I did have a chance to see a few videos from Jr worlds, although they were pretty low quality so my observations may not be totally correct. My overall impression, though, is that there has been some high-quality performances across all disciplines, but the ladies field seems to be particularly strong this season.
I really like all of the Japanese ladies at junior worlds, but my favorite is Risa Shoji. She has effortless speed and nice interpretation, but all of her jumps seem to be borderline, with the exception of her sal and toe. I also like Oba, but her use of arms is slightly distracting and could be toned down. The Russian babies were also great, but I was expecting that. I really enjoyed both the performances of Liza and Adelina, but I think that Liza should be leading by a little as Adelina's 3-3 was under-rotated. That said, Adelina's spins are better so I guess it evens out. Shelepen has improved a lot, but something I have noticed with all of the Russian girls is their awful layback position. Dick Button would be having a heart attack if he saw all of these girls turned in, drooping free legs. It looks ok when Zijun Li does it - it looks like her leg is supposed to be there, but the Russian girls' laybacks are just not aesthetically pleasing. The Americans also brought it, especially Gao. Hicks' flip was huge, but the toe was sketchy and downgraded. Her other two jumps were okay, but not landed with the confidence she had at nationals, which is understandable when you are kicking off the entire group at your first international! Agnes's costume is awful, but I actually liked her program better than nationals even though there were a few minor mistakes.
In the pairs, Sui and Han were the best technically, but I prefer the style of Takahashi and Tran. That is all I have to say for now :)
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