In her first ISU Challenger Series competition this season, Ava Marie Ziegler earned gold while Wolfkostin and Chen secured a bronze and Budapest, Hungary this weekend, bringing Team USA's Challenger Series medal count to 11..
Ziegler's short program earned her a score of55.59 points. She completed three Level 4 elements, a combination spin, a flying camel spin, and a step sequence, in an ethereal yet powerful routine to Hi-Finesse's "Rebirth".
Coming into the free skate in fifth place, Ziegler ascended to first place overall after her cleanly skated performance to Adele's "Love in the Dark". She earned positive grades of execution in all but one element, starting the program with a powerful double Axel-Euler-triple Salchow combination and continuing with a triple flip-double toe, a triple flip, and other doubles and triples alone and in combination. The program wrapped up beautifully with a Level 4 flying sit spin, one of the two Level 4 spins in the program. Ziegler scored 130.24 in the free skate and 185.83 total, creating new personal bests in both scores.
Switzerland's Kimmy Repond earned silver (177.74) while Niina Petrokina of Estonia finished in third (176.32).
Izzo finsihed tenth in her short program with a score of 52.01. Particularly notable were her spins, two of which earned a Level 4 designation and one, a layback spin, earning Level 3.
She improved on her placement in the free skate, finishing seventh. A strong, fast skater, Izzo landed a triple lutz and triple salchow. Similar to her short program, she displayed two well-executed Level 4 spins and one Level 3 layback. She scored 101.22 points in the free skate and earned a final score of 153.23, finishing in eighth place overall.
Two of Team USA's top junior teams last season,
Katarina Wolfkostin and Jeffrey Chen and
Oona Brown and Gage Brown, placed third and fifth respectively in their second Challenger series events this season.
With their placement, Wolfkostin and Chen improved on their sixth-place finish in the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Lake Placid this September.
They completed a Level 4 twizzle sequence and Level 4 rotational lift in their rhumba and samba rhythm dance, earning 72.37 points and positive grades of execution in each element.
The team also racked up positive grades of execution in all moves and several Level 4 elements in their free dance to music by Florence and the Machine, including a dance spin and twizzle sequence. Their combination lift also earned Level 4 designation, despite accruing a deduction for an extended lift. The skate earned 108.09 points for the segment and 180.46 overall.
The Browns placed fifth in the rhythm dance and overall, calling back to their fifth-place finish at the 2022 Ondrej Nepela Memorial earlier this month. Like their teammates, they also completed a Level 4otational lift and sequential twizzles, in their Cha Cha rhythm dance to earn 62.94 points.
They moved up one place in the free dance segment. Their quality elements enabled them to score positive grades of execution in all, and the performance included four Level 4 elements, the standouts of which were the synchronized twizzle sequence and combination straight line and rotational lift. Set to "No Good Place For The Lonely" by Joe Bonamassa and "Big Sky" by Annie Lennox, the sweeping free dance helped the duo continue their trend of finishing in the top five this season with an overall score of 166.33.
In the men's event,
Maxim Naumov and
Maxim Zharkov skated in their first Challenger series event of the season and earned placements in the top ten, placing fifth and ninth, respectively.
For 2020 U.S. junior champion, Naumovthe placement was an improvement over his sixth-place finish at the 2021 U.S. International Classic.
He led with a quad Salchow in the short program, and he soared from there. Earning positive grades of execution with every element, Naumov also landed a triple Axel and a triple Lutz-triple toe combination. Two Level 4 spins, and two Level 3 elements – a combination spin and step sequence – completed the performance. His score of 87.11, nearly four points higher than his next competitor, established a new personal best and put him in first place after the short program.
Despite a skate issue that required him to restart his free skate, Naumov earned 140.06 points in the free skate. Of the seven jumping passes, one was an attempted quad Salchow, but he did execute a triple loop, a triple Lutz, and a double Axel with positive grades of execution. The standout elements were the spins, all of which earned Level 4 designation. He finished in fifth place in the free skate and overall, scoring 227.17 points.
Teammate
Maxim Zharkov came to Hungary after a fifth-place finish in the Junior Grand Prix Czech Republic in Ostrava this September. This was also his Challenger Series debut for the season. Like Naumov, he also started his Pink Floyd short program with a quad, (a quad toe loop), adding to the triple Axel and triple-Lutz-triple toe loop combination. Another highlight was a Level 4 Flying Camel spin. He scored 65.03 points and placed tenth in the segment.
He improved his placement by one spot in the free skate, clinching ninth place with 127.20 points in the free skate segment and overall. Zharkov's first three jumps, a triple Lutz, a triple Axel, and a triple flip-double toe combination, earned him positive grades of execution. He also completed a well -executed Level 4 Flying Camel spin and a triple Lutz-double toe loop combination. His overall score was 192.23 points.
The next Challenger Series event Team USA will compete in will be the Ice Challenge in Graz, Austria November 9-13. To keep up with Team USA results and access streaming links, visit U.S. Figure Skating's Challenger Series competition central.
