On 25 August 25, 2016, less than an hour before the start of the ladies' short program at the 2016 JGP France, a shuttle bus was involved in an accident, resulting in injuries to two skaters, Anna Tarusina (from Russia) and Anželika Kļujeva (from Latvia), and their coaches.[1]
Competitions
The locations of the JGP events change yearly. This season, the series was composed of the following events.[2]
Skaters who reached the age of 13 by July 1, 2016, but had not turned 19 (singles skaters and female pairs or ice dance skaters) or 21 (male pairs or ice dance skaters) were eligible to compete on the junior circuit. Competitors were chosen by their countries according to their federations' selection procedures. The number of entries allotted to each ISU member federation was determined by their skaters' placements at the 2016 World Junior Championships in each discipline.[11]
Starting in the 2015–16 season, the ISU added standings per nation. Points were calculated for each discipline separately before being combined for a total score per nation. For each discipline, each nation combined the points from up to four JGP events. A country did not have to use the same events for each discipline (e.g. a country can combine points from JGP events in France, Japan, Russia, and Slovenia for pairs while using Czech Republic, Japan, Estonia, and Germany for ice dance). For each discipline at each event, each nation combined the points from up to two skaters/teams. The points that each skater/team earned is based on placement. Placement to point conversion was the same as for qualification, with first place earning 15 points, second earning 13 points, etc. In the event ties in the total scores, the country with the fewer skaters/teams (only counting skaters/teams from whom points were combined), won the tie breaker. If the tie was not broken, the nations would have the same rank.[13]
At each event, skaters earned points toward qualification for the Junior Grand Prix Final. Following the seventh event, the top six highest-scoring skaters/teams advanced to the Final. The points earned per placement were as follows.[11]
Placement
Singles
Pairs/Ice dance
1st
15
15
2nd
13
13
3rd
11
11
4th
9
9
5th
7
7
6th
5
5
7th
4
4
8th
3
3
9th
2
—
10th
1
There were originally seven tie-breakers in cases of a tie in overall points:
Highest placement at an event. If a skater placed 1st and 3rd, the tiebreaker is the 1st place, and that beats a skater who placed 2nd in both events.
Highest combined total scores in both events. If a skater earned 200 points at one event and 250 at a second, that skater would win in the second tie-break over a skater who earned 200 points at one event and 150 at another.
Participated in two events.
Highest combined scores in the free skating/free dance portion of both events.
Highest individual score in the free skating/free dance portion from one event.
Highest combined scores in the short program/short dance of both events.
Highest number of total participants at the events.
If a tie remained, it was considered unbreakable and the tied skaters all advanced to the Junior Grand Prix Final.
