Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (GER) Photo by Teunis Versluis
The 2008 European Figure Skating Championships opened Tuesday in Zagreb, Croatia, with the Compulsory Dance and the Pairs Short Program. The European Figure Skating Championships are held in Zagreb for the third time in history. Zagreb hosted the event in 1974 and in 1979.
Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance
The Championships started with the Compulsory Dance. The Compulsory Dance drawn for the 2008 European Championships was the Yankee Polka.
Defending European Champions Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder of France took the lead ahead of Russia’s Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin and Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski.
Delobel/Schoenfelder chose to present the Yankee Polka in an unusual way with her dressed up as a bar dancer wearing a corsage and him playing the role of a sheriff. The French showed a very solid dance and earned a season best score of 41.15 points (21.01 element score/20.24 program component score), edging out eeigning European silver medallists Domnina/Shabalin by exactly one point. “We wanted to create a saloon atmosphere, and the French audience (here in Zagreb) has reacted well to that, which was great for us. The ice was also better than the other days. We know very well that the competition isn’t over yet, but it was a very good start for us today”, Delobel commented. “As this was the Yankee Polka, we wanted to catch this spirit, the atmosphere of a saloon with her as a bar dancer and me as the sheriff. This made it easier for us to work on this dance as it’s not so much fun to do for us otherwise”, Schoenfelder explained.
Domnina/Shabalin put out a very crisp performance of the Polka to score 40.25 (20.19/20.06), which was also a seasons best. The Grand Prix Champions had drawn to skate fourth out of the 26 couples but didn’t feel affected by it. “It doesn’t really have a lot of a meaning. There was a draw and that is unpredictable. But now we are done and can now sit down calmy and watch the others”, Domnina said. “I think it was good, but not the best we can do. It makes us happy to get a seasonal best for it”, she added. Shabalin said that he is recovering well from the meniscus surgery he underwent on December 24. “Everything is fine. It never hurt, it’s not hurting and it won’t hurt. I went back on to the ice ten days after the operation”, he said.
Khokhlova/Novitski came in third with a dynamic Yankee Polka, scoring a season best of 37.37 points (18.76/18.61). “We dedicated a lot of time to the Polka. We basically skated it in each morning practice for two hours. We put a lot effort into it and it seems like something came out and we didn’t work in vain. Many feel this dance suits us well as it’s fast and happy, but we just didn’t have time to prepare it during the Grand Prix”, Novitski commented.
Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali (ITA) are less than one point behind at 36.87 in fourth place. Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat of France came in fifth with 34.58 points and Sinead Kerr/John Kerr (GBR) are ranked sixth (33.55 points).
Pairs, Short Program
The competition went on with the Pairs Short Program. Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy of Germany skated to the lead ahead of Russia’s Maria Mukhortova/Maxim Trankov and Tatiana Voloszhar/Stanislav Morozov (UKR).
Performing to the Bollywood soundtrack “Asoka”, Savchenko/Szolkowy started off strongly with a high throw triple flip followed by a triple twist. However, Savchenko then stumbled out of the triple toeloop. The couple recovered to produce a difficult lift, a death spiral and two spins that were all graded a level four. Only the step sequence was a level one. The defending European Champions earned 70.36 points (39.19 element score/31.17 program component score). “It was fun to skate, but it didn't go as we had expected. There were quite many wobbles and errors. We would have wanted to be on first place with a good skate”, Szolkowy told the press. “The beginning (of the program) felt good. I was simply too slow going into the jump”, Savchenko said, referring to her mistake.
Mukhortova/Trankov, who had drawn to skate first out of the 15 couples, delivered an elegant performance to “Otonal” that featured a triple twist, a solid side by side triple toeloop, an Axel Lasso lift that was graded a level four and a throw triple Salchow as their very last element. But Trankov struggled with the side by side spin and it was out of unison. The 2005 World Junior Champions picked up 62.73 points (36.21/26.52), which was just short of their previous personal best of 63.10 points. “This is our first time at the European Championships. We had to skate first, that was a minus for us. I made a big mistake in the side by side spin as everybody saw. We want to skate well tomorrow and I want to do a better spin”, Trankov promised.
Volosozhar/Morozov completed a big triple twist, a triple toeloop (he was shaky on the landing) and a one-armed Axel Lasso lift in their routine to “The Feeling Begins” by Peter Gabriel. The got a level three for their side by side combination spin, but the pair spin was only a level one. Volosozhar touched down with her hand on the throw triple Salchow. The Ukrainians scored 61.29 points (35.50/25.79), setting a new personal best for themselves. “We got a new season best score, but actually we performed much better at the NHK Trophy in Japan (in December). We had some errors. He was shaky on the toeloop, I put down my hand on the throw loop and I left out a choctaw in the step sequence. I was nervous in the warm up, my legs were shaking, and I don’t even know why”, Volosozhar explained.
Yuko Kawaguchi/Alexander Smirnov (RUS) came in fourth at 61.25 points and are only 0.04 points away from the podium. They produced a throw triple loop and a difficult lift, but he wobbled on the triple toeloop, and the triple twist was messy. Arina Ushakova/Sergei Karev (RUS) are sitting in fifth with 49.43 points. She missed the side by side triple toeloop and it was downgraded. Mari Vartmann/Florian Just (GER) are in 6th (47.23 points).
The ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2008 continue Wednesday with the Men’s Short Program and the Pairs Free Skating.
For full results, please click on Results
