2017 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
and Pavel Drozd for the title. Loboda and Drozd led by .30 point after the short dance, but the Parsons beat them by .76 point in the free dance to claim the title — 164.83 to 164.37.
Te Parsons’ personal-best free dance to
World Junior champions Michael Parsons and Rachel Parsons and bronze medalists Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko display their patriotism following the awards ceremony.
a new arrangement of “Singing in the Rain” included five Level 4 elements, while the di- agonal step sequence was rated a Level 3. Te only glitch in the otherwise smooth perfor- mance was a wobbly rotational lift. “It feels incredible for us,” Rachel said.
“Michael and I had a really good season and this is just the perfect way to cap off our junior career. We couldn’t be happier.” “I think everybody has really improved
since last year,” Michael said. “Everybody has been working really hard and it was a much closer competition than last year.” Te Parsons’ season included victories at
Rachel and Michael Parsons, with their coach Elena Novak, receive their winning scores.
and will continue to make their mark on the international scene.”
ICE DANCE Te Parsons, second at the 2016 World
Junior Championships, capped their undefeat- ed season with the gold medal. Te siblings, who train in Wheaton,
Maryland, under the coaching staff led by Alexei Kiliakov, battled Russia’s Alla Loboda
both of their Junior Grand Prix (JGP) Series events, the JGP Final and the U.S. Cham- pionships. It was their fifth World Junior Championships. “Tey’ve worked hard and it’s nice to see that pay off for them,” Dillon said. “Tey brought strong free dances every time. At the (JGP) Final they were second going into the free dance and then prevailed in the free dance and the same at the World Junior Champi- onships. Tey had exceptional material and if you have that you are going to do well. Teir free dance was exceptional.” U.S. silver medalists Carreira and
Ponomarenko, making their World Juniors debut, produced the third-best free dance, to “Exogenesis Symphony Part 3” by Muse. It featured four Level 4 elements and Level
3 footwork. Te team, which trains in Novi, Michigan, under coach Igor Shpilband, produced a personal-best free dance score en route to an overall score of 154.68 points. “We came in wanting to skate two clean
programs and we’re happy it ended this way,” Ponomarenko said.
“Tey had little expectations going in and they end up with a medal, so that was ex- citing,” Dillon said. “It’s nice to see movement in dance.”
Americans Lorraine McNamara and
Quinn Carpenter, the 2016 World Junior champions, finished seventh.
LADIES Bradie Tennell and Starr Andrews placed
seventh and 12th, respectively. For Tennell, it was redemption of sorts.
At the 2016 World Junior Championships, she finished fourth in the short program but faltered in the free skate to wind up 11th overall. “Bradie knew she was the veteran car-
rying the torch for the team and I think she really brought it,” Dillon said. “She really did two nice, solid programs.” Andrews, the U.S. junior silver medalist, was a last-minute replacement and arrived with only one developmental international experience on her résumé. “Tis is all new for her, but she had a
nine debut,” Dillon said. “I feel the junior ladies is one of the hardest events in figure skating because the girls are really pushing the technical envelope in terms of consistency. Te winner did every jump in the second half (of the program). Russia’s Alina Zagitova earned the gold ahead of a couple of Japanese skaters, Marin Honda (silver) and Kaori Sakamoto (bronze). All three ladies set personal bests in the free skate.
PAIRS
In their third trip to the World Junior Championships, Chelsea Liu and Brian John- son finished seventh, while first-timers and U.S. junior champions Nica Digerness and Danny Neudecker placed 10th.
“I think both teams learned a lot of les- sons they can apply to the future,” Dillon said. Liu and Johnson landed their side-by- side triple jumps (Salchow) for the first time in competition. Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley
The Parsons show great energy in their short dance.
Windsor won a historic gold, becoming the first pairs team from Australia to win gold at the World Junior Championships. Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii of Russia corralled the silver medal, while the bronze went to China’s Yumeng Gao and Zhong Xie.
SKATING 11
ATSUSHI TOMURA - ISU/ISU VIA GETTY IMAGES
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ATSUSHI TOMURA - ISU/ISU VIA GETTY IMAGES
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