Figure Skaters: Junior vs Senior Champions - Men | Golden Skate

Figure Skaters: Junior vs Senior Champions - Men

TallyT

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Country
Australia
I don't know if people have seen this, but I thought it interesting and hope the youtube channel - the same one that did the height comparisons - does the ladies as well. It could be seen as a needed corrective when we see baby phenoms being hyped as sure and certain World/Olympic medallists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfq0CdSneEc&t=34s

It's a full list of Junior World Champions since 1976 and how their senior career went, with the stats at the end showing what percentages of these young champions went on to senior golds. 16% of Junior World Champions made World Champion, and only 11% got either GPF (since it started) or Olympics. A surprising number didn't podium at all in international senior level.

We say ice is slippery....


(edit - sorry for the extra stuff on the title, someone was talking to me about salted caramel hot chocolate just as I went to hit 'post' and it distracted me)
 

YuBluByMe

May Rika spin her hair into GOLD….in 2026.
Final Flight
Joined
Mar 21, 2018
Detective Yub Lub strikes again:

Ladies Junior World Champions:
1976: Suzie Baker
1977: Caroline Skoczen
1978: Jill Sawyer
1979: Elaine Zayak
1980: Rosalynn Sumners
1981: Tiffany Chin
1982: Janina Wirth
1983: Simone Koch
1984: Karin Hendschke
1985: Tatiana Andreeva
1986: Natalia Gorbenko
1987: Cindy Bortz
1988: Kristi Yamaguchi
1989: Jessica Mills
1990: Yuka Sato
1991: Surya Bonaly
1992: Laetitia Hubert
1993: Kumiko Koiwai
1994: Michelle Kwan
1995: Irina Slutskaya
1996: Elena Ivanova
1997: Sydne Vogel
1998: Julia Soldatova
1999: Daria Timonshenko
2000: Jennifer Kirk
2001: Kristina Oblasova
2002: Ann Patrice McDonough
2003: Yukina Ota
2004: Miki Ando
2005: Mao Asada
2006: Yuna Kim
2007: Caroline Zhang
2008: Rachel Flatt
2009: Mena Leonova
2010: Kanako Murakami
2011: Adelina Sotnikova
2012: Yulia Lipnitskaia
2013: Elena Radionova
2014: Elena Radionova
2015: Evgenia Medvedeva
2016: Marin Honda
2017: Alina Zagitova
2018: Alexandra Trusova
2019: Alexandra Trusova
2020: Kamila Valieva

Off the top of my head, I see four JWorld champions that went on to become Olympic gold medalists: Yamaguchi, Kim, Sotnikova, and Zagitova. That’s a small number, but that also means the last three Olympic gold medalists also won Junior Worlds.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
Thanks for posting the men's version, although the music and the rolling medals did get to me a little.;)

Brought back memories of a lesser known skater, that I barely remembered: Dennis Coi, the "smaller Toller". The SkateGuard blog did an article on Dennis, with clips of his skating:

http://skateguard1.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-smaller-toller-dennis-coi-story.html

He never did equal his junior success and sadly died at the age of 26 from AIDS:sad21:
 
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eppen

Medalist
Joined
Mar 28, 2006
Country
Spain
In the single skaters, some 50% of the junior medalists medal at a senior championship at least once. It is a fairly low percentage from today's point of view, but the figure for the whole history is probably affected by the changing status of the competition.

Just by looking at the participant rosters over the years, it is obvious that the junior worlds became an important competition in a skating career only in the mid-90s. Before that the ones who could skate went directly to seniors and those who were not quite as able did the juniors (there were some exceptions to the rule, of course).

Having a proper junior career became a thing only after the age rule was imposed in 1996. And the number of skaters making it good in seniors gets much higher after that. For example, only 14 of the 50 or so ladies medaling from 1996 to 2018, were NOT successful in senior championships. That's less than 30% which is quite different from the overall 50%.

E
 

ladyjane

Medalist
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Country
Netherlands
Thanks for posting the men's version, although the music and the rolling medals did get to me a little.;)

Brought back memories of a lesser known skater, that I barely remembered: Dennis Coi, the "smaller Toller". The SkateGuard blog did an article on Dennis, with clips of his skating:

http://skateguard1.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-smaller-toller-dennis-coi-story.html

He never did equal his junior success and sadly died at the age of 26 from AIDS:sad21:

What a sad story. To be honest, I had never heard of him (one of the names I didn't recognise in the youtube line up) but it's nice to read a bit more about him.
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
Josh's name will be on that list :cry:
 
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