#jgpfinal

And the last of the qualifiers are the ladies. For the second year in a row, it’s Russia vs. Japan with both countries have three and three.

Anastasia Gubanova of Russia is the top qualifier, as she has the highest score and is one of two skaters to win both of their competitions. She won the competitions in both the Czech Republic and Germany. Polina Tsurkaya of Russia is the second qualifier, winning her competition in both Russia and Estonia. Rika Kihara of Japan is the third qualifier, with a second place finish in Japan and won the competition in Slovenia.  

Kaori Sakamoto of Japan is the fourth qualifier with a second-place finish in France and winning the competition in Japan. Alina Zagitova of Russia is the fifth qualifier won the competition in France and was third in Slovenia. The final qualifier is Marin Honda of Japan with second place finishes in both Japan and Slovenia.

Even the alternates are all Japanese and Russia. The first alternate is Elizaveta Nugamanova of Russia, who was third in Russia and second in Estonia. Stanislava Konstantinova of Russia is the second alternate, with a second place finish Russia and a fourth place finish in Germany. The final qualifier is Yuna Shiraiwa of Japan with a fourth place finish in Russia and a second place finish in Germany.

With the final competition over, now we know the pairs entries for the JGP Final. No surprise at all, but Russia dominated with five out of the six pairs being from Russia. 

The top qualifiers are Anastasia Mishina and Vladislav Mirzoev. They are the only pair to with of their competitions, with wins in both Russia and Germany. In second are the only non-Russia pair, Anna Duskova and Martin Bidar of the Czech Republic. They won the competition in their home country and placed second in Germany.

Alina Utsiminka and Nikita Volodin are ranked third. They were second in Estonia and third in Germany. Amina Atakhanova and Ilia Spirodnov are ranked fourth. They were second in the Czech Republic and fourth in Estonia. Ranked fifth are Alexandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii who were second in Russia and fourth in Germany. The final qualifiers are Ekaterina Borisova and Dmitiry Sopot, who were third in both Russia and Estonia.

The first alternates are Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor of Australia, who were only seventh in the Czech Republic but were the surprise winners in Estonia. The second alternates are Chelsea Liu and Brian Johnson of the US, who lost the tiebreaker of the Australian's win. They were third in the Czech Republic but were only fifth in Estonia. The final alternates are Lorri-Ann Matte and Thierry Ferland of Canada. who were sixth in the Czech Republic and fourth in Russia.

The Ice Dance competition has also concluded, and thus, we have our six qualifiers! They were pretty split, with two Russian teams, three American teams, and one French.  Alla Loboda and Pavel Drozd of Russia are the top qualifiers. Though all of the top three teams won both of their competitions, but they had the highest score. They won their competitions in both Russia and Estonia. The second qualifiers are, surprisingly, Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons of the US , who won the competitions in both Japan and Germany. (I would have expected McNamara and Carpenter to outrank them, but there you go.) 

The third qualifiers are Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter of the US, who won their competitions in  both the Czech Republic and Slovenia. The fourth qualifiers are Angelique Abachinka and Louis Tharon of France, who won the competition in France and placed third in Japan. 

As the men’s competition has ended, we now know who has qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final! Four out of the six qualifiers are Russian. The top qualifier is Alexander Samarin of Russia, one of only two men to win both their competitions and had the higher score which allowed him to be ranked number one going into the Junior Grand Prix Final in December. He won the competitions in Russia and Estonia.

Ranked second is South Korean skater, Cha Jun-hwan. He is only the second South Korean man (after Lee June-hyoung) and third overall (including Kim Yuna). I also believe he has the highest recorded score by a South Korean man. He won the competitions in Japan and Germany.

The third qualifier - and only American man - is Alexei Krasnozhon. He won the competition in Slovenia and was second in the Czech Republic.Roman Savosin of Russia qualified in fourth by virtue of winning the competition in France and coming in third in the Czech Republic.In fifth place is Ilia Skirda, who gained his place by placing second in both France and Slovenia. In sixth place, and the final qualifier is Dmitri Aliev, who gained his spot by winning the competition in the Czech Republic and coming in fourth in Slovenia.

Three events have been completed, and thus, we are seeing more of how the JGP Final could be laid out. I am going to go over who has already qualified, and who has the best chance of qualifying. 

First up, the men!

Roman Savosin of Russia tops the standings at the moment and has qualified for sure with twenty-six points. He got fifteen for his win in France, and eleven for his third-place finish in the Czech Republic.

At the top of the rest of the qualifiers - and the best chance of qualifying - are Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea, who won in Japan, and Dmitri Aliev, who won in the Czech Republic. Cha Jun-hwan will be in Slovenia in two weeks. He will be the favorite after his performance in Japan, and faces a field that he should be able to beat easily. Dmitri Aliev will be in Estonia the week afterward, and faces a much tougher field than Cha. He’ll be up against Americans Vincent Zhou and Alexei Kraznozhon, as well as Canadian Roman Sadovsky. He looks good to qualify, though, as he only needs to place in the top three to gain a spot and could even place fourth and probably still qualify.

Vincent Zhou and Alexei Kraznozhon are next in the standings. Zhou won the silver medal in Japan, and Kraznozhon won silver in the Czech Republic. As previously mentioned, they are both in Estonia in three weeks and up against Dmitri Aliev of Russia. They both must place second to gain a for-sure spot, but a bronze medal would put them in good position. This means that they must both beat two of the other skaters. With Aliev, looking good for gold, that leaves them needing to beat both Roman Sadovsky and Koshiro Shimada of Japan in order for both of them go on to the Final. Shimada has a shot of qualifying, too, but he must place second or no go. That leaves one more spot open. Ilia Skirda of Russia is at the top of the rest of the qualifiers with his silver medal in France and has the best chance of grabbing the last spot. He is up against Cha Jun-hwan in Slovenia in two weeks, but doesn’t have to beat him! (That would be a tall order if Cha skates like he did in France again.) All he has to do is repeat his silver medal performance to be in for sure, but as previously mentioned, he can place third and still have a good shot of going in. The only skaters there who could possibly upset that is Tomoki Hiwatashi of the US and Kazuki Tomono of Japan. If Tomono can place second over Skirda, he will give himself a shot of going onto to the Final.

What do you think about my analysis? Respond below and let me know what you think!