[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
by Anne Calder | Photo by Robin Ritoss<\/em><\/p>\n The world’s top junior competitors were in Debrecen, Hungary, for the 2016 World Junior Championships.\u00a0 Medals were awarded in all four disciplines with the event wrapping up with the free dance on Sunday.\u00a0 The U.S. swept the top two spots with Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter continuing their season-long winning streak and claiming the gold, while training mates, Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons, took home the silver medal.\u00a0 Russia’s Alla Loboda & Pavel Drozd rebounded after a sixth place short dance to win bronze.<\/p>\n SHORT DANCE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons (USA) won the Short Dance with a waltz to \u201cCinderella’s Departure for the Ball\u201d by Sergei Prokofiev. The siblings used the balletic music as a vehicle to glide their performance to level 4 twizzles, footwork, lift and the first waltz pattern.<\/p>\n “Our goal today was to have fun and to skate our short dance for the last time this year to the best of our ability,” Michael commented.\u00a0 “We\u2019re both proud of what we put on the ice.”<\/p>\n The siblings 67.88 score is the highest SD score recorded at a junior ISU competition.<\/p>\n Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter (USA) placed second with a 66.25, a repeat of their previous personal best score. The reigning Junior Grand Prix Final champions waltzed and marched to “Peer Gynt” by Edvard Grieg. The program earned level 4 twizzles, lift and second dance pattern. The level 3 footwork score lowered the technical mark enough to place them behind their training mates. Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac (FRA) performed an effortless dance to selections from the studio album by Dutch violinist, Andre Rieu \u2013 waltz: \u201cAnd the Waltz Goes On\u201d and polka: \u201cIf You Knew Susie\u201d. The twizzles and rotational lift earned level 4 and the footwork and first dance pattern was level 3. The Montreal-trained team scored 59.65 and is third.<\/p>\n “It was our best performance of the year,\u201d Le Gac said. <\/p>\n “We tried to do something different in the short dance to really push ourselves to the maximum of our abilities,” Lauriault added. “We\u2019re proud of what we put out, and it was our best score.”<\/p>\n Youth Olympic Games gold medalists, Anastasia Shpilevaya & Grigory Smirnov (RUS) are fourth (59.15). Elliana Pogrebinsky & Alex Benoit (USA), 2016 US bronze medalists are fifth (59.05).<\/p>\n Alla Loboda & Pavel Drozd (RUS), 2015 JGPF silver medalists are sixth (58.93) after Loboda had an unfortunate fall at the end of the step sequence.<\/p>\n Only 1.63 separates placements one and two, with 1.31 separating teams placed third through eighth.\u00a0 <\/p>\n FREE DANCE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter (USA) performed a solid free dance to Georges Bizet\u2019s Carmen and moved past their training partners to win the gold medal. The straight-line lift, twizzles and spin earned level 4, while the step sequences and rotational lift were level 3. The judges awarded all +2 and +3 technical marks. <\/p>\n “We really worked to show the characters of the program,” McNamara said.\u00a0 “We also worked to improve the maturity of our skating, to increase our flow and coverage and speed.”\u00a0 <\/p>\n They were rewarded with high component marks for their efforts.\u00a0 The free program (97.4) and total (163.65) were personal best scores. <\/p>\n Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons (USA) danced to selections by Medialuna Tango Project. They earned level 4 for the twizzles, two lifts and spin. Unfortunately, their short dance lead was not enough to make up for the points lost on the level 2 midline step sequence. <\/p>\n “Our goal was just to do the best we possibly could, and whatever happened, happened,” Michael commented.\u00a0 <\/p>\n “We\u2019ve really been working hard, and it really means a lot to us to have a medal at Junior Worlds,\u201d Rachel added.<\/p>\n The siblings slipped down a spot to silver, but did receive personal best scores for the free program (94.86) and total (162.74). Drozd spoke about being on the podium after the devastating fall in the short dance.\u00a0 <\/p>\n \u201cIt means a lot to us. We didn\u2019t have such a good short dance, and it was very important today to show a good free program. I think we did it. Today we were like one team\u201d Elliana Pogrebinsky & Alex Benoit (USA) moved up a notch from fifth to fourth with a mesmerizing free skate. They used the motion picture score of Romeo and Juliet<\/em> and the French musical Rom\u00e9o et Juliette: de la Haine \u00e0 l’Amour<\/em> to earn level 4 for twizzles, lifts, and the spin. The footwork received levels 3 and 2. \u00a0<\/p>\n “We really are happy; we gave our best,” Pogrebinsky said.\u00a0 “We wanted to show what we can do regardless of placement.\u00a0 This way you don\u2019t have that much pressure on you about the result.”<\/p>\n The free dance (87.75) and the total (146.83) were personal best scores for the Michigan based team.<\/p>\n Anastasia Shpilevaya & Grigory Smirnov (RUS) flipped places with Pogrebinsky & Benoit and finished fifth, but were sixth in the free dance.\u00a0 The Youth Olympic Game Champions danced an elegant performance to the musical film score from “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” by Michel Legrand. They were awarded level 4 for twizzles, lifts, and spin.\u00a0 The diagonal and circular step sequences were level 2.\u00a0 The team has not yet finished its skating season.<\/p>\n “We are glad to have performed the way we did,” Smirnov noted.\u00a0 “We still have one more competition when we go back to Russia.\u00a0 It is a very serious one at home.”<\/p>\n The short dance (59.15), free dance (87.40) and total (146.55) were personal best scores.<\/p>\n Betina Popova & Yuri Vlasenko (RUS) placed fifth in the free dance, but sixth overall. The\u00a0 three-time JGPF competitors danced a mature performance to \u201cCrazy in Love\u201d by Beyonce.\u00a0 The lifts and spin earned level 4 and the twizzles and footwork were level 3.\u00a0 The free dance score was 87.65, and the total score was 146.21.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Anne Calder | Photo by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_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":[186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recap-archive"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?fit=300%2C177&ssl=1",300,177,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?fit=768%2C454&ssl=1",768,454,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-post-main-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.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\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?resize=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.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\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.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\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.jpg?resize=400%2C516&ssl=1",400,516,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/16WJC-115.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 Anne Calder | Photo by...","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7GOSM-1H1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511","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=6511"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6575,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511\/revisions\/6575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u00a0
“We both feel the short dance is unique and stands out,” Carpenter explained.\u00a0 “That\u2019s something we always aspire to do with our skating.\u00a0 We really love this program. We wanted to have fun with it one last time, and I think we did that.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0
Alla Loboda & Pavel Drozd (RUS) vaulted from sixth to third and won the bronze medal with a sophisticated dance to \u201cLo ti penso amore\u201d and \u201cPaganini 5\u201d. The JGPF silver medalists earned level 4 twizzles, spin, and lifts. The step sequences were level 3.<\/p>\n
\u00a0
The 92.26 program score was a personal best. The total was 151.19.<\/p>\n