by Matteo Morelli

The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2024 is taking place in Taipei, Taiwan, from February 26 to March 3. 

This will be Taipei’s second time hosting the event after having welcomed it in 2017, when the podium included current USA’s senior skaters Michael Parsons in gold medal position (back then skating with his sister Rachel Parsons), and Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko in bronze medal position.

This year’s ice dance competition will see 31 teams representing 23 countries, and with all medallists from last year’s event currently in their first senior year, all the top tops are open for new champions to take.

The Medal Hunt

USA’s Leah Neset & vArtem Markelov enter the event as the favourite to win gold. They won all their Junior Grand Prix assignments and the Junior Grand Prix Final, where they had a margin of ten points from the second team. This will be their second Junior Worlds, after a fifth-place finish from last year’s event.

At their third Junior Worlds, Elizabeth Tkachenko & Alexei Kiliakov of Israel are also contenders for a podium finish. They won the silver medal at this year’s Junior Grand Prix Final, and despite of finishing thirteenth and eleventh at previous Junior Worlds events, they hope to maximise from the good season they are having and earn a medal at this event.

Darya Grimm & Michail Savitskiy of Germany will also fight for a podium finish, trying to redeem themselves after having to withdraw from last year’s Junior Worlds due to illness. This season, they were third at the Junior Grand Prix Final, entering it with wins from all their Junior Grand Prix assignments.

The list of other potential contenders includes the other teams that competed at this season’s Junior Grand Prix Final: France’s Celina Fradji & Jean-Hans Fourneaux, which ended sixth at last year’s Junior Worlds; Irina Pidgaina & Artem Koval of Ukraine, strong of a Junior Grand Prix win this season; and Yahli Pedersen & Jeffrey Chen of the USA, a new team in their first season together and with some already important results.

Event info: Teams have official practices from Monday, February 26. The rhythm dance kicks off on Friday, March 1, at 12:00pm (CST); the free dance occurs on Saturday, March 2, at 12:00pm (CST).