by Matteo Morelli<\/i><\/p>\n
The\u00a0ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships 2026\u00a0took place in Tallinn, Estonia, at the famous\u00a0Tondiraba Ice Hall. This was the fourth time that Junior Worlds was held in Estonia, with the most recent edition being in 2022.<\/p>\n
After just one point separating the top three, the free dance confirmed the gold medal for the USA\u2019s\u00a0Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukin, followed by France\u2019s\u00a0Ambre Perrier Gianesini and Samuel Blanc Klaperman\u00a0in the silver medal position, and Ukraine\u2019s\u00a0Iryna Pidgaina and Artem Koval\u00a0taking bronze, repeating the final result of the Junior Grand Prix Final.<\/p>\n
Interesting fact:\u00a0Team USA has been on the podium in all four Junior World Championships held in Tallinn, winning three editions (Oona Brown and Gage Brown in 2022, Avonley Nguyen and Vadym Kolesnik in 2020, and this year). In the first edition, in 2015, the USA won silver (with Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter), while Ukraine took bronze (with Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin).<\/p>\n
Event recap<\/b><\/p>\n
Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukin were the favourites to win the event and they did not disappoint. They led in both segments, earning\u00a066.45\u00a0for their rhythm dance,\u00a0100.26\u00a0for their free dance, and a total score of\u00a0166.71 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel very proud of our performances,\u201d Aboian said. \u201cWe delivered exactly what we wanted, and I am proud that we were able to do what we have been working on since the Junior Grand Prix Final and since Nationals.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am also really happy and excited about everything we have done and how far we have come over these two seasons. Nobody could have imagined that two years later we would be Junior World Champions, and it feels truly amazing,\u201d Veselukin added.<\/p>\n
This season, they were undefeated in all the major international events they competed in, showing the effort they put in to grow from last season\u2019s seventh place at Junior Worlds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really focus on training, making sure that every day is another step forward and that we continue growing from one competition to another,\u201d Aboian explained. \u201cWhile we are still juniors, we can develop every programme and develop ourselves to prepare for the senior stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
France\u2019s\u00a0Ambre Perrier Gianesini and Samuel Blanc Klaperman\u00a0won the silver medal, making a huge improvement from their tenth-place finish at last year\u2019s Junior Worlds. This year, they achieved new personal bests across the board: their rhythm dance ranked second with\u00a066.31 points, and their free dance was third with\u00a098.57 points, for a combined total of\u00a0164.88.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was maybe not the best performance we could give, but it was an opportunity to be here, and I am really proud of myself and of us that we finished second,\u201d Perrier Gianesini said. \u201cEven if I wanted the gold, sometimes you have to take a step back and reflect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be in this group of people now who win medals and are friends, even if it is not exactly what we were hoping for, it is still really good,\u201d she later added.<\/p>\n
Historically, French teams who won silver at Junior Worlds often went on to achieve remarkable senior careers, including for example Olympic Champions\u00a0Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is true, the French teams who made the Junior podium were amazing later at the senior level, so that already means something,\u201d Klaperman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are following in the footsteps of the best,\u201d Perrier Gianesini added.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s\u00a0Iryna Pidgaina and Artem Koval\u00a0redeemed themselves after finishing just off the podium last year. They posted the third best rhythm dance with\u00a065.45 points, the second-best free dance with\u00a098.87, and a total of\u00a0164.32, just half a point shy of silver but still earning the medal they had aimed for.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, we are happy about our performance because we did everything we could to prepare,\u201d Koval shared. \u201cWe are so happy about this medal because we repeated what our choreographers, Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin, did in 2015 in the same place, and that makes us very proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the final scores came out, Pidgaina could not hold back tears in the kiss and cry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole season was very hard, and it is still a little bit hard for me to talk about it,\u201d Pidgaina confessed. \u201cI still cannot believe that we achieved this, because at some point I thought we would either finish our skating career or skip the season completely. I think today and yesterday we did our best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both skaters are now looking forward to their senior debut next season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are preparing for the senior level and we already have some ideas,\u201d Koval said. \u201cAnd of course, the Golden Waltz will be very fun, but I have seen some of the steps, and it is so hard!\u201d.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s\u00a0Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys\u00a0finished just off the podium, followed by\u00a0Dania Mouaden and Th\u00e9o Bigot\u00a0of France.<\/p>\n
Two Italian teams,\u00a0Arianna Soldati and Nicholas Tagliabue\u00a0and\u00a0Zoe Bianchi and Daniel Basile, placed sixth and seventh.<\/p>\n
Rounding out the top ten were Germany\u2019s\u00a0Alexia Kruk and Jan Eisenhaber\u00a0in eighth,\u00a0Diane Sznajder and J\u00e1chym Nov\u00e1k\u00a0of the Czech Republic in ninth, and Austria\u2019s\u00a0Anita Straub and Andreas Straub\u00a0in tenth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matteo Morelli The\u00a0ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships 2026\u00a0took place in Tallinn, Estonia, at the famous\u00a0Tondiraba Ice Hall. This was the fourth time that Junior Worlds was held in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_gspb_post_css":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[548,142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2025-2026-event-recaps","category-featured"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?fit=1080%2C638&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?fit=1080%2C638&ssl=1",1080,638,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?fit=254%2C150&ssl=1",254,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?fit=300%2C177&ssl=1",300,177,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?fit=768%2C454&ssl=1",768,454,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?fit=1024%2C605&ssl=1",1024,605,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?fit=1080%2C638&ssl=1",1080,638,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?fit=1080%2C638&ssl=1",1080,638,true],"et-pb-post-main-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1",400,250,true],"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?resize=1080%2C638&ssl=1",1080,638,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?resize=400%2C284&ssl=1",400,284,true],"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?resize=510%2C382&ssl=1",510,382,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image-single":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?fit=1080%2C638&ssl=1",1080,638,true],"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?resize=400%2C516&ssl=1",400,516,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-World-Junior-Championships-Recap.jpg?resize=45%2C45&ssl=1",45,45,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Team IDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/author\/idcadmin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"by Matteo Morelli The\u00a0ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships 2026\u00a0took place in Tallinn, Estonia, at the famous\u00a0Tondiraba Ice Hall. This was the fourth time that Junior Worlds was held in […]","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7GOSM-b9p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42869,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42867\/revisions\/42869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}