{"id":4979,"date":"2011-01-23T23:51:40","date_gmt":"2011-01-24T04:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/?p=4979"},"modified":"2011-08-22T12:01:26","modified_gmt":"2011-08-22T16:01:26","slug":"zahradnicek-tangos-to-the-top-of-junior-mens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/2011\/01\/23\/zahradnicek-tangos-to-the-top-of-junior-mens\/","title":{"rendered":"Zahradnicek tangos to the top of junior men’s standings"},"content":{"rendered":"
STAFF REPORTS
\nFigure Skaters Online<\/em><\/h5>\n

__________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>GREENSBORO, N.C. \u2014 Alexander Zahradnicek won the junior men’s short program at the 2011 U.S. Championships in Greensboro, N.C., with a 63.81 point performance to “Libertango\u201d by Astor Piazzolla. He leads Max Aaron (62.95), Alexander Aiken (61.78) and Steven Evans (61.66).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling,” said Zahradnicek, who finished fifth in the junior men’s competition at 2010 nationals. “I\u2019m happy that all my hard work is paying off this year and I just can go into the long now more relaxed and just have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coached by Priscilla Hill, Zahradnicek opened his program with a solid triple flip-triple toe combination that earned 10.60 points, one of the highest scoring elements of the competition, a triple loop and a double Axel. After the jumps, the Eastern Sectional and South Atlantic Regional Champion performed Level 3 flying camel spin, a Level 2 serpentine step sequence, a Level 4 change foot sit spin and a Level 4 change foot combination spin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best was just controlling my nerves. Just keeping them intact,” he said. “Going out there, not worrying about anything, letting everything flow like it does in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron put his hand down on the opening triple Axel of his \u201cEl Tango de Roxanne\u201d short program. But he recovered to land a strong triple Lutz-triple toe combination and a triple loop.<\/p>\n

“I thought that it was quite strong, besides the first jump,” he said. “Other than that I felt comfortable with it and excited for the free skate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two spins of Aaron’s spins, the change foot sit spin and the change foot combination, both at the end of his program, received a Level 4. His flying camel spin was only a Level 1 and his circular step sequence was only a Level 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel pretty confident,” Aaron said about the free skate. “I\u2019m not in the place I want to be or the score I wanted, but it\u2019s good motivation to keep pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron is the only competitor who received a bye to the junior men’s competition. In December, he finished fourth at the Junior Grand Prix Final, following a silver medal performance at Junior Grand Prix Japan and a bronze medal in France.<\/p>\n

Skating before a home crowd, Aiken landed a triple Lutz-triple toe, a triple loop and a double Axel. His change foot sit spin and his program ending change foot combination spin were both Level 3 while his flying camel spin was Level 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy with it,” said Aiken, who performed a Level 3 straight line step sequence. “It\u2019s what I came to do and what I have been training, so I can\u2019t complain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans received a negative grade of execution for his opening triple Lutz-triple toe combination but moved on to perform a triple loop and a double Axel without problems.<\/p>\n

For complete results from the 2011 U.S. Championships, please click here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

__________<\/p>\n

Figure Skaters Online strives to be an accurate source of information related to the sport of figure skating. To report an error, please e-mail the <\/em>news editor<\/em>. Include the article date and title in your e-mail.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander Zahradnicek won the junior men’s short program at the 2011 U.S. Championships in Greensboro, N.C., with a 63.81 point performance to “Libertango\u201d by Astor Piazzolla. He leads Max Aaron (62.95), Alexander Aiken (61.78) and Steven Evans (61.66).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4979"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4984,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4979\/revisions\/4984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}