U.S. Junior Athletes Head to ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia

Eighteen athletes will represent the United States this week at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2020, March 2-8, in Tallinn, Estonia. For the first time since 2014, the U.S. has three spots in every discipline. Competition begins on Wednesday, March 4 with the men's and pairs short programs. The ice dancers will take the ice on Thursday, March 5, while the ladies will begin competition on Friday, March 6.

Two-time U.S. champion Alysa Liu headlines the ladies field for Team USA. The event will mark her first trip to the World Junior Championships. This season, Liu collected two Junior Grand Prix titles and earned the silver medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final in December. She will be joined by Starr Andrews and Lindsay Thorngren. Andrews competed as a senior the majority of the season with Grand Prix assignments at Internationaux de France (fifth) and NHK Trophy (eighth). She also won the silver medal in the junior competition at the Golden Spin of Zagreb. Andrews placed sixth at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Thorngren is the 2020 U.S. junior champion. Earlier this year, she finished eighth in her JGP debut in Poland. Last season, she won the U.S. intermediate title.

In the men’s competition, Andrew Torgashev will return to the World Junior stage after missing the event last two seasons. This season, he finished fourth at his JGP assignments in Latvia and Croatia, and won the silver medal at the Asian Open. He went on to finish fifth at U.S. Championships. Maxim Naumov will also represent the U.S. in Estonia. After missing the 2018-19 season due to injury, Naumov was crown U.S. junior champion this January. He also placed seventh at the JGP event in France. This is his first World Junior appearance. Ilia Malinin rounds out the men’s field and will also make his ISU Championships debut. He finished fourth at his JGP debut in Lake Placid, New York, and seventh in Italy. Malinin placed second at the Eastern Sectional Final but withdrew from U.S. Championships.

In the pairs competition, three teams will represent the United States. Kate Finster and Balazs Nagy return to the event after finishing 11th last season. The 2020 U.S. junior champions won the silver medal at JGP Poland and finished sixth at the JGP event in Lake Placid. Anastasiia Smirnova and Danil Siianytsia will make their World Junior debut in Tallinn. They placed seventh at JGP Russia and won the silver medal in the junior competition at Golden Spin. They went on to capture the U.S. junior silver medal. In their first season as a team, Winter Deardorff and Mikhail Johnson finished third in the junior competition at U.S. Championships. They also won the junior bronze medal at Golden Spin.

Avonley Nguyen and Vadym Kolesnik return to the World Junior Championships after narrowly missing the podium in 2019. In their most successful season to date, the Michigan-based ice dance team has claimed the titles at JGP USA and JGP Poland, as well as the silver medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final. They went on to win the U.S. junior ice dance title. Katarina Wolfkostin and Jeffrey Chen will head to Estonia riding a successful first season as a team. The new duo finished fourth and fifth at their JGP events in Russia and France. The 2020 U.S. junior silver medalists went on to win the junior silver medal at Golden Spin and the bronze medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland. Oona Brown and Gage Brown will also make their ISU Championships debut in Estonia. The sibling pair competed at JGP Italy (fifth) and JGP Russia (eighth), and won the junior bronze medal at U.S. Championships.

The event will be live streamed by the ISU on their YouTube channel. A full schedule is available on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone.