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Day 1 of Junior World: Canada, Finland and the USA leading


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Les Supremes Junior of Canada jumped to the top of the podium after the first day. (Credits: Roy Ng - 2024)

24 teams from 20 nations gathered in Neuchâtel, Switzerland for the Junior World Champion title. On 15 March the teams performed their Short Programs. Continue reading to discover who is leading.

Les Suprêmes Junior from Canada continued their streak of success hard earned during the season and stayed on top with 74.01 points after performing their “Hide and Seek, Ready or Not Here I Come” program clean. Except their pivoting block, the other four elements were all called Level 4. With higher technical scores and slightly better Program Components score they are ahead of the closest competitor, Finnish Team Fintastic (71.89), who also skated clean, by considerable margin. 
However, Team Fintastic have a higher season best Free Skating than Les Suprêmes Junior (127.33 vs 123.70) and so the Finns could still have a good chance to reverse the trend for the final podium top.

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Les Suprêmes Junior executing their pivot block on the Neuchâtel ice. (Credits: Roy Ng - 2024)


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Finnish Team Fintastic entering into intersection. (Credits: Roy Ng - 2024)

The team Skyliners Junior of the USA (70.93) who was 3rd in 2023 unfortunately had a fall and had to settle for the small bronze medal after the Short Program. Nevertheless Skyliners Junior also have a strong Free Skate (128.72 from Hevelius Cup 2024) and so Day 2 of the World Junior Championship is certainty still going to be exciting as ever.

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Skyliners Junior in their short program "The Firebird". (Credits: Roy Ng - 2024)

The USA, Canada and Finland also held the fourth to sixth positions respectively by Teams Elite Junior (68.66), Nexxice Junior (66.72) and Valley Bay Synchro Junior (64.58). Nexxice Junior had a clean skate but Teams Elite Junior and Valley Bay Synchro had falls to the otherwise polished performances. Will any of these countries get two big medals after Free Skating? We are eager to find out.

In terms of countries, Sweden (60.28), Italy (57.04), Switzerland (53.56) and Japan (46.69) are ranked the fourth to seventh. The improvement in Swiss skating has been impressive. Equally impressive is that many teams have achieved season best in Neuchâtel and so their hardwork has numerically paid off.

Day 2 of the World Championship is so thrilling that tickets have already been sold out long ago. 
The teams’ scores and rankings
are available here!
Free programs will begin at 2:30 p.m. (local time). The medal ceremony will be held at 7 p.m.