Georgia's Metelkina/Berulava retain pairs title at ISU World Junior Championships

BUDAPEST, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava of Georgia defended their title in the pairs competition at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Debrecen, Hungary on Saturday night.

The Georgian pair won with 191.01 points overall. Ukraine's Sofiia Holichenko/Artem Darenskyi earned silver, while Canadians Martina Ariano Kent/Charly Laliberte Laurent secured bronze. China's Zhang Jiaxuan and Huang Yihang took fifth place with 151.41 points.

Zhang and Huang, who won two stops of the ISU Junior Grand Prix and the GP Final, made mistakes in their free skate as Zhang fell on her single jump and the triple throw.

"I'm not satisfied with my performance today," said Zhang. "I made many mistakes. Now, I really want to return and train harder. We'll be competing in the senior group next season, and we have a lot to improve upon."

In the women's event, Japan's Mao Shimada soared to her third straight World Junior Championships title. The 16-year-old achieved a new personal best with 156.16 points, also a season best, in her free skate for 230.84 points overall. She landed a triple Axel, quadruple toeloop, and seven triple jumps.

Shin Ji-a of South Korea climbed from seventh to claim her fourth consecutive junior worlds silver medal, while Elyce Lin-Gracey of the United States earned bronze.

"I am happy with the title, but I am even happier that I was able to perform how I wanted to in both my short program and free skate," Shimada noted. "Now I know I can perform like this under any circumstances."

China's 14-year-old Wang Yihan, fourth-place finisher at the Junior Grand Prix Final, fell on her triple Flip and finished 12th.

"I feel pretty good. I think my performance today was acceptable, but I fell on the triple Flip, and only achieved a level three spin. So I really need to improve on this," she said.

"I've learned a lot this season. I feel that I've improved my jump height, but I've also seen many excellent skaters this season, and I really admire them. It makes me want to enhance my skating."

Japan's Rio Nakata shone in the men's free skate, overtaking defending champion Seo Min-kyu of South Korea. Slovakia's Adam Hagara took third.

Skating to "Pirates of the Caribbean", Nakata went for a quad toe as his first jump but missed it. He fought back and landed the next quad toe-triple toe combination as well as six triple including two Axels. He set a personal best with 162.95 points in his free skate and racked up a winning total of 248.99 points.

China's Tian Tonghe failed on a triple Axel and eventually took 15th place.

In the ice dance, Noemi Maria Tali/Noah Lafornara made history, winning the very first ISU World Junior Championships title for Italy. The American and German pairs finished second and third respectively. ■