Sawyer Moves up in Standings Following Strong Free Skate

(February 28, 2003)
Shawn Sawyer, the 2002 Canadian Junior Men's Champion, moved up one place in the standings on the strength of a strong free skate at the 2003 World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Sawyer executed six clean triple jumps, and a further two triple jumps, and Axel and a loop, which had touchdowns on the landings. His performance was strong throughout with excellent musical interpretation and flexibility.

Sawyer, who stood in seventh-place heading into the free skate, finished the competition in sixth-place. The judges awarded his efforts in the free skate with marks ranging from 4.9 to 5.3 for technical merit and 5.1 to 5.5 for presentation, which placed Sawyer fifth in the free skate on an evening that featured many impressive performances.

The current Canadian Junior Men's Champion, Ken Rose, also had a successful event, placing 13th in his first World Junior Championships. Rose executed five triple jumps, including two triple-triple combinations. This was an excellent showing for his first ISU Championships event. The judges gave Rose marks ranging from 4.2 to 4.9 for technical merit and 4.4 to 5.1 for presentation.

Russia's Alexander Shubin was crowed the 2003 World Junior Men's Champion. Although Shubin singled his opening Axel, he added a triple Axel only three seconds later, and went on to land the only successful quadruple jump, a quadruple toe loop, in the event. He continued to show his technical strength throughout the performance, completing six more triples, among them two triple-triple combinations.

Shubin's performance earned him marks as high as 5.9 for technical merit and 5.8 for presentation.

Taking home the silver medal was Evan Lysacek of the U.S. Lysacek, who was in first-place after the qualifying rounds and the short program, also had a strong skate. He landed a total of eight triple jumps, which included two triple-triple combinations, but he didn't perform a quadruple jump.

The judges gave Lysacek marks ranging from 5.4 to 5.8 for technical merit and 5.6 to 5.9 for presentation.

Rounding out the medal podium was France's Alban Préaubert. Préaubert also completed a number of difficult elements, including a triple Axel-triple toe loop combination. His marks ranged from 5.1 to 5.6 for technical merit and 5.3 to 5.7 for presentation.