Juvenile Girls
It was the squeal heard round the world – well, at least around the rink – and it came from one of the youngest and tiniest competitors skating at the 2007 U.S. Junior Championships.
Nine-year-old Nina Jiang (Texas Gulf Coast FSC) won the juvenile girls title with a spunky program set to music from “Beauty and the Beast,” and with it she won everyone's hearts as well.
She scored 13 points more than she did while finishing second in her qualifying round Thursday. Her coach, Shanyn Vallon, said Jiang wasn't happy about some of her levels after the qualifying skate and was determined to improve and “finish everything.”
Jiang said, “I was careful to get all my rockers.”
Nina Jiang Photo by 5marks.com
Jiang's score of 70.10 was more than seven points higher than that of silver medalist Yasmin Siraj (SC of Boston). Jiang opened with an Ina Bauer into a single Axel, and followed that with a double Axel, double flip-double loop, double Lutz-double toe-double loop combination (although her foot hit the boards on the final jump), a double Salchow-double toe and a final double Lutz. Of course, she carried a smile from the moment she hit the double Axel.
With all that she can do off the ice, it's easy to forget that, off the ice, she's just a little girl, as evidenced by her answer to the question, “What's your favorite part of skating?”
“I like to fly…I like to do the Tinkerbells,” she said, giggling.
Tinkerbells? That's what she calls working on the harness with Vallon. But working on the harness is only a reward. To get to fly, she must first do three double Axels in a row in practice.
With all that she can do off the ice, it's easy to forget that, off the ice, she's just a little girl, as evidenced by her answer to the question, “What's your favorite part of skating?”
“I like to fly…I like to do the Tinkerbells,” she said, giggling.
Tinkerbells? That's what she calls working on the harness with Vallon. But working on the harness is only a reward. To get to fly, she must first do three double Axels in a row in practice.
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2007 Junior National Juvenile Ladies Champion
2008 Junior National Intermediate Ladies Champion
(12/01/2007) - Make it two in a row for Nina Jiang.
The 10 year old, skating out of the Texas Gulf Coast Figure Skating Club, won the U.S. intermediate ladies title Saturday at the U.S. Jr. National Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jiang captured the juvenile crown last year.
"I really like the way I skated and that I pulled up," Jiang said. "I was really confident today."
Whereas last year she only had to skate twice at this competition -- once in the qualifying rounds and once in the free skate -- this time around she had to add a short program to her repertoire, and that was nearly her undoing.
Jiang found herself in seventh place after the short program, although that placement is a bit deceiving as she was less than 2.5 points behind the leader, Lexie Hood (Stars FSC of Texas). Jiang sailed through her "Yellow River Concerto" free skate with hardly a misstep, starting off with a clean triple Salchow and landing six clean doubles along the way. Of her three spins, two received level fours and the other a level three. Only her double-Axel-double toe combination received a negative Grade of Execution (GOE).
"So much heart and soul went into that performance," said Jiang's coach, Shannon Vallon. "I felt she could grow into (the program), and she's done that over the season."
Her segment score of 64.78 gave her a total of 94.57 points. Skating first in the second group, she had to wait through 11 more skaters before her victory became official.
Jiang is a born performer, one who feeds off the audience's energy. Even though it was a partisan crowd, as most were rooting for hometown favorite Angela Wang (Salt Lake FS), they knew a good thing when they saw it.
"I love how the arena has everybody around you. All eyes are on you," Jiang said. "That's what I like about skating - getting your own individual turn to show what you can do."
For complete story
Jiang found herself in seventh place after the short program, although that placement is a bit deceiving as she was less than 2.5 points behind the leader, Lexie Hood (Stars FSC of Texas). Jiang sailed through her "Yellow River Concerto" free skate with hardly a misstep, starting off with a clean triple Salchow and landing six clean doubles along the way. Of her three spins, two received level fours and the other a level three. Only her double-Axel-double toe combination received a negative Grade of Execution (GOE).
"So much heart and soul went into that performance," said Jiang's coach, Shannon Vallon. "I felt she could grow into (the program), and she's done that over the season."
Her segment score of 64.78 gave her a total of 94.57 points. Skating first in the second group, she had to wait through 11 more skaters before her victory became official.
Jiang is a born performer, one who feeds off the audience's energy. Even though it was a partisan crowd, as most were rooting for hometown favorite Angela Wang (Salt Lake FS), they knew a good thing when they saw it.
"I love how the arena has everybody around you. All eyes are on you," Jiang said. "That's what I like about skating - getting your own individual turn to show what you can do."
For complete story
By Mickey Brown, excerpts from IceNetwork.com
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2008
TEAM USA
International Assignment
Vancouver, BC
Burnaby Summerskate
Aug 13-16, 2008
TEAM USA
International Assignment
Vancouver, BC
Burnaby Summerskate
Aug 13-16, 2008
Nina Jiang, Jacie Nguyen, Savannah Miller, Jennifer Wong, Nina Jiang, Mandy Garza, BJ Conrad, Brea Clark, Erin Kaufman, Jennifer Wu, Adit Arya
NINA JIANG