Junior Grand Prix round-up: Courchevel, France and Brasov, Romania

With the first two Junior Grand Prix events of the 2010-11 season in the books, here's a quick recap of what went down on the ice:

Event #1: Courchevel, France

The American men opened the series with a strong showing in France, claiming both the silver and bronze medals behind Canadian Andrei Rogozine. Max Aaron of Colorado Springs was second after the short program, but fell to third in the free skate and third overall. Reigning U.S. junior champion Jason Brown, in third place after the short program, laid down a 7-triple free skate to win that portion and climb to second overall. Both American men have been assigned to a second event, the JGP in Japan next weekend, and both look poised to qualify for the Junior Grand Prix Final.

Russia continued it's dominance in junior ice dance with the team of Alexandra Stepanova & Andrei Bukin winning the gold medal by nearly 10 points over Americans Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus. Another Russian team, Evgenia Kosigina & Nikolai Moroshkin, took bronze in their international debut. Cannuscio/McManus have been assigned a second JGP event in Japan, along with U.S. teammates Joylyn Yang & Jean-Luc Baker.

There was a lot of movement between the short and long programs in the ladies event. Reigning Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist Polina Shelepen of Russia came from behind to win the gold medal by nearly 11 points over American junior silver medalist Yasmin Siraj. Shelepen's jumps are solid as a rock, but the rest of her skating leaves much to be desired. Siraj climbed from sixth to second with a strong, expressive, 5-triple free skate. Roza Sheveleva of Russia was third, France's Yretha Silete was fourth and 13-year old American Nina Jiang rounded out the top five. Siraj will compete at the JGP event in Great Britain in hopes of medalling again and qualifying for the Final for the first time in her career.

Shelepen's free skate:


Siraj's free skate:


Event #2: Brasov, Romania

The U.S. men saw continued success at the second event in Romania last weekend. Keegan Messing fell on a quadruple toe loop attempt in his free skate, but his strong jumps and fast spins were more than enough to give him the victory over teammate Joshua Farris. Farris hit a beautiful triple Axel in his short program to win that segment of the competition, but three falls in the free skate relegated him to second overall. Japan's Keiji Tanaka was third.

In ice dance, Russians Ksenia Monko & Kiril Khaliavin posted the highest score of the season thus far en route to the gold medal. Ukraine's Anastasia Galyeta & Alexei Shumski were second, and Americans Lauri Bonacorsi & Travis Mager won their second career JGP bronze medal, rebounding nicely after a 5th place finish in the short dance.

The U.S. ladies were up against a strong threat in Russia's triple Axel-wielding Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. Tuktamysheva was expected to win by a huge margin, but numerous mistakes in both programs only gave her a 2.22 point victory over American Kristiene Gong. Japan's Shion Kokubun was third, and Samantha Cesario, the other U.S. entry, was fourth. Both American girls got hammered by the technical panel with downgraded triples, but Gong has been assigned a second event, the JGP in Great Britain at the end of September.

The series continues this week in Graz, Austria.