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WRG 2019 - FREESTYLE - China and Russia still dominate the Classic Slalom, but Italy is queen of Pair slalom

This second day of the WRG is dedicated to Classic Slalom and Pair competitions.

This year the first six athletes of the Classic world ranking pass to the finals without competing in the qualification groups. Since many top level skaters do not have a high ranking, it happens that most of them (especially Asians) need to qualify to the finals, including previous world champions or athletes who can compete for the podium. 

Yesterday for Junior Women, the Italian Matilde Arosio, Francesca Pettinari, the Russian Torokhova Elizaveta, and the Chinese Liu Jia Xin, Qin Yu Qing (3rd at WRG 2017) and Chen Chu Yao (bronze medal at the Worlds 2018) made it to the finals, while for Junior Men the qualified skaters are Shibagaki Taiki for Japan (world champion 2018), Zeng Chen Yu and Gu Qun Ki (silver medal at the Worlds 2018) from China, Chang Wei-Jen (3rd at WRG 2017) and Lai Hsu-Chieh from Chinese Taipei and Zharkov Mikhail from Russia. 

As for Seniors, this morning the first qualified are Shemyakinskaya Yana and Bamatter-Rodriguez Olga from Russia, Su Fei Qian from China (world champion 2018), Czapla Justina from Poland and the spanish Fatmi Garcia Miriam and Garcia Patino Alba for Senior Women, and for Senior Men.

 

Russia and China are the main countries that fight for the podium in both Junior and Senior Women categories.  

For the Junior ladies, Sofia Bogdanova (RUS), who got second last year, gets her revenge and wins the competition against Anna Smirnova (RUS, world champion 2018). Both showed very technical and accurate runs but even though Anna Smirnova’s technique level was higher than Sofia Bogdanova’s, Sofia’s choreography was better executed. Third place and bronze medal goes to Chen Chu Yao (CHN), who repeats her result from last year. Her performance included tricks of a very high level: a great wheeling and spins combo at the beginning of the program left the audience stunned. 

JUNIOR LADIES PODIUM:

1st - Bogdanova Sofia (RUS)

2nd - Smirnova Anna (RUS)

3rd - Chen Chu Yao (CHN)

 

For the Junior men, Gu Kun Qi (CHN) amazes the audience with a perfect run: a great interpretation of the music and a high level technique grant him the first place just at the beginning of the competition. The bronze medal goes to Taiki Shibagaki (JPN), former world champion, who showed accurate and fast spins. Gleb Velikanov (RUS) improves his result comparing to last year and gets the silver medal. 

JUNIOR MEN PODIUM:

1st - Gu Kun Qi (CHN)

2nd - Velikanov Gleb (RUS)

3rd - Shibagaki Taiki (JPN)

 

Su Fei Qian (CHN) confirms her supremacy and wins the gold medal again with a delicate and elegant exhibition. Her technique is cleaner compared to Daria Kuznetsova (RUS), who executed short and unstable tricks during her performance. The russian skater finished 2nd and improved her result of last year. Bronze medal goes to Polish skater Klaudia Hartmanis: she tried to include some more choreography. 

SENIOR WOMEN PODIUM:

1st - Su Fei Qian (CHN)

2nd - Kuznetsova Daria (RUS)

3rd - Hartmanis Klaudia (POL)

 

In the senior men category we have the same podium as last year: Zhang Hao (CHN) wins the gold, while the italian skater Guslandi Lorenzo got the 2nd place and Valerio Degli Agostini got the bronze medal. The competition has been very tough as all three skaters showed great footwork, excellent tricks and very fast choreographies.

SENIOR MEN PODIUM:

1st - Zhang Hao (CHN)

2nd - Guslandi Lorenzo (ITA)

3rd - Valerio Degli Agostini (ITA)

 

The last competition of the day is the pair slalom. For the first time ever, the competition included 15 pairs. 

Shibagaki brothers from Japan executed a great program: their synchronisation was almost perfect and they finished 3rd. The young Gu Kun Qi and Zeng Chen Yu’s performance was fast and very technique, with a perfect synchronisation: they got the 2nd place, improving their performance from last year. 

The pair kings are still Lorenzo Guslandi and Valerio Degli Agostini: their flawless performance granted them the first place for the second year in a row. 

PAIRS PODIUM:

1st - Guslandi Lorenzo/Degli Agostini Lorenzo (ITA)

2nd - Gu Kun Qi/Zeng Chen Yu (CHN)

3rd - Shibagaki Masayoshi/Shibagaki Taiki (JPN)

 

Click below for

Full results 
Medal Table 
Discipline News 
Photogallery 

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