Nguyen and Kolesnik Place Third in Rhythm Dance

Ice dancers Avonley Nguyen and Vadym Kolesnik placed third in the rhythm dance on the second day of competition at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2020 in Tallinn, Estonia. Additionally, Kate Finster and Balazs Nagy were the top U.S. finishers in the pairs competition, placing sixth overall.

Finster and Nagy collected 156.26 points overall to secure the sixth spot in the field, improving on their 11th-place finish last season. In their free skate to "To Build a Home" by Cinematic Orchestra and "Rain in Your Black Eyes" by Ezio Bosso, the 2020 U.S. junior champions scored 97.93 points to place seventh in the event. Their program received Level 4 marks for two lifts with their reverse lasso lift tallying 8.20 points as the highest scoring element.

Anastasiia Smirnova and Danil Siianytsia moved from 11th to 10th place overall after their 93.86-point free skate for a total score of 145.05. Both scores set new international bests for the second-year team. The 2020 U.S. junior silver medalists notched Level 4s for their final lift and pairs combination spin.

Winter Deardorff and Mikhail Johnson finished 13th overall with 131.53 points. They placed 15th in the free skate, scoring 77.76 points after two falls.

Russians swept the podium with Apollinariia Panfilova and Dmitry Rylov winning gold (195.96), Kseniia Akhanteva and Valerii Kolesov taking silver (174.85), and Iuliia Artemeva and Mikhail Nazarychev grabbing the bronze medal (171.18).

In the rhythm dance, the 2020 U.S. junior champions scored 68.27 points to take the third spot. Their Aladdin-themed program opened with a strong Level 3 midline step sequence that received 2.90 points for its grade of execution and was their highest scoring element (10.60). The 2019 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalists also received a Level 4 for their closing rotational lift. Less than 2 points separate first through third place going into Saturday's free dance.

In their World Junior debut, Katarina Wolfkostin and Jeffrey Chen are in seventh place following the rhythm dance with 64.77 points. The Youth Olympic bronze medalists tied for the highest technical calls in the competition with 30.84 points for their base value. They also notched Level 4 marks for their twizzles and rotational lift in their The Boy From Oz program.

Also making their debut on the ISU Championships stage, Oona Brown and Gage Brown finished 11th in the rhythm dance with 59.50 points, an international best. The sibling duo also skated to music from The Boy From Oz and earned a Level 4 for their closing rotational lift.

Russia's Elizaveta Shanaeva and Devid Naryzhnyy are in the top spot with 70.03, and Maria Kazakova and Georgy Reviya of Georgia are in second with 69.98 points.

The free dance is set for Saturday, March 7 at 4:45 a.m. ET.

Competition continues tomorrow with the ladies short program at 3:45 a.m. ET and men's free skate at 11:15 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