Junior Competition Begins in Greensboro

Day 1 kicked off at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships with the junior competition.

Competition at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships commenced today with junior events at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

Junior Men

Hailing from the SC of Boston, Maxim Naumov leads the junior men after the short program with 70.75 points. The Connecticut native opened his Muse program with an explosive triple Axel that earned nine points. He also completed three Level 4 elements.

Wenatchee FSC's Liam Kapeikis sits second with a season's best 68.12 points. Coming off a 10th-place finish at the Winter Youth Olympic Games, he executed four Level 4 elements tonight in his program set to "Never Enough" by Boyce Avenue.

Joseph Kang (University of Delaware FSC) earned 67.84 points to finish third in the short program. His "Stairway to Heaven" program featured four Level 4 elements and a triple Axel.

Lucas Altieri (Pines FSC) rounds out the top four with 65.55 points. He completed two Level 4 spins in his short program set to "Run Boy Run" by Woodkid.

Junior Pairs

Kate Finster (Northern Kentucky SC) and Balazs Nagy (Broadmoor SC) lead after the short program with a season's best 63.89 points. Their short program, set to "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley, featured two Level 4 elements: a lasso lift and step sequence. They earned positive grades of execution on every element.

Making their U.S. Championships debut as a team, Winter Deardorff (Northern Kentucky SC) and Mikhail Johnson (Broadmoor SC) earned 56.60 to secure the second-place spot. Their season's best program also featured a Level 4 combination spin and step sequence.

Minnesota natives Anastasiia Smirnova (Yarmouth Ice Club) and Danil Siianytsia (All Year FSC) currently sit third with a season's best 54.56 points. In their "Kiss of Fire" program, the team executed a Level 4 combination spin.

Rounding out the top four in the junior pairs short program is SC of Boston's Cate Fleming and Jedidiah Isbell. Coming off a sixth-place finish at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland, the team scored 54.56 in their program set to "Singing in the Rain."

Junior Ice Dance

The SC of New York's Avonley Nguyen and Vadym Kolsenik lead after the junior rhythm dance with a personal best 74.49 points. They earned Level 4s on five elements and positive grades of execution on everything they performed in their eccentric Aladdin program. 

Molly Cesanek (Washington FSC) and Yehor Yehorov (Peninsula SC) finished second in the rhythm dance with 66.13 points. The team's program, set to music from My One and Only, featured four Level 4 elements and all positive grades of execution.

Oona and Gage Brown (SC of New York) earned a season's best 64.91 to take the third-place spot. They executed four Level 4 elements and earned all positive grades of execution in their program set to music from The Boy From Oz.

Katarina Wolfkostin (Peninsula SC) and Jeffrey Chen (Peninsula SC) earned 60.93 points to finish fourth. The team, who recently earned the bronze medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games, executed four Level 4 elements in their program set to music from The Boy From Oz.

U.S. Championships continues through Jan. 26. The junior and championship events will be live and on demand on the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold. Tickets are available at ncskate2020.com.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS