Pilar and Leonardo Maekawa just came back from their first taste of the International Skating Union Junior Grand Prix series, competing in Innsbruck, Austria and Milan, Italy.
The ice dance competition was first in Innsbruck and they did an amazing job — skating clean and beautiful ending with a 15th over all. It was a different atmosphere of competition than what they were used at home and they learned new things. It was a great experience, a whole new world and of course they made new friends from around the world.
In Milan, Leonardo competed free skate. He had an excellent short program but not that great of a long program, coming away with the 23rd spot. Leonardo had a stress fracture that kept him from training for the whole summer and just came back in September, training just three weeks before the two events. Now, he is healthy and training full time and getting ready for the next competition which will be held in Mexico next month. The goal for this season is to qualify to the ISU junior worlds competition.