events

Seventeen Athletes to Represent Team USA this Weekend

Johnny Weir (Photo by Paul Harvath)

(10/3/12) - The 2012 international figure skating season continues this week with the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (JGP) Series and Finlandia Trophy.

JGP Croatia is set for Oct. 3-7, in Zagreb, Croatia, while Finlandia Trophy will take place Oct. 4-7, in Espoo, Finland. Twelve athletes will represent the United States in ladies, men's, pairs and ice dancing in Croatia, while five athletes will compete in singles and ice dancing in Espoo.

Icenetwork.com will provide event coverage, including news, photos, blogs and recaps from both events.

FINLANDIA TROPHY
Held annually since 1995, Finlandia Trophy is a senior-level competition for singles, ice dancing and synchronized skating.

LADIES
Mirai Nagasu begins her fifth international season in Finland. The 2010 Olympian is also set to compete at 2012 Cup of China later this fall, an event where she is the reigning silver medalist.

MEN
Johnny Weir will compete for the first time since placing sixth at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. His only other career appearance at this event came in 2003 when he won the silver medal. Weir is a three-time U.S. champion. Richard Dornbush, the 2011 U.S. silver medalist, opens his second senior international season. Last year, he placed fourth and sixth, respectively, at Skate America and Cup of China. Weir and Dornbush will also go head-to-head at 2012 Rostelecom Cup in November, while Weir will also compete at 2012 Trophee Bompard and Dornbush at 2012 NHK Trophy later this fall.

ICE DANCING
Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue open their second season together. Their first season saw them place third at the 2012 U.S. Championships and enjoy top-10 finishes at both the Four Continents and World Championships.

JGP CROATIA
LADIES
Hannah Miller looks for her second medal of the season and to qualify for the JGP Final. She is the 2012 JGP Austria silver medalist and U.S. junior bronze medalist. Like Miller, Angela Wang already has one medal to her credit this season after winning bronze at JGP United States.

MEN
Nathan Chen, the reigning U.S. junior champion, recorded a huge win in his first career JGP event a few weeks ago in Austria. With 222.00 points, he bested the competition by 36 points. Harrison Choate narrowly missed the podium at the season-opening JGP France in August.

PAIRS
Madeline Aaron and Max Settlage opened their international careers with a third-place finish at 2012 JGP United States. They will be joined in Zagreb by Jessica Noelle Calalang and Zack Sidhu, who began their season at JGP Austria, and Christina Zaitsev and Ernie Stevens, who will make their international and junior-level debut. They are the 2012 U.S. novice pewter medalists.

ICE DANCING
Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons, the 2012 U.S. junior pewter medalists, make their second appearance of the season. They opened the year with a sixth-place showing at JGP Austria.

Now in its 16th season, the JGP Series consists of seven international events in a cumulative point-scoring format. Each athlete is eligible to score points in two of the seven scheduled events (pairs can compete in two of four designated events). The top six point-earners in each discipline qualify for the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, Dec. 6-9 in Sochi, Russia, home of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

In addition to the event in Croatia, the Junior Grand Prix Series consists of the remaining events:

• JGP Germany: Chemnitz, Germany - Oct. 10-14 (includes pairs)
• JGP Final: Sochi, Russia - Dec. 6-9 (includes pairs)

U.S. ENTRIES AT 2012 FINLANDIA TROPHY

U.S. ENTRIES AT 2012 JGP CROATIA