Naumov Finishes Fifth in Men’s Competition

The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2020 continued on Friday in Tallinn, Estonia. Maxim Naumov was the top Team USA finisher in the men's competition in fifth place. Alysa Liu headlined the U.S. ladies and sits in the fourth spot after the short program.

Naumov had a personal best free skate, scoring 149.90 to top his previous best score by over 10 points. The 2020 U.S. junior champion's fourth-place free skate helped him jump from 10th to fifth place overall in the competition, totaling 225.10 points, another personal best. His skate to "Who Wants to Live Forever" by Brian May, performed by The Tenors included two triple Axels and received all positive grades of execution. He also notched Level 4 marks on his three spin elements.

Andrew Torgashev was in the third spot after the short program but fell to eighth place overall after a difficult free skate. He tallied 208.95 points overall and scored 127.45 points for his 11th-place free skate. With fifth and eighth place finishes in the men's competition, the U.S. secured three spots for the men's competition in 2021.

Ilia Malinin placed 16th overall in the men's field with 195.97 points. He received 121.95 points for his free skate to music from the Spectre soundtrack and finished 18th in the event.

Russia's Andrei Mozalev won the gold medal with 245.09 points overall. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan earned silver with 231.75 and Russian Petr Gumennik grabbed bronze with 231.12.

In the ladies competition, Liu had a nearly clean skate to pick up the fourth spot with her short program to "Don't Rain on My Parade" by Barbara Streisand, notching 67.52 points. The two-time U.S. champion had the highest base technical value of the competition with 32.55 points. Liu landed a triple Axel and received Level 4 marks for her three spins. Heading into the free skate, she is less than one point behind the third-place finisher.

Starr Andrews also had a strong showing in the short program, collecting 65.31 points to finish in seventh place. The California native received full technical calls in her clean skate to "You Lost Me" by Christina Aguilera and opened with a strong triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination that received 9.48 points.

Lindsay Thorngren scored 49.61 points to place 26th in the short program. She did not qualify for the free skate.

Russian Kamila Valieva is currently in first place (74.92), Haein Lee of the Republic of Korea sits in second (70.08) and Russia's Daria Usacheva is in third (68.45).

The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2020 concludes tomorrow with the free dance at 4:45 a.m. ET and the ladies free skate at 8:45 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