Skaters had earned points towards qualifying for the senior Grand Prix Final at the 2008 Skate America, the 2008 Skate Canada International, the 2008 Cup of China, the 2008 Trophée Eric Bompard, the 2008 Cup of Russia, and the 2008 NHK Trophy. Skaters had earned points towards qualifying for the junior Grand Prix Final at each of the eight Junior Grand Prix events. The six highest ranking skaters/teams from the Grand Prix series and the eight highest ranking skaters/teams from the Junior Grand Prix met at the Grand Prix Final.
Unlike the other events in both series, there was no compulsory dance portion of the competition. Ice dancers were ranked in the original dance starting order in reverse order of their qualification to the Final.
The following skaters qualified for the 2008–09 Junior Grand Prix Final, in order of qualification.[5][6][7][8]
Michal Březina, the second qualifier in the men's event, withdrew on December 1.[9]Artur Gachinski, the first alternate, replaced him.
Piper Gilles / Zachary Donohue, the fifth qualifiers in the ice dancing event, withdrew due to an injury to Gilles.[10] Marina Antipova / Artem Kudashev, the first alternates, replaced them.
The junior pairs' podium. From left: Ksenia Krasilnikova / Konstantin Bezmaternikh (3rd), Lubov Iliushechkina / Nodari Maisuradze (1st), Zhang Yue / Wang Lei (2nd).
The junior ice dancing podium. From left: Madison Hubbell / Keiffer Hubbell (2nd), Madison Chock / Greg Zuerlein (1st), Ekaterina Riazanova / Jonathan Guerreiro (3rd).
You must be logged in to post a comment.