Two Withdrawals From Junior Worlds Thins Ladies Field

South Korea and the United States both lose one of the two ladies originally named to their Junior World team.

The 2017 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Taipei are now less than two weeks away. For the ladies competition, the podium is expected to contend between three Russian and three Japanese girls. But the six of them are not the only skaters who could possibly medal; a handful of others have outside shots. This week, however, the competition lost two of them, one Korean, one American. Both are replaced by skaters whose shots are slightly longer.

Ye-Lim Kim Out, So-Hyun An In

Ye-Lim Kim got her spot on team by winning silver at Korean Nationals, behind teammate Eunsoo Lim. She’d come off a successful fall that had included junior silver at a minor event and fourth and fifth places on the Junior Grand Prix. However, earlier this week, she disappeared from the ISU’s roster for the ladies event. The rumor mill claims she’s injured, but there is no official word of anything.

Replacement So-Hyun An was seventh at Korean Nationals. Lucky for her, two of the ladies ahead of her weren’t skating junior anymore, and two were too young for it, so she still got the first alternate position. But her fall results weren’t that much weaker than Kim’s. Her JGP placements were fifth and eighth, and she took a junior bronze at the Skate Canada Autumn Classic. It would still take a surprising set of events to get her a medal, but the same was true for Kim.

Korea’s best shot at the podium already was and still remains Lim, who is going in as a more real potential spoiler. She and An will also be looking to increase Korea’s Junior Worlds berths to three next year. That remains doable, but it was already hard, and now gets harder.

Amber Glenn Out, Starr Andrews In

For the U.S. team, it was already harder for Amber Glenn and Bradie Tennell to either seriously contend for a medal or increase their berths to three. And now they’ve lost the one with JGP medals and the stronger record on her resume. Friday, the U.S. Figure Skating announced Glenn’s withdrawal for “personal reasons.” It must have been a late decision indeed, since she was at the new preparation camp earlier in the week. Whatever’s going on, we can only hope for the best.

While, as is their usual practice, the federation chose both their initial ladies competitors from the senior results at U.S. Nationals. For the first alternate, they turned to results of the junior competition. But winner Kaitlyn Nguyen was too young, so they named silver medalist Starr Andrews, who now takes Glenn’s place. Andrews is probably still most known for a performance to Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair” that went viral all the way back in 2010, when she was nine. But fans have been following her since as a skater with considerable potential.

Perhaps she hasn’t quite met up to it as much as everyone hoped. She moved up to junior this season without a record good enough to get her any JGP assignments. Instead, she got sent to the junior competition of a more minor event, which she won with not unimpressive style. This will be by far the biggest competitive stage she’s ever been on. She makes the most of it, she might not even need to approach the podium to make her junior career. Even so, the U.S. has suffered a much harder loss than Korea has.

Next: Mishina & Galiamov Biggest of Four Pair-Ups of Past Two Months

The World Junior Figure Skating Champions take place March 15-19, 2017.