USA's Jacob Sanchez wins Junior Grand Prix title on first try with help from Nakata Rio's lucky necklace and Ilia Malinin's mantra
Sanchez overcame illness to climb into the top spot and share the podium with his long-time friend and defending champion Nakata Rio of Japan.
Figure Skating
Some of Nakata Rio's luck from last year's rubbed off on Jacob Sanchez at the 2024 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final as the USA figure skater clinched victory wearing a necklace the defending champion and long-time friend gifted him at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games.
Sanchez and Nakata reversed their order from the short program on Saturday (7 December) with Sanchez taking the top spot from second while his Japanese friend dropped down from first to third after their free skates, but there was no animosity as they duo celebrated each other's success.
While Sanchez was not spotless in his program – he took a step on his opening triple Axel and also grazed the ice with his hand on a triple loop – his free skate score of 148.14 was less than a point below his personal best.
The USA skater hid his face in his hands as his score popped up at the top of the board at his first ever Junior Grand Prix Final.
"It means so much, he said. "In the kiss and cry, I just couldn't hold it back. I was up all night thinking about it, about today. All last night and all today. I tried to sleep, I just couldn't. I was just thinking about it because I wanted it so bad. And it wasn't a perfect skate, but I'm so happy with how I recuperated after that first Axel."
What made the result even more surprising is that Sanchez fell ill in the lead up to the competition in Grenoble, France.
"All last week I was really sick and I felt a huge difference in my cardio and how prepared I feel," the 17-year-old said. "On top of that, I've been having some issues like my lower back.
"I didn't let that get to me here and I wanted to just leave that off the ice instead of bringing it on the ice, so I was really happy with the turnout of this event. It's definitely a lot more than I expected at the beginning of the season. If you were to ask me at the beginning of season if I was going to make the Junior Grand Final and medal, I would've said no."
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In addition to Nakata's lucky necklace, Sanchez had the help of reigning world champion and fellow USA skater Ilia Malinin on his side.
The two have been hanging out in Team USA's hotel in Grenoble and at the Patinoire Polesud with Malinin's presence giving Sanchez the confidence boost he missed at the start of the season when the skater was unsure if he would even get a Junior Grand Prix assignment.
"Being around him, you feel his energy and when he talks about skating, his mindset is so...I wouldn't say nonchalant but he's so confident and I've seen that in him and I want to replicate that as best as I can," Sanchez said.
"That approach is just trust yourself. That's his biggest mantra. And I really had no trust in myself last year. But I really embodied that coming into this event and this season in a whole."
Nakata had a narrow lead over Sanchez going into the free skate but barely hung on to his quad toe loop and triple flip, getting deductions that put him in third place with 215.33 overall. In contrast, Republic of Korea's Seo Minkyu moved up from fifth to second position with a top-scoring free skate (152.46) and a total of 222.14 points.
ISU Grand Prix Final 2024 – Junior men result
Free skating score in parentheses
- Jacob Sanchez (USA) 227.38 (148.14)
- Seo Minkyu (KOR) 222.14 (152.46)
- Nakata Rio (JPN) 215.33 (135.94)
- Takahashi Sena (JPN) 204.40 (142.57)
- Yanhao Li (NZL) 201.63 (129.46)
- Lukas Vaclavik (SVK) 176.36 (103.64)