Defending Junior Grand Prix Final champion Rio Nakata holds a slim lead after the short program at this year's event in Grenoble, France, on Friday, December 6. The 16-year-old is just 0.15 points ahead of American Jacob Sanchez going into Saturday's free skate.
Nakata is on top with a score of 79.39 points, with Sanchez in second at 79.24. Slovakia's Lukas Vaclavik is a distant third at 72.72.
New Zealand's Yanhao Li is in fourth place with 72.17, while South Korea's Minkyu Seo (69.68) is fifth and Sena Takahashi (61.83) is sixth.
Nakata skated to selections from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack and excelled on his jumps. He started with a fine triple axel, followed that with a triple flip, and went on to land a triple toe loop/triple toe loop combination jump. His spins and step sequence were all scored as level threes.
"I'm disappointed in my combination and my step sequence," Nakata stated. "While I was skating, just before I jumped the axel, it felt like it would be bad no matter what I did. But as I landed it, I could manage to change my mentality and do it. I did what I can."
Added Nakata, "I felt a little bit nervous but I felt the energy of the audience and that helped me a lot. The placement doesn't really matter to me. I do what I always do and I want the crowd to enjoy my program."
Sanchez Puts Himself in the Junior Grand Prix Final Title Hunt
The 17-year-old Sanchez, who won both of his JGP assignments this season, competed to "Music" and received an edge call on his triple flip, but landed his other jumps without issue. He recorded level fours on two of his spins and a level three on his step sequence.
"I feel very good just to be here, as the beginning of my season was a bit rocky and it was kind of a big fight to get my first JGP assignment," Sanchez noted. "Glad how things turned out and I got into a good rhythm and qualified for the [Junior Grand Prix] Final."
Added Sanchez, "Today I think I did pretty well and I am enjoying my time here in France. The senior skaters inspire me in a different way. I take inspiration by Ilia [Malinin] and Yuma [Kagiyama] regarding the jumps and people like Jason Brown and also Yuma inspire me with their skating skills."
An Uneven Performance for Vaclavik
Vaclavik performed to "Symphony No 7" by Beethoven and "Lacrimosa" and executed all of his jumps. But he received no score on one of his spins, and just a level two on his step sequence. He was also hit with a one-point deduction for a time violation.
"I was a little bit nervous, but it's fun to skate in front of so many people and to skate for the audience," Vaclavik said. "Got the big elements done today, but I had an unfortunate mistake on a spin, they took it out entirely and I started a bit too early and too much on the music. This is why I got the time violation."
Takahashi Endures a Disappointing Short Program
The 14-year-old Takahashi, who won his first JGP assignment this season and was second in the other, skated to "This Is Me" and struggled on his opening triple axel, then was judged a quarter rotation short on the front end (triple lutz) of his planned combination jump and was unable to complete the back end. He received level threes on his spins and step sequence.
"It was different in my practices, so I'm disappointed but I think I showed growth where I fought until the end without giving up," Takahashi remarked. "Even though I made mistakes in my jumps, I want to continue with confidence."
Added Takahashi, "The pressure was completely different from what I know from all previous competitions. This made me very nervous. The audience gave me good energy so I could enjoy skating here regardless of my mistakes."
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Author: Jack Gallagher
The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @sportsjapan.
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