2007 JGP Tallinn Cup Preview

Tallinn, Estonia

Nearing the halfway point of the series, the Junior Grand Prix heads to Tallinn Estonia.

Though originally scheduled to compete, Grethe Grunberg and Kristjan Rand, the 2007 World Junior Silver Medallists, will not make their season debut at Tallinn Cup. No information has been released regarding the removal of their names from the event roster.

Joanna Lenko and Mitchell Islam of Canada (pictured, left) are looking to medal for the second time this season. They won the silver medal at the JGP in Lake Placid, scoring a personal best of 142.79. Lenko and Islam train in Barrie, Ontario, with their coach David Islam, who is also Mitchell’s father; they are also coached by Kelly Johnson and Pavol Porac. The duo finished second and fifth at their Junior Grand Prix events in 2006 and were alternates to the JGP Final.

Ukraine’s Alisa Agafonova and Dmitri Dun are competing in their fourth season on the JGP series, winning their first medal, a silver, in 2006. . Agafonova and Dun were also alternates to the JGP Final in 2006. They train in Detroit with Marina Zoueva and Igor Shpilband and Ukraine with Svetland Chernikova.

In the medal hunt:

Italy’s Matteo Zanni, who has competed on the Junior Grand Prix circuit since 2002, returns with a new partner this season, Natalia Mitiushina. Mitiushina is Russian, and previously competed as a singles skater. Tallinn Cup is their international debut.

Ekaterina Pushkash and Dmitri Kiselev of Russia enter their second season on the Junior Grand Prix. They finished seventh at the 2006 JGP in Taipei and sixth at the 2007 Russian Junior National Championships.

USA’s Shannon Wingle and Ryan Devereaux are coached by Igor Shpilband and return to the JGP for the second season. They finished sixth and seventh at their Junior Grand Prix events in 2006. Their trainingmates, Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein make their international debut in Tallinn.