Above: Olivia Flores and Luke Wang will look to build upon their success last season.
By Jackie Wong
The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series is about to kick off, and it serves as something of a crystal ball into the future. Many of the future U.S. stars at the senior level often get their international experience at these events, and for the fans who can’t get enough skating, this is yet another opportunity to see some burgeoning stars before bigger senior events kick off.
Here are a few names from Team USA to watch this season:
Logan Higase-Chen
She comes into this season as the U.S. junior champion, but this is really her first chance to make a name for herself on the JGP. Her only appearance in the series was two years ago when she finished 15th at JGP Poland. You can be sure this will be a different experience, especially coming off a strong free skate at Cranberry Cup just a few weeks ago.
Olivia Flores and Luke Wang
The U.S. junior pairs champions are no strangers to the junior international scene, having won silver at the World Junior Championships last season (they also made my top performances from last season list, here). They start off bright and early at JGP Latvia, arriving there as the favorite to win their first JGP title.
Katarina Wolfkostin and Dimitry Tsarevski
They have made a somewhat unusual move this season. After spending their first season together in the senior international ranks, they decided to move to juniors because of age rule changes for junior international competitions. They were ninth at the 2024 U.S. Championships at the senior level and could make a splash as juniors this season.
Emilia Nemirovsky
She just started her season with a huge win at Cranberry Cup over Logan Higase-Chen. We saw some great potential from her at the 2024 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Columbus, Ohio, where she took fourth. Let’s see if she can continue the momentum in the junior ranks.
Jacob Sanchez
Fourth at the Youth Olympic Games last season, Sanchez started this campaign with a second-place finish at Cranberry Cup at the junior level. When he hits, he can deliver some breathtaking skating. He’ll look for his first JGP medal this season.
The JGP Series gets underway Aug. 28-31 in Riga, Latvia; and concludes Oct. 9-12 in Wuxi, China. For all the results, skater bios and event recaps, visit the Junior Grand Prix Competition Central on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone.
Jackie Wong is a figure skating analyst at Rocker Skating. He has been involved in figure skating for more than 22 years as a skater, coach, choreographer and judge. You can follow him at rockerskating.com and on Twitter and Instagram @rockerskating for comprehensive coverage of figure skating events all season long.
