US duo crowned junior ice dance champions in Tallinn
American skating pair Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukhin on Saturday became ice dance champions at the recently concluded Junior World Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn.
Estonia's entrants, Ksenia Sipunova and Miron Korjagin, picked up 45.88 points in the initial rhythm dance round and so did not make it through to the free dance, finishing 22nd where the top 20 qualified.
Aboian and Veselukhin had already taken the lead with their 66.45 points in the rhythm dance stage, but other pairs were close on their heels, or skates, including France's Ambre Perrier Gianesin and Samuel Blanc Klaperman, with 66.31 points, and Ukrainian duo Irina Pidgaina and Artjom Koval, who took 65.45 points.
The free skate changed nothing so far as order was concerned: Aboian and Veselukhin finished first with 166.71 points, again closely followed by Gianesini and Klaperman (164.88 points) and Pidgaina and Koval (164.32).
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Siim Boikov
