The 2007 European Figure Skating Championships continued on Thursday in Warsaw, Poland, with the Original Dance and the Men’s Free Skating.

Ice Dancing, Original Dance
The competition started with the Original Dance. The rhythm for the Original Dance this season is the Tango. Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder (FRA) strengthened their lead ahead of Russia’s Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin and Albena Denkova/Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria.

Performing to “Tango Volver”, Delobel/Schoenfelder put out a confident dance that included a intricate side by side step sequence, lifts that were graded a level four by the Technical Panel and a level-three diagonal step sequence. The French Champions were awarded 60.71 points (30.08 element score/30.63 program component score) and have accumulated 100.28 points so far. “We didn’t make any mistakes and are very satisfied with our second program. It is a great atmosphere here and we thank all the French fans. We feel very good here”, Delobel said.
Domnina/Shabalin produced a straight line lift and a one-armed rotational lift as well as precise steps in their passionate Argentine Tango to score 59.78 points (29.29/30.49). The remained in second place at 98.77 points total. “We are in a festive mood, because again, for the third of fourth time, it’s Maxim’s birthday on the day of the Original Dance. We’re pleased with today’s performance. We felt it was very emotional. Technically, it could have been a little bit better, as always. Overall we’re very pleased to have received our first small medal the European Championships”, Domnina told the press.
Denkova/Staviski’s expressive “Libertango” was highlighted by interesting lifts and demanding footwork. The Technical Panel graded the twizzles a level four and the side by side steps as well as the diagonal step sequence a level three. However, the spin was called a combination spin that got just a level one. The reigning World Champions earned 56.56 points (27.02/29.54) and now have 95.12 overall. “Of course we skated with full power as always and sometimes during the performance today we wanted to stretch (to push) the barrier (of the ice rink) a little bit. Maybe it wasn’t our best dance”, Denkova admitted. “I really hope that we’ll do our best tomorrow in the free dance. We do the same spin in the OD and free dance in all the competitions so far, and we had the same problem in the Grand Prix Final and here today. We don’t know what the reason is. We have to check on the video replay”, she continued when asked about the level one for the spin.

Frederica Faiella/Massimo Scali (ITA) are currently in fourth place at 86.94 points. They showed a passionate Tango. Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski (RUS) were ranked fourth in the Original Dance with a strong performance but remained in fourth place overall at 86.05 points.

Men, Free Skating
The day concluded with an exciting Men’s Free Skating with lots of strong performances and new personal best scores. Brian Joubert of France recaptured the title he had won in 2004. Tomas Verner (CZE) claimed the silver, and the bronze went to Belgium’s Kevin van der Perren. For both Verner and van der Perren it was their first medal at Europeans.
Sergei Davydov (BLR), who was ranked third after the short program skated first in the final flight and put out a strong program to “Don Quixote” that included eight triple jumps. Davydov scored 134.64 (68.92/65.72) points, which was a new personal best for him, but eventually he slipped to fourth, missing the bronze by just 0.07 points.

Next up was Joubert. He nailed a quad-double toeloop combination, a triple Axel as well as six more triple jumps in his intense performance to “The Unforgiven” and “Nothing Else Matters” by Apocalyptica plays Metallica. The Grand Prix Final Champion also received a level four for the change foot sit spin and the combination spin. The crowd was with him all the way through and cheered for each element. When he finished, Joubert happily pumped his fist. The 22-year-old  earned 151.94 points (74.72/77.22) for the free skating and racked up a total score of 227.12 points to take his second European title and his sixth medal in as many appearances in this event.

Overnight leader Verner followed directly after Joubert. He run into trouble right away when he went down on his opening quadruple toeloop. He then tripled his planned second quad toe but rallied back to land a four other triples including two Lutzes, but he stepped out of his triple Axel. The 20-year-old showed difficult spins in his routine to “Lessiem Mystic Spirit Voices”, earning a level four for three of them. Verner picked up 136.13 points (64.33/72.80) and was ranked third overall but held on to second place with 212.69 points overall.

Then it was the turn of Andrei Lutai (RUS). The skater from St. Petersburg gave a solid performance, completing a quadruple toeloop and five clean triples, but his triple Axel was wobbly and stepped out of his triple Salchow. Lutai improved his previous personal best by 22.21 points and finished fifth in his debut at the European Championships.

Now Alban Preaubert (FRA) took on to the ice. He landed his first quadruple toeloop in competition and five good triples to come in sixth (199.95 points).

Van der Perren had drawn to skate last. Skating to “Pirates of the Caribbean”, the 24-year-old hit a quadruple toeloop, triple Lutz, triple Salchow-triple toeloop, triple flip-triple toe and a triple loop, but his spins and steps were only graded a level one or two. The Belgian scored 137.67 points (68.57/69.10) and moved up from fourth to third with a total of 204.85 points. It was the first medal at European Championships for a Belgian single skater in 60 years. Fernand Leemans had taken the bronze at the 1947 European Championships. It was van der Perren’s second medal at an ISU Championship since he won the silver at the 2002 World Junior Championships.

“I think it (the second title) is nicer than the first one, because it was much harder to get it, even though the competition was weaker. Mentally, it was (hard), I think I never had so much stress during a competition. But now I know how to deal with it”, Joubert commented. “I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t do the quad Salchow. It was very hard for me after Stephane Lambiel withdrew. The French press didn’t stop writing that I’m the top favorite. Then I was second in the short, and the pressure was even higher,” the athlete explained.

“This is my first medal at such an important competition. I’m disappointed with my free skating, I can do it better. It was a hard fight, because it was a new position for me (to be in first after the short). It was a lot of pressure, although I tried not to think about it”, Verner told the press. “I was a bit upset, my choreography is better in practice”, he admitted.

“This was the best quad I’ve ever done!” a delighted van der Perren said when exiting the Kiss and Cry area. “It has been a few years since I won a medal at an ISU Championship. I came here to be in the top five. I am most of all happy that I did a good performance. It has been a while.”

The ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2007 continues Friday with the Ladies Short Program and Free Dance.