Photo credit Robin Ritoss
By Abby Farrell
Twelve junior skaters will represent the United States at the second stop of the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, set to take place Aug. 27-30 in Ankara, Turkey.
Leading the charge for the red, white and blue in the women’s event is Sophie Joline von Felten. She already has a gold medal to her name this season, claiming the junior title at Cranberry Cup International. Last season, von Felten secured gold at Junior Grand Prix Slovenia before capturing the U.S. junior women’s title. At the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, von Felten made history by becoming the first U.S. woman to successfully land a quad Salchow in competition.
Fellow U.S. women’s competitor Sofia Bezkorovainaya will make her Junior Grand Prix debut in Turkey. She will compete for her second international medal after claiming gold in the junior women’s event at Tayside Trophy last season.
The pairs team of Reagan Moss and Jakub Galbavy will compete in the Junior Grand Prix Series for the second year in a row. In 2024, the reigning U.S. junior champions secured top-10 finishes at their JGP assignments in Latvia and Poland.
Also competing in the pair’s discipline are Sofia Jarmoc and Luke Witkowski. The duo, which won the U.S. novice championship in 2024 and secured the U.S. junior pewter medal in 2025, capped off their 2024-25 season with a silver medal in the junior event at 2025 Challenge Cup.
In the men’s event, 2024 U.S. junior champion Lucius Kazanecki will return to the Junior Grand Prix Series for the first time since 2022.
Joining him to make his JGP debut is Henry Gao, who is competing at the junior level for the first time this season. Gao kicked off his campaign by making his international debut at Cranberry Cup International.
Two ice dance teams will represent the stars and stripes and skate on Junior Grand Prix ice for the first time: Annelise Stapert and Maxim Korotcov and Annaelle Kouevi and Yann Homawoo.
Stapert and Korotcov, who train with Kouevi and Homawoo in Leesburg, Virginia, have already stood on a podium this season after earning the silver medal in the junior event at the 2025 Lake Placid Ice Dance International.
Kouevi and Homawoo will make their international debut for the Junior National Team. Kouevi and Homawoo, who are cousins, finished ninth in the junior event at the 2025 U.S. Championships.
The competition kicks off Thursday with the women’s, pairs and men’s short programs, followed by the rhythm dance and pairs and women’s free skates on Friday. The final medals of the event will be awarded after the conclusion of the men’s free skate and free dance on Saturday.
Fans can watch all the action from JGP Turkey, as well as the entire Junior Grand Prix Series, live on the ISU YouTube channel.
The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, which started in 1997, 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 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2025, taking place Dec. 4-7 in Nagoya, Japan.
For more information on the Junior Grand Prix Series, including full results, news and more, visit the Junior Grand Prix Competition Central on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone.
U.S. ENTRIES AT JGP TURKEY
Athlete | Hometown | Training Town
Women
Sofia Bezkorovainaya | Springfield, Va. | Reston, Va.
Sophie Joline von Felten | Boston, Mass. | Boston, Mass.
Men
Henry Gao | Lexington, Mass. | Norwood, Mass.
Lucius Kazanecki | Harding Township, N.J. | Reston, Va.
Pairs
Sofia Jarmoc and Luke Witkowski | Boston, Mass.; Milton, Mass. | Norwood, Mass.
Reagan Moss and Jakub Galbavy | Minnetonka, Minn.; Shakopee, Minn. | Bloomington, Minn.
Ice Dance
Anaelle Kouevi and Yann Homawoo | Clarksburg, Md.; Clarksburg, Md. | Leesburg, Va.
Annelise Stapert and Maxim Korotcov | Silver Spring, Md.; Gaithersburg, Md. | Leesburg, Va
