events

World Junior Championships Host the Top Young Athletes

Team USA

(2/28/05) � Kitchener, Ontario, welcomed approximately 170 athletes from more than 40 countries over the weekend for the 2005 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. Among them were 14 members of the U.S. Team: three ladies, three men, two pairs teams and two dance teams. The competition begins today with ladies qualifying and the pairs short program, and it continues through the exhibition on Sunday, March 6.

In 2004 the U.S. Team skated away with 5 of the 12 medals and could improve on that count in 2005. Three of the U.S. medalists return to compete this year: 2005 U.S. bronze medalist Kimmie Meissner won the silver, Jordan Brauninger won the bronze, and Morgan Matthews & Maxim Zavozin won the bronze in dance.

Ladies
Meissner is favored to medal in the ladies competition after executing a triple Axel at the 2005 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships � she was the first U.S. lady to land the jump since Tonya Harding in 1991. She finished second in both of her Junior Grand Prix (JGP) events this season behind Mao Asada of Japan, who is favored to win the gold. Meissner will be joined by U.S. teammates Emily Hughes and Alissa Czisny, who finished sixth and seventh at the 2005 U.S. Championships, respectively. As Hughes' first major international competition, this event marks one of the first opportunities in her career to go head-to-head with non-U.S. skaters. Czisny had a break-out performance in her first senior international, placing fourth at 2004 Smart Ones Skate America.

Men
Just like the ladies, all three U.S. men competed at the 2005 U.S. Championships on the senior level. Brauninger returns to the World Junior Championships for his second year hoping to improve upon his bronze in 2004. He finished fifth in both of his JGP events of the season and 11th at the 2005 U.S. Championships. Shaun Rogers is riding high following his sixth-place finish at the 2005 U.S. Championships, giving him momentum leading into this week's event. He placed second and fifth at his JGP events. Dennis Phan, who finished seventh at the 2004 World Junior Championships and won the 2004 JGP Final, was slated for the final spot for the U.S. men, but was forced to withdraw due to a lingering injury. In his place is Wesley Campbell, who finished 14th at the 2005 U.S. Championships and 10th at his 2004 JGP event.

Pairs
Two U.S. pairs teams new to the World Junior Championships will compete for medals in Kitchener. Mariel Miller & Rockne Brubaker won gold as juniors at the 2005 U.S. Championships just as Julia Vlassov & Drew Meekins skated to the silver. The two teams have consistently skated neck-and-neck. Miller and Brubaker placed third at the 2004 JGP Final, while Vlassov and Meekins placed fourth. However, Vlassov and Meekins were the 2004 U.S. novice champions while Miller and Brubaker finished second. Both teams are strong medal contenders at this week's event. The U.S. Team's top pairs finish in 2004 was sixth place.

Ice Dancing
Matthews and Zavozin have been unstoppable on the JGP Series this season, winning both of their series events and going on to win the JGP Final. They finished fifth at the 2005 U.S. Championships in their first year as seniors. They will be joined in Canada by 2005 U.S. junior champions Trina Pratt & Todd Gilles, who finished third in both of their 2004 JGP events.

The Competition
Top competition on the ladies side will come from Asada, who won the 2004 JGP Final by more than 30 points. The youngster has also completed triple Axels in competition, but will be too young to compete in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Another lady to watch is Korea's Yu-Na Kim, the second-place finisher at the 2004 JGP Final. In men's, Yasuharu Nanri of Japan finished second to Phan at the 2004 JGP Final, and Alexander Uspenski finished third. Both are strong medal contenders in Kitchener. The Russian pairs team of Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov are medal favorites as well after winning the 2004 JGP Final. In dance, Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, as well as Italy's Anna Cappellini and Matteo Zanni, are the top competition for the U.S. teams. The two teams finished two-three at the 2004 JGP Final, respectively.

2005 World Junior Figure Skating Championships
Kitchener, Ontario � Feb. 28-March 6, 2005

U.S. Entries (Hometown/Training Town)

Ladies
Alissa Czisny (Bowling Green, Ohio/Bloomfield Hills & Canton, Mich.)
Emily Hughes (Great Neck, N.Y./Bellmore, N.Y.)
Kimmie Meissner (Bel Air, Md./Newark, Del.)

Men
Jordan Brauninger (Ludlow, Ky./Crescent Springs, Ky.)
Wesley Campbell (Nashville, Tenn./Franklin, Tenn.)
Shaun Rogers (Millersville, Md./Newark, Del.)

Pairs
Mariel Miller (Chapel Hill, N.C.) & Rockne Brubaker (Algonquin, Ill./Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Julia Vlassov (Manchester, N.H.) & Drew Meekins (Wellesley, Mass./Lowell, Mass.)

Ice Dancing
Morgan Matthews (Fairfax, Va.) & Maxim Zavozin (Ashburn, Va./Ashburn, Va.)
Trina Pratt (Pueblo, Colo.) & Todd Gilles (Colorado Springs, Colo./Colorado Springs, Colo.)