Preview: 2020 World Junior Championships
by Abril Ventura | Photo by Julia Komarova
The World Junior Championships will be held in Tallinn, Estonia from March 2-8.
The reigning Junior Grand Prix Final champions, Maria Kazakova & Georgy Reviya of Georgia have been very busy this season attending both senior and junior events. They recently attended the European Championships in Austria where they finished 14th. They have a season’s best score of 174.90, which they achieved at the JGPF where they edged out Avonley Nguyen & Vadym Kolesnik by .16 points. They were sixth at the 2019 Junior World Championships. They are also scheduled to compete at the senior World Championships in a few weeks.
Avonley Nguyen & Vadym Kolesnik from the United States came second at the Junior Grand Prix Final in Turin and recently came first at the Bavarian Open in the junior category, last season they just missed out on the podium at the Junior World Championships, where they came in fourth. They have a season’s best score of 174.74.
Russians, Arina Ushakova & Maxim Nekrasov (pictured) missed this season’s Junior Grand Prix Series due to injury. At last season’s Junior Grand Prix Final, they got the silver medal and they are also the 2018 Junior World Bronze medallists. They attended the Mentor Torun Cup in January where they achieved a season’s best score of 173.20.
The bronze medallists at the Junior Grand Prix Final, Elizaveta Shanaeva & Devid Naryzhnyy have taken the lead as the top Russian team on the junior ranks this season, just a few weeks ago they achieved a narrow victory over Ushakova and Nekrasov at the Russian Junior National Championships. This will be their first appearance at the Junior World Championships. They have a season’s best score of 171.07.
Loicia Demougeot & Theo Lemercier of France and Russians Diana Davis & Gleb Smolkin both qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final this season, their season’s best scores are of 162.70 and 160.17 respectively.
There is a seven-hour time difference between Tallinn and Eastern Standard Time (EST). The rhythm dance kicks off on Thursday, March 5, at 1:15 pm local time (6:15 am EST). The free dance takes place on Saturday, March 7, at 11:45 local time (4:45 am EST). The event will be live-streamed on the ISU Youtube channel.