courchevel, France (August 27-30)
• JGP Italy: Merano, Italy (September 3-7)
• JGP Mexico: Mexico City, Mexico (September 10-14)
• JGP Czech Republic: Ostrava, Czech Republic (September 17-21)
• JGP Spain: Madrid, Spain (September 24-28)
• JGP Belarus: Gomel, Belarus (October 1-5)
• JGP South Africa: Cape Town, South Africa (October 8-12)
• JGP Great Britain: Sheffield, Great Britain (October 15-18)
• JGP Final: Goyang City, South Korea (December 10-14)    

At the conclusion of JGP Italy, the U.S.'s Melissa Bulanhagui (see right) and ice dancers Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein, won the gold in the ladies and ice dancing competition, respectively. For the men, Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic repeated his JGP France win by taking the title again in Merano. Curran Oi of the U.S. took the silver medal. There is no pairs event at JGP Italy.

Complete results are below.

Junior ladies:

 

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	SP	FS
1	Melissa Bulanhagui	USA	127.25	1	1
2	Rumi Suizu	JPN	121.97	2	4
3	Sarah Hecken	GER	118.65	4	7
4	Brittney Rizo	USA	117.19	6	8
5	Alexandra Rout	NZL	116.97	8	3
6	Ivana Reitmayerova	SVK	115.10	11	2
7	Joshi Helgesson	SWE	110.25	3	13
8	Satsuki Muramoto	JPN	109.59	19	5
9	Ekaterina Kozireva	RUS	109.16	5	12
10	Rebecka Emanuelsson	SWE	109.06	20	6
11	Alisa Mikonsaari	FIN	108.03	12	9
12	Noemie Silberer	SUI	103.82	10	15
13	Roberta Rodeghiero	ITA	103.40	13	14
14	Francesca Rio	ITA	101.89	18	11
15	Rika Inoda	CAN	98.62	25	10
16	Svetlana Issakova	EST	97.47	16	16
17	Vanessa Grenier	CAN	97.29	14	18
18	Nicole Gurny	GER	96.38	17	20
19	Katsiarina Pakhamovich	BLR	95.99	7	23
20	Hyeon-Jung Kim	KOR	95.17	9	24
21	Jasmine Alexandra Costa	EST	91.78	24	17
22	Eva Lim	NED	90.45	27	19
23	Victoria Huebler	AUT	88.10	28	21
24	Maria Dikanovic	CRO	87.02	21	25
25	Katherine Hadford	HUN	84.64	22	26
26	Alice Garlisi	ITA	84.51	30	22
27	Jessica Ga Wai	TPE	82.65	23	29
28	Sabina Mariuta	ROU	80.85	29	27
29	Chloe Depouilly	FRA	79.82	32	28
30	Anastasija Uspenska	SLO	79.04	26	31
31	Stefanie Pechlaner	BUL	76.97	33	30
32	Barbara Klerk	BEL	75.24	31	32
33	Sandra Matz	POL	69.47	34	33
34	Mila Petrovic	SRB	55.55	35	35
35	Maria Tsakiris	GRE	52.51	36	34
36	Candida Damietta Fernandes	IND	35.31	37	36
W/D	Eleonora Vinnichenko	UKR	38.93	15

Junior men:

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	SP	FS
1	Michal Brezina	CZE	192.48	3	1
2	Curran Oi	USA	165.38	1	3
3	Alexander Nikolaev	RUS	161.59	4	2
4	Nikita Mikhailov	RUS	159.28	2	5
5	Yuzuru Hanyu	JPN	146.68	6	4
6	Ronald Lam	CAN	138.63	5	10
7	Abzai Rakimgaliev	KAZ	138.41	8	6
8	Peter Reitmayer	SVK	134.54	7	11
9	Sebastian Iwasaki	POL	133.38	11	8
10	Ruben Errampalli	ITA	133.14	12	7
11	Ruben Blommaert	BEL	130.60	9	13
12	Dave Ferland	CAN	125.66	18	9
13	Daniel O'Shea	USA	125.18	13	12
14	Viktor Romanenkov	EST	121.21	20	14
15	Franz Streubel	GER	120.60	19	15
16	Jiri Vasicek	CZE	119.94	15	16
17	Tomi Pulkkinen	SUI	116.41	14	17
18	Severin Kiefer	AUT	113.09	16	19
19	Otto-Eemeli Laamanen	FIN	111.20	10	25
20	Yakov Godorozha	UKR	109.00	24	18
21	Luca Dematte	ITA	106.91	22	20
22	Boyito Mulder	NED	105.78	21	23
23	Joos Kundig	SUI	103.70	23	24
24	Stanislav Pertsov	UKR	103.18	26	21
25	Matthew Parr	GBR	100.11	17	28
26	Anton Truve	SWE	98.96	30	22
27	Zolt Kosz	ROU	94.65	25	29
28	Maurizio Zandron	ITA	94.52	27	27
29	Mikhail Karaliuk	BLR	91.38	28	26
30	Ivor Mikolcevic	CRO	81.87	29	30
31	Andrew Fernandes	IND	44.35	31	31
Entry W/D	Florent Amodio	FRA

Junior ice dance:

