2016 ISU Junior Grand Prix

Russian figure skater Anastasia Gubanov and Alice Lozka occupy second and third place after the short program at the second stage of the junior series in the Czech city of Ostrava.

Both skaters train in St. Petersburg. Nastya Angelina Turenko Alice - Tatiana Mishina and Oleg Tataurova group Alexei Mishin.



In the girls competition Kihira Rica from Japan leads.

The second stage of the Grand Prix. Juniors. Ostrava (Czech Republic).

Girls. Short Program. 1. Rick Kihira (Japan) - 66.78, 2. Anastasia Gubanov - 63.51, 3. Alice Lozka (both Russian) - 60.10.

The Ladies competition was not the prettiest of shows. Even the top three, all of whom were making their JGP debuts, had their struggles. Japanese skater Rika Kihara won the short program by virtue of skating clean with a strong triple lutz-triple toe. Her elements in both her programs were very sophisticated, though her skating is still developing. Fully developed skating-wise is Russian skater Anastasia Gubanova, who in her short personified Camille Saint-Sans’ The Swan-until she fell on her own triple lutz-triple toe.



Three points behind going into the free, Gubanova would fall attempting that combination there too. But would later in the program she instead landed a triple lutz-triple toe-double toe, as she came back strong, showing off just how high and strong her jumps can be, as well as her other elements and skating. Kihara, meanwhile, attempted to become only the seventh lady in history to land the triple axel in international competition, resulting in a nasty fall. She landed another triple lutz-triple toe shortly after, but some trouble on her three-jump ultimately proved fatal, as she slipped behind Gubanova, losing to the gold to her by a tiny eight hundredths of a point.



Bronze went to Gubanova’s fellow Russian Alisa Lozko. She too showed some refined technique, and the best spins in the competition. But while she impressed by raising her arm on multiple jumps, she underrotated seven of them. These included the second jump of her own triple lutz-triple toe attempt in the short, and a solo triple lutz she fell on in the free. She was fortunate, perhaps that in fourth and fifth, Japanese skater Yuna Aoki and Korean skater Hanul Kim had similar struggles, and could not match her presentation abilities. Aoki also attempted the more difficult triple lutz-triple loop, which she also failed to rotate. The only skater besides Kihara to land a triple lutz-triple toe was Latvian Diana Nikitina, who did so in both programs, only to struggle in the rest of her free program and finish seventh.