Liu, Nguyen and Kolesnik Qualify for Junior Grand Prix Final with Wins in Poland

Alysa Liu and Avonley Nguyen and Vadym Kolesnik punched their tickets to the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2019 with wins at the Junior Grand Prix event in Gdansk, Poland, this weekend. The JGP Final will be held Dec. 5-8 in Torino, Italy.

Liu won gold at the Junior Grand Prix event in Lake Placid, New York, where she became the first American women to land a quadruple Lutz in a competition. In her record-breaking free skate, she also became the first woman in the world to land a quad and triple Axel in the same program in a competition. The 14-year-old went on to win gold in her junior international debut, topping the field by 21.52 points.

In Poland, the 2019 U.S. champion rallied from a fourth-place short program to win the free skate and competition, securing her spot in the JGP Final. In her free skate to "Illumination" by Jennifer Thomas, Liu opened with a triple Axel-double toe loop combination, followed by a clean quadruple Lutz and triple Axel. The 14-year-old went on to land six additional triple jumps and was awarded three Level 4 spins. Her 138.99-point performance marked a new international-best and topped the field by over 10 points. With a total score of 203.10, Liu captured her second gold medal and punched her ticket to Torino.

In ice dance, Nguyen and Kolesnik also locked in their spot at the JGP Final with wins in Lake Placid and Gdansk. At the event in Lake Placid, the 2019 U.S. junior silver medalists dominated both the rhythm and free dance, scoring international bests for both performances. With 170.80 total points, the Novi-based team topped the field by over 10 points.

This weekend in Gdansk, Nguyen and Kolesnik continued to improve their scores, setting new personal bests for their rhythm dance, free dance and total score. In their free dance, the duo received Level 4 marks for their stationary lift, curve lift, combination spin and twizzles. They earned over 2 pointsfor their Grade of Execution for three elements in their clean skate, earning 105.48 points. Their total score of 174.68 bested the field by 11.98 points. Their win marked their fourth JGP medal and third gold. They will attend the JGP Final for the second straight season this December in Torino.

Read more about Team USA performances and results on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone.