Both veteran and rookie ice dance teams heard the United States' national anthem play as they stood on the podium this past weekend at ISU Junior Grand Prix Turkey with Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukhin and Effie Chen and Gordei Chitipakhovian earning gold and bronze, respectively.

Aboian and Veselukhin, the reigning World Junior and U.S. junior ice dance champions, took home their third gold and fifth medal in the Junior Grand Prix Series in Ankara. The team has medaled in every Junior Grand Prix event they have competed in, including winning gold at the 2025 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final. They continue a win streak that began at the beginning of the 2025–26 season.

In their season debut, Aboian and Veselukhin opened the competition with their rhythm dance to "My Sweet and Tender Beast" by Evgeni Doga and "Por una cabeza" by Carlos Gardel. They received Level 4 credit for their rotational lift and more than 10 points for their midline step sequence for a segment score of 97.26.

Leading by nearly three points going into the free dance, Aboian and Veselukhin secured  Level 4s for their stationary lift, dance spin and synchronized twizzles in their performance to "Middle Easy (Live)" by Laerz that tells the story of the rise of two Egyptian pharaohs. The team ended with 97.26 points in the free dance and 163.43 points overall.

Newcomers Chen and Chitipakhovian, earned bronze with personal-best scores across the board, including a total score of 151.18.

Skating to "I See Red" and "Wicked Ways" by Everybody Loves an Outlaw, they opened with a Level 4 stationary lift, then went on to score the highest levels possible for their sequential twizzles. Their two patterns contributed 11.63 points to a rhythm dance score of 61.58.

Chen and Chitipakhovian carried that momentum into the free dance, securing Level 4 marks on four elements: their synchronized twizzles, dance spin and two lifts. The skate set to music from the animated movie Rio garnered 89.60 points.

2026 U.S. junior silver medalists Sofia Jarmoc and Luke Witkowski led the U.S. contingent in the pairs event. They claimed their second fourth-place finish this season on the Junior Grand Prix circuit.

Their short program to the iconic song, "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie featured a Level 4 lift and a Level 4 spin combination, both of which generated more than five points each toward a short program score of 49.91.

On day two, Jarmoc and Witkowski received positive grades of execution on all but two elements for their free skate to "Another Love" by Tom Odell. The highlight of their 89.68-point program was a Level 4 rotational lift that racked up 8.30 points. Their second Level 4 lift added another 6.12 points to their score.

The pairs teams of Kaitlyn Oh and Aaron Felberbaum and Elizabeth Yun and Mitchell Castelletti finished 11th and 13th, respectively; both teams made their Junior Grand Prix debuts.

Skating together for the first time in international competition, Oh and Felberbaum ended with 47.37 points in the short, 76.35 points in the free skate and 123.71 points overall.

The Illinois-based team received Level 4s on both lifts in their free skate.  

Yun and Castelletti's total score of 116.06 was comprised of a short program score of 44.45 and 71.61 points in the free skate.

Their lifts in both programs produced Level 4 marks.

In his first Junior Grand Prix event since 2022, Kirk Haugeto rallied from 11th-place in the short program with a score of 60.90 to finish third in the free skate and fourth place in the final standings.

Haugeto's free skate to "Vocea" from Cirque du Soleil by Violaine Dansereau Corradi was highlighted by two Level 4 spins. He produced a free skate score of 127.87 and an overall total of 188.77 points.

Ryan Azadpour placed 10th with an international personal-best total score of 172.30 in his Junior Grand Prix debut.

His highest-scoring element — worth 7.64 points — was a triple flip-double Axel sequence performed in the second half of his free skate to music from The Lion King. He tallied 110.79 points on the second day of competition.

Two of Azadpour's jumping passes in his short program set to "David's Writings:" by Christopher Willis generated more than six points apiece toward an international personal-best score of 61.51 in the short program.

Jessica Jurka finished seventh in the women's competition, her highest placement at a Junior Grand Prix event. She secured a new personal-best short program score of 64.58. Jurka went onto post free skate and overall scores of 118.55 and 175.63, respectively.

The Colorado native opened her short program to "El Tango de Roxanne/Libertango" by Sephira with a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination that yielded 8.94 points. Jurka opened her Beauty and the Beast free skate with a triple Lutz worth 7.25 points.

For more information on the Junior Grand Prix Series, including full results, news and more, visit the Junior Grand Prix Competition Central on the U.S. Figure Skating website.