FPl	Name	Nat	Points	CD	OD	FD
1	Madison Chock/Greg Zuerlein	USA	156.52	1	1	1
2	Ekaterina Riazanova/Jonathan Guerreiro	RUS	149.42	2	2	2
3	Lorenza Alessandrini/Simone Vaturi	ITA	142.01	3	4	3
4	Tarrah Harvey/Keith Gagnon	CAN	141.41	4	3	4
5	Isabella Cannuscio/Ian Lorello	USA	137.65	6	6	5
6	Victoria Sinitsina/Rusian Zhiganshin	RUS	135.17	7	5	6
7	Sophie Knippel/Andrew Britten	CAN	131.81	5	7	7
8	Karolina Prochazkova/Michal Ceska	CZE	117.98	11	8	8
9	Elena Teremtsova/Yuri Eremenko	UKR	112.70	12	9	10
10	Emese Laszlo/Mate Fejes	HUN	112.02	8	10	11
11	Maria Nosulia/Evgen Kholoniuk	UKR	109.74	13	15	9
12	Harmonie LaFont/Stanislas Etzol	FRA	108.13	9	13	13
13	Lesia Valadzenkava/Vitali Vakunov	BLR	106.70	14	11	14
14	Kristina Kiudmaa/Aleksei Trohlev	EST	105.83	10	12	15
15	Alissandra Aronow/Aleksandr Pirogov	LTU	104.91	15	14	12
16	Lora Semova/Dimitar Lichev	BUL	91.71	16	17	17
17	Martina Montonati/Francesco Fioretti	ITA	90.93	17	16	16

Fashion trends and bling for the coming season

• Danny O'Shea heads to Italy with Paul Wylie's blessing. [PioneerLocal.com]

• Oksana "Pasha" Grishuk continues her case against alleged date rape drugger James R. Halstead. [Orange Country Register]

• Simply Mirai-culous -- Who is this about I wonder? [GoldenSkate]

• Travel tips for the competitive skating fan. [Axels, Loops and Spins]

• Pairs teams Amanda Evora/Mark Ladwig and Caydee Denney/Jeremy Barrett set sights for 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. [BayNews9]

• Judging in synchronized swimming needs to follow figure skating's lead. [Vancouver Sun]

• Figure skating camp: What exactly goes on there? [Ice Mom's Adventures in Figure Skating]

• Majestic Norway spruces (see right) take cover! Rockefeller Rink in NYC opens for the season on October 11. [TheRink]

• New York Fashion Week is September 5-12, but who needs Bryant Park? Del Arbour talks skating fashion trends and bling for the coming season. [icenetwork]

Novice champion Danny O'Shea collaborates with skating legend Paul Wylie

2008 Novice men's champion Danny O'Shea has been receiving invaluable choreography advice from 1992 Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie (see above, Danny is on right). This collaboration began when Danny's choreographer, former ice dancer Susie Wynne Barth, approached Paul during Worlds and asked if he would be interested in working with some of her students. In May 2008, Paul came to Danny's training center, the Twin Rinks Ice Pavilion in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, to work with Danny for about a week.

Paul helped Danny with his short program for this year, which is Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. (As an aside, I have to mention this: I have learned so much about composers and music from being a skater and skating fan. I had heard this piece thousands of times and now can finally put the composer's name on it! Trust me, you have heard this in movies, commercials, sporting events, you name it. YouTube link to Carmina Burana.) Danny told me that this is a program close to Paul's heart, as Paul skated to it himself some time ago. Another interesting tidbit is that Anne Militano cut the music for the program. Anne also worked with Paul during his competitive years and is also the sister of Mary Scotvold, Paul's former coach. So it looks like Paul is recreating his winning team together for Danny. I asked Danny what he took away most from being around and collaborating with Paul. He said,

Amazing energy and talent! WOW -- what balance on the ice. He is absolutely great to work with! He worked on some difficult footwork with me and demonstrated what he thought would work. All I can say is WOW.

Paul will be back for another week to continue working with Danny and I cannot wait to see the short program!

U.S. team at Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Merano, Italy

U.S. Figure Skating announced the skaters who will compete in Merano, Italy at the second event of the 2008 Junior Grand Prix (JGP) of Figure Skating Series. The JGP consists of eight competitions held throughout the world, culminating in the JGP Final. The events are:

• JGP France: Courchevel, France - August 27 - 30
• JGP Italy: Merano, Italy – September 3-7
• JGP Mexico: Mexico City, Mexico – September 10-14
• JGP Czech Republic: Ostrava, Czech Republic – September 17-21
• JGP Spain: Madrid, Spain – September 24-28
• JGP Belarus: Gomel, Belarus – October 1-5
• JGP South Africa: Cape Town, South Africa – October 8-12
• JGP Great Britain: Sheffield, Great Britain – October 15-18
• JGP Final: Goyang City, South Korea – December 10-14

Previously, the U.S. team competing in JGP France were announced, which included Becky Bereswill, Kristine Musademba, Eliot Halverson, Armin Mahbanoozadeh, ice dancers Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani and Chloe Wolf/Rhys Ainsworth.

For JGP Italy, the competitors are as follows:

Ladies: Melissa Bulanhagui, Brittney Rizo

Men: Curran Oi, Daniel O'Shea (see right)

Ice Dancing: Isabella Cannuscio/Ian Lorello, Madison Chock/Greg Zuerlein

More summertime fun with Danny O'Shea, novice men's champion

Previously, 2008 novice champion Danny O'Shea updated us on how he was spending the hot days of summer (hint: water is involved). Here are more photos that Danny shared with us. (see above, Danny having more fun in the water)

Below is Danny and Zoey, his golden retriever. Look how big Zoey has gotten! Zoey was a present from Danny's father after he won his division at the 2008 Nationals.