Junior Athletes Ready for ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships

Seventeen athletes will represent the United States this week at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2019, March 4-10, in Zagreb, Croatia.
Competition begins on Wednesday, March 6 with the men’s and pairs short program. The ice dancers will take the ice on Thursday, March 7, while the ladies will begin competition on Friday, March 8.

In the ladies field, Ting Cui and Hannah Harrell will both be looking to improve on strong U.S. Championships appearances while in Croatia. Cui will be returning to Junior Worlds after finishing 7th last season. She finished 11th at the Four Continents Championships in February. Harrell is making her World Junior Championship debut after finishing fourth in Detroit.

All three men are making a return to the World Junior Championships for the second consecutive year. Tomoki Hiwatashi is fresh off a fourth place performance at the U.S. Championships and an eighth place finish at the Four Continents Championships. Alex Krasnozhon returns to the event after having to withdraw in 2018 due to a leg injury. He finished fifth at the U.S. Championships. Camden Pulkinen will also take the ice for the United States having finished 12th at the U.S. Championships. He medaled at two Junior Grand Prix events earlier in the year.

In the pairs competition, three teams will represent the United States. Sarah Feng and TJ Nyman will return to the event after finishing eighth in 2018. They will be joined by Kate Finster and Balazs Nagy, and Laiken Lockley and Keenan Prochnow. The event marks both teams’ first appearances at the event. Finster and Nagy earned the silver medal at the U.S. Championships in the junior division. Lockley and Prochnow won the U.S. junior title in 2019.

Avonley Nguyen and Vadym Kolesnik, who are competing in their second season together, will compete at their first World Junior Championships. The duo medaled twice on the JGP circuit this season, and earned silver at the U.S. Championships. Eliana Gropman and Ian Somerville are skating in their first ISU championship event after finishing third at the U.S. Championships. Caroline and Gordon Green are the 2019 U.S. junior champions, and finished sixth at the World Junior Championships in 2018.

The event will be live-streamed by the ISU. A full schedule is below.

2019 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS STREAMING SCHEDULE
(All times Eastern; subject to change)