Lucas Broussard secured a gold medal in the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series in Gdańsk, Poland, his first JGP of the season.
Broussard improved upon his fifth-place finish in the short program (69.12) to rocket into second place in the free skate (140.27) and first overall (209.39). He completed a triple loop and two Level Four spins in his short program to "Adios Nonino," but his long program was his best. Earning all positive grades of execution, he opened with a triple toe and continued with a triple flip-Euler-triple Salchow combination, a triple Lutz-triple toe and a triple Lutz-double toe combination. The 16-year-old also earned the highest program component scores and personal bests in all scores.
Youdong Chen of China came in second with a score of 201.84 while Italy's Raffaele Francesco Zich claimed bronze with 200.73 points.
Traveling to Poland with a fifth-place finish at the Junior Grand Prix in France last month under his belt,
Michael Xie moved up to seventh overall after a 10th place finish in the short and fourth in the free skate. With an impressive triple Axel sequence and triple Axel to begin the program, followed by a triple Lutz-Euler-triple Salchow combination and two Level Four spins, he scored 131.97 points in the free and 193.48 total, both personal bests.
Teammate
Joseph Klein scored a new personal best of 70.13 points in his short program to "I Hear a Symphony" by Cody Fry and also earned the highest total program component score in the short program segment. His
The Mask of Zorro free skate included a triple flip-double toe combination and a triple flip, earning 117.37 points. He scored 187.50 overall, placing ninth.
Competing at her second Junior Grand Prix of the season after placing fifth in JGP France,
Clare Seo landed in eighth place, scoring 170.33 overall.
Josephine Lee settled in ninth place right behind her in her first JGP of the season with 169.01 points, scoring new international personal bests in the short program, free skate and total score.
Logan Higase-Chen placed 15th with a score of 143.97 in her JGP debut.
Mao Shimada and Mone Chiba of Japan took the top two spots on the podium while Chaeyeon Kim of Korea claimed bronze.
Team USA ice dancers
Helena Carhart and Volodymyr Horovyi,
Romy Malcolm and Noah Lafornara, and
Kristina Bland and Matthew Sperry all skated to top 10 finishes.
Carhart and Horovyi came into the free dance in fifth place after the rhythm dance and was able to hold on to finish fifth overall. They completed a Level Four combination lift and Level Four dance spin in their expressive, contemporary free dance to "Long Way Down" and "Another Love" by Tom Odell, earning international personal bests in the free dance and total score with 85.15 and 145.46 points, respectively.
In their international debut, Malcolm and Lafornara scored a total of 134.78 points for ninth place. Finishing right behind them in 10th, Bland and Sperry set new personal bests in all three of their performances with 54.45 points in the rhythm dance, 78.41 points in the free dance and 132.86 points overall.
Winning the ice dance event was Nadiia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont of Canada. Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez of Great Britain earned silver and Celina Bradji and Jean-Hans Fourneaux of France secured bronze.
The next Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series remains in Gdańsk, Poland, taking place Oct. 5-8.
