Junior Grand Prix Final - Nikolaj Memola wins Italy its first Junior GPF gold
The Italian teenager soared from second place after the short program to capture the gold medal over Lucas Broussard of the U.S., who finished with silver. Yoshioka Nozomu took bronze.
Figure Skating
The biggest moment of Nikolaj Memola's young career has come in front of a raucous home crowd.
The 19-year-old Italian figure skater jumped to first place on Saturday (10 December) at the Junior Grand Prix Final in Turin, Italy, winning the country its first gold at the Junior GPF in the event's over two-decade history.
Memola leap-frogged short program leader Lucas Broussard of the U.S., the Italian totalling 230.50 to the American's 220.43. Yoshioka Nozomu of Japan was third, scoring 208.01.
It's a seventh Junior GPF medal in Italian history, but first in the junior men's discipline. Carolina Kostner was the last Italian skater to win a senior Grand Prix Final, doing so in 2011.
Memola hit a determined eight triple jumps in his Samson and Delilah free skate, pouding the ice with his hands in celebration at the completion of the near-clean, successful skate.
The crowd roared when his scores flashed up, then again after Broussard - the final skater - when it was clear the Italian would emerge the winner. Broussard skated with some hesitancy, marked down on three of his jumping passes and finishing third in the segment.
"I was very nervous before the skate because I was just thinking I had to go clean," Memola said after his victory. "The other skaters are extremely good so I knew I had to skate as clean as possible. It was a great honour to skate like that on my home ice and also on the ice of Turin 2006. So it was a mix of emotions and it was amazing [that] I had the crowd here."
Memola had been seventh at World Juniors last season, and finished with a gold and a silver on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. He raised his arms above his head at the completion of the Italian national anthem, breaking into a broad smile.
The Milan native has his eyes set on Milano Cortina 2026: "In Italy we have very good skaters, Daniel Grassl, Matteo Rizzo, they are really amazing. If I want to be there I have to be as good as them. To be there will be the main goal."
In the junior pairs event, Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore of Australia won gold with a 181.37, while in the junior ice dance, Nadiia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont of Canada won with a 167.26