Minsk Hosts the Fifth Stop of the JGP Series

by Katie Tetzloff | Photo by Melanie Hoyt

This week, 17 dance teams from ten countries will compete at the fifth Junior Grand Prix event of the 2013-2014 season. Minsk, Belarus, will host the competition from September 25 to 28. Minsk last hosted a JGP event in 2009, and it also hosted the 2012 World Junior Championships. 

The United States is sending two teams to Belarus, with Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter expected to lead the team and bring home a medal. McNamara & Carpenter had a successful start to their second JGP season; with their Big Bad Voodoo Daddy short dance and “Sherlock Holmes” free dance, they earned the silver medal at the Volvo Cup in Riga, Latvia. With a total score of 127.43, they only missed the top of the podium by half a point. They are the only team competing in Minsk that has already medaled this season, leaving them as strong podium contenders. A medal of any color will give them a great shot at qualifying for the Final, but a gold or silver will clinch their spot.

The United States’ reigning silver medalists, Tory Patsis & Joseph Johnson, will make their JGP début this week. Patsis & Johnson train in Colorado Springs with Patti Gottwein and Trina Pratt. They had strong outings in Lake Placid early this season and at Pikes Peak Challenge last weekend with their robot-themed free dance to music by the Chemical Brothers. Their short dance, on the other hand, has been more troublesome.

Daria Morozova & Mikhail Zhirnov will lead team Russia in Minsk, and should be strong podium contenders. Last season, they won a bronze medal on the JGP Series in Chemnitz, Germany, where they set all new ISU personal bests. This will be their international début this season. They train with Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk.

Making their JGP début for Team Russia will be Betina Popova & Yuri Vlasenko. They have some international experience, having competed at the NRW Trophy in Dortmund, Germany, for the past two years. 

Rebeka Kim & Kirill Minov (pictured, left) will be competing on behalf of Korea at this event, though they train in Moscow with Svinin and Zhuk. This is their second year on the JGP circuit and their second event this season. They placed a strong fifth two weeks ago in Košice with their “Burlesque” short dance and “Sheherazade” free dance. Having already competed at the World Junior Championships last year, they are one of the more experienced teams competing this week in Belarus and have a shot at the podium.

France is sending JGP veterans Estelle Elizabeth & Romain Le Gac. In the 2012-2013 season, Elizabeth & Le Gac placed tenth at both of their JGPs in Courchevel and Istanbul, as well as ending the season with a 15th-place ranking at Junior Worlds.  They also competed at JGP Volvo Cup this year, where they were fifth, earning a new ISU personal best of 115.57. With plenty of international experience under their belt, they could also fight for a medal in Minsk.

Representing Canada are Carolane Soucisse & Simon Tanguay and Jessica Jiang & Tyler Miller, both competing at their first international assignments. Soucisse & Tanguay placed ninth on the junior level at the 2013 Canadian Championships, whereas Jiang & Miller are a new team this year. Both teams have already competed several times this season, earning their JGP assignments based on good summer results.

With only two prior JGP medalists at this event, at least one team will be bringing home their first JGP medals at the end of the week. The short dance will take place Thursday morning, and the free dance will be held on Saturday morning.