Andrew Torgashev in Podium Position at World Junior Championships

The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2020 kicked off today in Tallinn, Estonia, with the men’s and pairs short program. Andrew Torgashev was the top finisher for Team USA and is in podium position heading into the men’s free skate on Friday.

Torgashev set a new international best for his short program set to “Bloodstream” by Tokio Myers, notching 81.50 points to place third. His clean skate included a strong opening triple Axel followed by a triple flip-triple toe loop combination. He also had the second highest program components score of the event with 38.72 points.

Maxim Naumov is in 10th place after the short program. The 2020 U.S. junior champion also had a clean skate, landing a triple Axel and completing three Level 4 spins to tally 75.20 points. Naumov topped his previous international best by over 10 points (63.47 at Junior Grand Prix France).

In his first competition since November, Ilia Malinin finished 13th in the short program with 74.02 points. The 15-year-old also landed all four of his triple jumps in his season-best skate, including a triple Axel.

Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama is in first place with 85.82 points and Russian Andrei Mozalev sits in second with 84.31.

The men’s free skate will take place on Saturday morning at 11:15 a.m. ET.

In the pairs competition, Kate Finster and Balazs Nagy sit in fifth place after the short program with 58.33 points. The 2020 U.S. junior champions opened with a Level 3 triple twist and received Level 4 marks for their reverse lasso lift.

Currently in 10th place, Winter Deardorff and Mikhail Johnson scored 53.77 points in their international-best short program. Their routine included strong side-by-side double Axels.

Anastasiia Smirnova and Danil Siianytsia are just behind them in 11th place with 51.19 points. The 2020 U.S. junior silver medalists received Level 4 marks for their side-by-side combination spin.

Russians occupy the top three spots with Apollinariia Panfilova and Dmitry Rylov in first (73.71), Kseniia Akhanteva and Valerii Kolesov in second (70.44), and Iuliia Artemeva and Mikhail Nazarychev in third (70.26).

Competition continues tomorrow with the rhythm dance at 6:15 a.m. ET and the pairs free skate at 11:30 a.m. ET.  Streaming is available live and on-demand on the ISU YouTube page. Follow along with Team USA on competition central.

Full Results