The competition was originally scheduled to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria from March 7–13, 2022.[1][2] On February 27, the ISU announced that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the event would be unable to be held as scheduled in Bulgaria.[3] Tallinn was announced as the host for the newly scheduled dates on March 4.[4] The city previously had previously hosted the event twice, in 2015 and 2020.
Background
On February 12, the International Skating Union announced that the event could not be held as planned due to concerns about a surge in omicron variant cases in Bulgaria peaking on the originally scheduled dates, as well as the host nation's restrictive entry requirements. As the 2021 World Junior Championships were already cancelled, the ISU announced that they would evaluate the feasibility of postponing the event until May 2022, if the Bulgarian Skating Federation and other ISU member nations were willing to attend.[5] A final decision was expected to be made at the ISU Council meeting on February 24, but was delayed to allow time to assess the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[6]
On February 27, the ISU announced that while they were still considering the feasibility of postponing the event to later in the spring, Bulgaria would no longer be available to host and invited other ISU member nations to apply as replacement hosts.[3] The Estonian Skating Union, which had hosted both the European and Four Continents Championships earlier in the season, was the sole applicant.[4]
Qualifications
Age and minimum TES requirements
Skaters who reached the age of 13 before July 1, 2021, but had not turned 19 (singles and females of the other two disciplines) or 21 (male pair skaters and ice dancers) were eligible to compete at the junior level.
The ISU stipulated that the minimum scores must have been achieved at an ISU-recognized junior international competition in the ongoing or preceding two seasons (adjusted from the traditional one due to the pandemic), no later than 21 days before the first official practice day.[1]
On March 1, the ISU banned participation by Russian and Belarusian skaters in all international competitions due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[8]
Member nations began announcing their selections in December 2021. The International Skating Union published a complete list of entries on March 25, 2022.[11]
Entries - 2022 World Junior Figure Skating Championships
^Jo, Young-joon (March 10, 2022). "'4대륙 銀' 이해인, 피겨 주니어 세계선수권 기권…시니어 대회서 시즌 마감" [‘Four Continents Silver Medalist' Lee Hae-in withdraws from the figure skating World Junior Championship… End of season in senior competition]. Naver Sports (in Korean).
