Three champions were crowned on the second day of competition at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
Junior Men
Maxim Naumov (SC of Boston) landed two triple Axels in his free skate to take the junior men’s title with 206.92 total points. In his program set to “Who Wants To Live Forever” performed by the Tenors, the Connecticut native achieved a Level 4 on three elements to score a personal best 136.17 points. This is his second U.S. Championships medal at the junior level, earning bronze in 2018.
“I’m super excited with how I performed today,” he said. “I was hoping to step up my game, and I was able to do that.”
In his third appearance at the U.S. Championships, Eric Sjoberg (Los Angeles FSC) skated a clean free skate with all positive grades of execution to score 202.38 total points and secure the silver medal. His program, set to “Winter in Buenos Aires” by Astor Piazzolla, featured three Level 4 elements. He scored 139.41 points, winning the free skate segment.
Wenatchee FSC’s Liam Kapeikis scored 189.15 total points to take the bronze medal. His Les Miserables free skate featured two Level 4 spins, helping him score 121.03 points. He was fifth at the novice level last year.
Rounding out the podium was Lucas Altieri (Pines FSC), who scored 187.94 points overall. In his 122.39-point program set to music from Les Miserables, the Florida native executed four Level 4 elements.
Junior Pairs
Kate Finster (Northern Kentucky SC) and Balazs Nagy (Broadmoor SC) secured the junior pairs title with 169.37 total points. Skating to “To Build a Home” and “Rain in Your Black Eyes,” the Colorado-based team opened with a Level 3 triple twist and executed three Level 4 elements to score a personal best 105.48 in the free skate.
“While the program wasn’t perfect, we performed it a lot more than we had all season and we had more of a connection,” Nagy said.
The Minnesota-based team of Anastasiia Smirnova (Yarmouth Ice Club) and Danil Siianytsia (All Year FSC) earned a personal best 163.04 points to take the silver medal. The team opened their Sara Bareilles program with a Level 3 triple twist and completed two Level 4 elements to score 108.48 points.
Brand-new team Winter Deardorff (Northern Kentucky SC) and Mikhail Johnson (Broadmoor SC) earned the bronze medal with 149.47 points. Their 92.87-point program featured a Level 4 combination spin.
Youth Olympians Cate Fleming (SC of Boston) and Jedidiah Isbell (SC of Boston) scored 131.58 to take fourth place. Their program, set to Romeo and Juliet featured three Level 4 elements, scored 83.02 points.
Junior Dance
The SC of New York’s Avonley Nguyen and Vadym Kolesnik scored a personal best 184.38 total points to take the gold medal on Wednesday by more than 22 points. Their free dance, set to Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2,” featured all positive grades of execution and eight Level 4 elements, and they scored a personal best 109.89 points.
"We really have been working hard on our levels, so we hope the judges liked what they saw," Nguyen said. We just wanted to improve everything. We’re happy with the results, and we’ll continue to keep working."
Hailing from the Peninsula SC, Katarina Wolfkostin and Jeffrey Chen scored 161.39 total points to earn the silver medal. Coming off a third-place finish at the Youth Olympic Games, the duo earned all positive grades of execution and completed six Level 4 elements in their Sam Smith free dance to earn a personal best 100.46 points.
Sibling team Oona Brown (SC of New York) and Gage Brown (SC of New York) scored a personal best 160.54 overall points to secure the bronze medal. In their program set to “Bloodstream” by Tokio Myers and “Air” by Jan Werner, the team completed eight Level 4 elements and earned all positive grades of execution to score 95.63 points, also a personal best.
Molly Cesanek (Washington FSC) and Yehor Yehorov (Peninsula SC) scored a personal best 159.09 points to round out the podium. With all positive grades of execution and six Level 4 elements, the Maryland-based team scored 92.96 points in their free dance set to “Make It Rain” and “Take Me To Church” by Matt McAndrew.
Junior Ladies
Calista Choi (Skokie Valley SC) leads after the short program with 61.82 points. The Illinois native opened with a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination and executed four Level 4 elements in her program set to “My Sweet and Tender Beast” by Eugen Doga.
Lindsay Thorngren (Ice House of New Jersey FSC) sits in second with 59.66 points. The 2019 U.S. intermediate champion completed two Level 4 elements in her program to “Papa Can You Hear Me?” performed by Lea Michele.
New Jersey native Isabeau Levito (SC of Southern New Jersey) opened her Doris Day program with a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination and completed two Level 4 elements to score 59.18 points and earn third place after the short program. The 2019 U.S. intermediate silver medalist earned all positive grades of execution on her elements.
Isabelle Inthisone (DuPage FSC) rounds out the top four with 58.80 points. She opened with a triple flip-triple toe loop combination and completed three Level 4 elements in her program set to music from East of Eden.
The 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships continues through Jan. 26. The junior and championship events will be live and on demand on the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold. Tickets are available at ncskate2020.com.
