Team USA heads to Finlandia Trophy, JGP Croatia (10/8/14)
Team USA heads to Finlandia Trophy, JGP Croatia
Nathan Chen makes season debut; Karen Chen tries to qualify for Final
Four U.S. athletes will compete at the Finlandia Trophy this week, while 11 will travel to Zagreb, Croatia, for the last of seven Junior Grand Prix (JGP) Series events.
2014 Finlandia Trophy
Samantha Cesario begins her season in Espoo, Finland. The fifth-place finisher at the 2014 U.S. Championships, Cesario is also scheduled to compete at two Grand Prix events this fall: 2014 Hilton HHonors Skate America and Trophée Eric Bompard. Cesario's main competition figures to come from Russia's Elizaveta Tuktamisheva, who won the Nebelhorn Trophy two weeks ago, and Japan's Rika Hongo.
Adam Rippon will open his season at Finlandia before competing at Skate Canada and Trophée Bompard. The veteran competitor is coming off a season in which he won silver at Skate America and placed eighth at the U.S. championships. Rippon faces a strong men's field, one that includes reigning European silver medalist Sergei Voronov and 2012 world bronze medalist Artur Gachinski, both of Russia.
Ice dancers Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus can already claim a podium finish this season, having placed third at the 2014 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City. Germany's Nelli Zhiganshina and Alexander Gazsi and 2013 world junior champions Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin of Russia highlight the dance field in Espoo.
JGP Croatia
Nathan Chen, the reigning U.S. junior champion and world junior bronze medalist, will make his season debut. Chen has won all three of his previous JGP events: Austria in 2012, and Mexico and Belarus last season. He faces a challenging field that includes two previous winners in this year's series, Russian Andrei Lazukin and Korean June Hyoung Lee, as well as JGP Japan silver medalist Shoma Uno.
Chen will be joined in Zagreb by Daniel Kulenkamp, who will be making his international debut.
Karen Chen will look for her second medal of the series after winning bronze at JGP Czech Republic. Chen can still qualify for the JGP Final depending on where she and others place in the competition. Standing in her way are a pair of Russians, Maria Sotskova and Alexandra Proklova.
Chelsea Liu and Brian Johnson, who teamed up in May 2014, made their competitive debut last week in Germany and won the bronze medal. Based on results from Croatia, they could earn a spot in the JGP Final. The favorites in the event are reigning world junior bronze medalists Maria Vigalova and Egor Zakroev of Russia.
Also competing for the U.S. in pairs are Olivia Allan and Austin Hale, and Jessica Lee and Robert Hennings.
Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons, the reigning U.S. junior bronze medalists, will look for their second medal of the series after finishing third at JGP Japan. They square off against a couple of Russian teams -- Anna Yanovskaia and Sergei Mozgov, and Daria Morozova and Mikhail Zhirnov -- who won gold at their first assignments in this year's series.
Elliana Pogrebinsky and Alex Benoit, who placed fifth at JGP Japan, are also in Zagreb competing for Team USA.
Information from U.S. Figure Skating was used in this report.
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