Photo Credit: Melanie Heaney/U.S. Figure Skating
A contingent of 16 U.S. athletes is set to compete at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2024 Feb. 26 - March 3 in Taipei City, Taiwan.
The culmination of the junior figure skating season, Team USA will have two entries each in the women’s and men’s events and three entries in both the pairs and ice dance competitions.
Six U.S. athletes will skate at their second World Junior Championships while 10 will make their debut when they take the ice. This season, Team USA athletes traveling to Taiwan won a combined 11 medals at the seven ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating events.
An accomplished group of ice dancers will represent Team USA with all three teams medaling at both their Junior Grand Prix assignments this season.
Looking to cap off a perfect season, Leah Neset and Artem Markelov have won every competition they’ve competed in during the 2023-24 campaign, winning golds at both their Junior Grand Prix events as well as the Junior Grand Prix Final crown.
Last month, Neset and Markelov clinched their third straight U.S. junior title, becoming the first-ever junior athletes to win three consecutive U.S. junior championships. Competing at the World Junior Championships for the second straight year, the team that trains in Colorado Springs, Colorado, finished fifth at this event last season, but have not lost since.
Teaming up less than a year ago, Yahli Pedersen and Jeffrey Chen have burst onto the junior scene, quickly becoming one of the top ice dance teams internationally. They earned two silvers in the Junior Grand Prix Series to qualify for the Junior Grand Prix Final before claiming silver at the U.S. Championships in Columbus, Ohio.
Two-time U.S. junior bronze medalists, including this year, Elliana Peal and Ethan Peal make their first appearance at Junior Worlds. They started their international season with a bronze at JGP Austria before earning silver in Armenia.
Team USA’s top pairs team heading into the World Junior Championships is Olivia Flores and Luke Wang. They secured a pair of silvers on the JGP circuit to punch their ticket to the JGP Final, where they finished fifth. To start out 2024, Flores and Wang won their first U.S. junior title.
Standing next to them on the podium at the 2024 U.S. Championships with silver and joining them in Taiwan are Naomi Williams and Lachlan Lewer. The two-time U.S. junior silver medalists will skate at the World Junior Championships for the second straight year – they finished seventh in 2023 – but missed the Junior Grand Prix season due to injury and will compete internationally in Taiwan for the first time this season.
Together since May of 2023, Adele Zheng and Andy Deng brought home a sixth-place result at their only Junior Grand Prix event this season. They followed up that finish with the pewter medal in Columbus.
In the women’s event, Team USA will be represented by Josephine Lee and Sherry Zhang.
Taking the ice at the World Junior Championships for the second straight year, Lee looks to improve on her eighth-place finish at her JGP assignment in Austria. At the U.S. Championships, she showed why she is one of Team USA’s rising stars, earning the silver in the senior competition, winning the free skate and setting new personal bests for her short program, free skate and total score.
Zhang secured her first JGP podium finish this season when she clinched bronze in Armenia. She went on to compete at the Youth Olympic Games last month, where she took sixth in the individual competition and silver in the team event with Team USA.
Rounding out the USA lineup are two men slated to compete at the World Junior Championships: Daniel Martynov and Jacob Sanchez.
Hoping to improve on his 10th-place finish at last year’s Junior Worlds, Martynov medaled at both his Junior Grand Prix events, including gold in Armenia. After competing at the JGP Final, Martynov placed in the top 10 in the senior event at the U.S. Championships.
Like Zhang in the women’s competition, Sanchez competed at the Youth Olympic Games rather than the U.S. Championships, finishing just off the podium in fourth individually and winning team silver. He took fourth and fifth in his two JGP assignments this season.
Competition kicks off Wednesday, Feb. 28 with the pairs and women’s short programs. The following day, the men’s short program takes place and the first medals will be awarded following the pairs free skate. Friday, March 1 begins with the rhythm dance before the women’s free skate. Competition concludes Saturday, March 2 with the free dance and men’s free skate.
Fans can follow Team USA with live results here. All the action can be livestreamed on the ISU YouTube channel.
