{"id":9191,"date":"2016-08-24T02:08:29","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T02:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/?p=9191"},"modified":"2019-03-23T19:21:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-23T23:21:00","slug":"2016-junior-grand-prix-st-gervais-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/2016-junior-grand-prix-st-gervais-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 Junior Grand Prix St. Gervais Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">by Laura Flagg | Photo by Daphne Backman<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This season&#8217;s Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series begins this weekend in St. Gervais, France.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Sixteen teams from twelve countries will be competing in the first of seven events with the top finishers qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix Final.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Four of the teams competing medaled in last year\u2019s series, including Angelique Abachkina &amp; Louis Thauron, who are competing in their fourth season on the JGP series.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Abachkina &amp; Thauron placed second and fourth in their two JGP events last year, and finished the season by placing seventh at the World Junior Championships.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They are coached by Igor Shpilband, Fabian Bourzat, and Greg Zuerlein.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Their American training mates, Christina Carreira &amp; Anthony Ponomarenko, will likely be their top challengers for gold.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They had the same placements in last year\u2019s series, although at different events, but a fourth place finish in the deep field of juniors at the U.S. National Championships left them just short of a slot for the World Junior Championships.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Their new free dance is to \u201cExogenesis Symphony Pt. 3\u201d by Muse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Four of the teams competing medaled in last year\u2019s series, including two Russian teams. Sofia Shevchenko &amp; Igor Eremenko, who are coached by Irina Zhuk &amp; Alexander Svinin in Moscow, earned bronze in both of their events.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They had a tough time at the Russian Junior National Championships, finishing seventh.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Finishing just ahead of them at Nationals were Sofia Polishchuk &amp; Alexander Vakhnov who will also be competing in France.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They train with Svetlana Liapina and finished third and fifth in their two JGP competitions last year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The second American team competing will be Eliana Gropman &amp; Ian Somerville.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They had difficulties at their one JGP event last season and finished 10th, but had a strong competition at U.S. Nationals where they finished seventh.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They are coached by Alexei Kiliakov, Dmytri Ilin, and Elena Novak in Maryland.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Gropman &amp; Somerville\u2019s 2016-17 free dance is to music from the soundtrack of Le Petit Prince.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Nicole Kuzmich &amp; Alexandr Sinicyn will be representing the Czech Republic in St. Gervais.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Coached by Carol Lane, they had a solid season least year placing 7th at two JGP events and 11th at the World Junior Championships.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This is the teams last season of junior eligibility.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Ashlynne Stairs &amp; Lee Royer will be competing on the JGP series for the second year, placing eighth at their lone event in 2015, Cup of Austria.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Their free dance to music by the Beatles includes the selections \u201cSomething In the Way She Moves\u201d and \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The team trains in Vancouver with Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Karolina Calhoun &amp; Logan Leonesio are making their debut on the JGP series and will be the first ice dancers to represent Brazil at an ISU event.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The short dance takes place on Friday the 26th; the free dance is on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Laura Flagg | Photo by Daphne Backman This season&#8217;s Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series begins this weekend in St. Gervais, France.\u00a0 Sixteen teams from twelve countries will be competing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9192,"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":[297],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-preview-archive"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.jpg?fit=254%2C150&ssl=1",254,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.jpg?fit=300%2C177&ssl=1",300,177,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.jpg?fit=768%2C454&ssl=1",768,454,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.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\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.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\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.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\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.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\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.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\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.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\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.jpg?resize=400%2C516&ssl=1",400,516,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/CarrePonom-0289.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 Laura Flagg | Photo by Daphne Backman This season&#8217;s Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series begins this weekend in St. Gervais, France.\u00a0 Sixteen teams from twelve countries will be competing 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