Park Eun-Bi finishes 5th in 7th Junior GP…Kwon Min-Sol ‘final confirmed’
South Korean figure women’s singles prospect Park Eun-bi (Pyeongchon) finished her debut at the International Ice Skating Union (ISU) Junior Grand Prix in fifth place.
Park earned a total of 107.41 points in the free skate with a technical score of 58.32 and a performance score of 49.09 at the seventh ISU Junior Grand Prix 2023-2024 in Yerevan, Armenia, on Sunday (Feb. 7).
Combined with her short program score (59.22 points) from the previous day, Park earned a total score of 166.63 points, placing fifth and earning a “top five” finish in her first Junior Grand Prix.
Her compatriot Go Na-yeon (Star Garam Jung), who fell three times in her free skate, scored 82.75 points to combine with her short program score (54.69 points) for a total of 137.44 points, good for 12th place.
At the seventh edition of the competition, Japan’s Mao Shimada scored 136.67 points in the free skate and 73.14 points in the short program to take first place with a total score of 209.81 points.
Shimada was ruled out of rotation on her triple axel (three aerials) and fell on her landing on her subsequent quadruple salchow (four), but she calmly executed the remaining tasks to improve her score.
Ellis Lynn Gracie (176.11 points) and Sherry Zhang (175.18 points) of the United States finished second and third.
Park Hyun-seo (Kyungshin), who competed in the men’s single free skate later in the day, scored 42.64 points for the TES, 60.41 points for the PCS, and 102.05 points for the deduction of one point, which combined with his short program score (53.15 points) gave him 155.20 points to finish the competition in 11th place.
With this seventh event, the Junior Grand Prix Series comes to a close for the season, and all six men’s and women’s singles competitors have been confirmed for the Junior Grand Prix Final in Beijing, China, on December 7-10.
The Junior Grand Prix Final is a “king of the hill” event that features only the top six male and female performers from the seven events of the Junior Grand Prix Series.
Coincidentally, this year’s Junior Grand Prix Final women’s singles will be a “Japan-Korea” event, as three Korean and three Japanese players have qualified for the event.
Shin Jia (Yeongdong) and Kim Yoo-sung (Pyeongchon) qualified for the Grand Prix Final with results through the fifth competition last month, while Kwon Min-sol (Mokdong) rode the “Grand Prix Final Train” after the seventh competition.
Shin Jia swept both the second and fifth competitions to earn 30 ranking points, becoming the first player in 18 years to reach the Grand Prix Final for the second consecutive year.
Shinjia tied Shimada for second place in the rankings with 30 points, but was outdone by Shimada in total points.
Kim Yoo-sung (26 points), who finished second in the first and fifth events, is fifth in ranking points, while Kwon Min-sol (third in the second event and second in the sixth event) is sixth with 24 points.
In addition to Shimada, Japan’s Ami Nakai (1st-3rd place, 30 points) and Rena Uezono (2nd-6th place, 28 points) qualified for the Grand Prix Finals.
In the men’s singles, Lim Joo-heon (SURIGO) and Kim Hyun-gyeom (HAN AD) will compete in the Junior Grand Prix Final.
Lim earned a silver medal at Event 4 and a gold medal at Event 6, while Kim earned a runner-up finish at Event 2 and a gold medal at Event 5 to earn 28 ranking points.
The two Koreans will compete against Rio Nakada (JPN), François Pitot (FRA), Daniel Martinov (USA), and Adam Hagara (Slovakia). 파워볼분석