Canada’s Jazmine Desrochers & Kieran Thrasher skated to the lead as the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2026 opened in Tallinn, Estonia, on Wednesday with the Pairs Short Program. This marks the 50^th edition of the ISU World Junior Championships that provide the biggest stage for figure skating’s next generation to compete and grow into the stars and champions of tomorrow. 

Desrochers/Thrasher lead Canada to one-two in the Short Program 

Jazmine Desrochers & Kieran Thrasher led the Canadian Pairs to a one-two finish in the Short Program, edging teammates Ava Kemp & Yohnatan Elizarov. China’s Rui Guo & Yiwen Zhang are currently ranked third.

Skating to “Meet Me Halfway” and “Boom Boom Pow”, Desrochers & Thrasher produced a triple twist, double Axel and difficult lift to set a new personal best 62.84 points. The two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalists are sitting in a podium position for the first time at the ISU World Junior Championships.

“I think in the back of our mind we knew: if we skated well, it could happen [to be in the top three],” Thrasher said. “But it's not a main focus. If we still skated how we did today and we didn't get a medal, we would still be happy for what we did.”

“We wanted to put out some programs that we're proud of,” Desrochers added. “And if we can do that then we hope that the results will follow and that will get the points that we're hoping for.” 

Kemp & Elizarov put out a strong performance to “Succession” that featured a triple twist, throw triple Lutz and side-by-side double Axel. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalists earned 62.22 points. 

Ava Kemp & Yohnatan Elizarov are in second place behind their Canadian compatriots © ISU

“We're pretty happy about it, we were feeling really calm going into the short program,” Elizarov commented. “We knew that last year the short program didn't go well at Junior World so we were just mentally prepared this time.”

The team also competed at the senior level this season and feels they benefitted a lot from that.

“There's like lots of new learning experiences,” Kemp noted. “Obviously we got to do new competitions like Four Continents and we got to skate with some pretty good teams there. I think it was a great learning experience so hopefully that helps us leading into next year.”

Rui Guo & Yiwen Zhang impressed with their triple twist and throw triple flip in their performance to “Roll Your Eyes” and “Rock Solid”. However, Zhang singled the Axel which cost some precious points. The reigning ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions scored 58.34 points.

China’s Rui Guo & Yiwen Zhang are currently ranked third © ISU

“The Axel was my fault,” Zhang said. “And with the spin it seems like the number of revolutions was a bit short, so it didn't meet the level requirement. The score is still great and compared to before, it's definitely improved. But there are still details that need refinement.”

“I think I performed well. The throw jump was clean and crisp, and the double Axel was clean, too,” Guo added.

The 2024 ISU World Junior silver medalists, Olivia Flores & Luke Wang (USA), are not far behind in fourth place on 57.96 points followed by the new team of Hannah Herrera & Ivan Khobta (UKR) in fifth (56.95 points). Yuxuan Chen/Yinbo Dong (CHN) round up the top six (56.74 points). 

The Pairs event concludes on Thursday with the Free Skating. 

Where to Watch

All the events will be live-streamed on the Skating ISU YouTube channel.

What and when 

A total of 190 Skaters/Couples representing 43 ISU Members have been entered for this ISU World Junior Championships: 43 Men, 51 Women, 18 Pairs and 30 Ice Dance couples. The schedule of the ISU World Junior Championships 2026 is as follows:

Wednesday, March 4: Junior Pairs & Junior Men’s Short Programs
Thursday, March 5: Junior Women’s Short Program & Junior Pairs Free Skating
Friday, March 6: Junior Rhythm Dance, Junior Men’s Free Skating
Saturday, March 7: Junior Free Dance, Junior Women’s Free Skating,

Full entry lists, results and further information are available on the ISU World Junior Championships event page and the official event website. Find the press conference highlights with comments from the top three skaters/couples on the ISU event website. Follow the discussion on social media using #WorldJuniorFigure and #FigureSkating. 

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