The 2007 European Figure Skating Championships continued on Friday in Warsaw, Poland, with the Ladies Short Program and the Free Dance.
Ladies, Short Program
The Ladies opened today’s competition with the Short Program. Sarah Meier of Switzerland grabbed the lead ahead of Italy’s Carolina Kostner by a tiny 0.03 points. Elene Gedevanishvili (GEO) came in third.
Meier delivered a solid performance to “Concierto de Aranjuez” and “Concierto Andaluz” that included a triple Lutz-double toeloop combination, a triple flip out of footwork, a double Axel as well as a level four combination spin and a level four spiral sequence. Only her flying sit spin was a bit short and graded a level two. The Grand Prix Final bronze medalist scored 60.49 points (33.71 element score/26.78 program component score). “My flying sit spin could have been better. I was too close to the boards and the spin was small, so I guess the level is not high”, Meier said. “On the one hand I felt pressure, but on the other hand I have some experience now and was able to give a good performance. My goal here is to get a medal”, she went on.
Kostner hit an impressive triple flip-triple toe combination and a double Axel as well as a level four combination spin in her routine to “Canon” by Pachebel, but she doubled her Lutz. The reigning European bronze medalist picked up 60.46 points (32.09/28.37). “I learned from last year’s Olympics. All the stress and pressure was last year. Now I’m more relaxed. It’s supposed to be fun, and it was fun”, the Italian commented. “I’m happy that I’m competing again. After my injury (torn ligaments) I feel like an outsider. I came here not expecting anything. It happened in the end of September and I was off the ice for about two months.”
Gedevanishvili opened her program with a triple Lutz, but she two-footed it, and also her triple flip (in combination with double toe) was a little wobbly. The 17-year-old earned a level four for her spiral sequence and her layback as well as for her combination spin with difficult positions. The Georgian was awarded 54.62 points (30.33/24.29). “I did what I can do at this point. I’m not yet in my best shape yet. I was three months off the ice”, Gedevanishvili said, referring to her having to leave her training base in Russia due to visa problems of her mother. “When I came back to Georgia, they gave me some ice, but it was very small and they couldn’t really resurface it, so they resurfaced it once a week and there were public skating session, too. It was a very difficult time for me. Now I have been training for three weeks in the USA. I hope that everything will be ok”.
Julia Sebestyen is currently standing in fourth place. The 2004 European Champion nailed a high triple flip but then did only a double Lutz-double toe for her combination. She collected some extra points with her strong spins and is close to the podium at 53.87 points. Kiira Korpi (FIN) finished fifth in the first part of the Ladies event. Her routine included a triple loop-double toeloop combination and a triple flip (53.84 points). Alexandra Ievleva (RUS) was sixth with a clean program (50.28 points). 2005 European silver medalist Susanna Pöykiö (FIN) and 2006 reigning silver medalist Elena Sokolova (RUS) are seventh and eighth respectively. Pöykiö popped her planned triple Lutz into a single (49.47) while Sokolova doubled the loop and two-footed her triple Lutz in combination with double toe (48.85).
Ice Dancing, Free Dance
The Ice Dancing event concluded with a Free Dance competition at a high level. Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder of France danced to the gold and took their first major international title. Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin (RUS) claimed the silver medal, their first medal at an European Championship. Albena Denkova/Maxim Staviski settled for the bronze.
Delobel/Schoenfelder opened the final flight with their unusual “Bonnie and Clyde” program to music from “The Untouchables”. The French couple showed modern choreography and difficult elements such as a level four midline step sequence, a one-armed rotational lift and serpentine lift with her performing a handstand on his leg. The 2005 European bronze medalists earned 99.19 points (50.57 element score/48.62 program component score) and were ranked second in the Free Dance but remained overall in first place with a total score of 199.47 points. “We wanted to win a medal here, the colour didn’t matter. The crowd was great, so we had energy till the end of our program. It (winning) is great, especially as we came here as outsiders. Of course, you always believe, but it was difficult. We are still under shock. We have a true fighting spirit, we never give up, and we gave everything”, Schoenfelder said. “We’ll work very hard for Worlds. It is a completely different competition and we’ll see what happens. We’ll go there with confidence and no pressure”, Delobel added.
Domnina/Shabalin turned in a powerful performance to “Polovetsian Dances” playing the roles of a wild khan and a young girl he captured. The young Russian couple completed intricate footwork, receiving a level four for their diagonal and a level three for their circular step sequences. They also had a level four for all of their four lifts including a straight line lift with him skating on one foot. Domnina/Shabalin collected 100.39 points (51.07/49.32) for their Free Dance, improving on their previous personal best of 96.53 points and were ranked first in the segment. Overall they remained in second place at 199.16 points, missing the gold by less than one point. “We did a big step forward thanks to a lot of work. Everything comes from work, ambition and good luck. For us that (winning a medal) is very important. Our goal was to be in the top three and we accomplished that”, Domnina said.
“We’re very pleased with our performance at the European Championship. It was an emotional performance, it was on one breath. Of course we’re very happy with the silver medal. As we say, the appetite grows while you’re eating. After the Original Dance obviously we wanted to skate our very best. To win the free dance was very nice for us”, Shabalin told the post-event news conference.
Denkova/Staviski excited the crowd in the sold-out Torwar sports complex with their passionate dance “Seven Deadly Sins”. The reigning World Champions produced well synchronized twizzles and innovative lifts that were all graded a level four. Denkova/Staviski scored 98.61 points (50.40/48.21) and had 193.73 points overall to take the bronze medal. They already won the silver in 2003 and 2004. “I think the audience appreciated our program very much. We hope to do better in Tokyo (at the World Championships). We will fight again. We put a lot of energy in the program, and considering our situation we did a clean program, we did all our elements. We didn’t think about marks or placements. Maybe I was more worried yesterday but today I felt very calm and confident, I felt like a champion. I think we were able to show that. Our job is to skate and I think we did a good job tonight”, Denkova explained.
Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski (RUS) came in fourth with a strong performance to “Aranjuez Mon Amour” that featured fluid steps and difficult lifts (175.76 points). Sinead Kerr/John Kerr (GBR) finished fifth with their dramatic “The Last of the Mohicans” program (171.90). Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali (ITA) slipped from fourth to sixth after they both fell on a risky move where she lifts him (170.26 points).
Nora Hoffmann/Attila Elek (HUN) withdrew from the competition after he broke his left ankle in a fall in the morning practice. They were standing in seventh place following the Original Dance.
The competition at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2007 concludes Saturday with the Ladies Free Skating.
