Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise (ITA) in the Pairs Free Skating in the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Kaunas (LTU) © ISU
Lucrezia Beccari/Matteo Guarise (ITA) soared to gold as the Pairs event at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships concluded Thursday in Kaunas (LTU).
Lucrezia Beccari/Matteo Guarise (ITA) strike gold
Italy’s Lucrezia Beccari/Matteo Guarise leaped to gold in a somewhat turbulent Pairs event. Overnight leaders Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava of Georgia slipped to second to claim the silver medal in their debut as a team and the first European Championship medal for their country in the Pairs event. Rebecca Ghilardi/Filippo Ambrosini of Italy rose from fifth to earn the bronze.
Beccari/Guarise opened their entertaining program to “Cats” with a triple twist and followed up with a triple Salchow, throw triple loop and Salchow as well as impressive lifts. The only glitch was a wobble in the triple toe-single Axel-double Axel sequence.
The ISU Grand Prix medalists achieved a personal best of 132.14 points and totaled 199.19 points to move up from third place. For Guarise, it was his first medal in his tenth appearance at the ISU European Championships.
“The first explosion was in the K&C (Kiss and Cry) when we knew we got a medal - we know we skated our best we couldn’t do better, we skated a clean short and a clean long,” Guarise said.
“We knew we were to compete with the strong skaters. We exploded three times – first when we knew we were in the third place, then in second and then in first. If I had to bet before coming here, I bet on a clean program and not a medal, but we came and we won a medal.”
Gold medalists Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise (ITA) in the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Kaunas (LTU) © ISU
Beccari was still in shock.
“I didn’t realize it yet,” she said. “After our performance, we knew that we got a medal but we didn’t expect the gold so we are very happy for that. This is my second Europeans and my first important medal.
“I’m so happy to be here with Matteo, because when I was younger I tried pairs, but I had an accident. But I always liked pairs more than singles, so I’m so happy to try it again and to be here with a medal.”
Metelkina/Berulava landed a big triple twist right out of the gate in their “Millionaire Waltz” program, however, Metelkina missed the triple Salchow.
Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (GEO) in the Pairs Free Skating in the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Kaunas (LTU) © ISU
The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions rallied to produce a throw triple flip and loop, a somewhat shaky triple toe-single Axel-double Axel sequence and difficult lifts. The Georgians ranked fifth in the Free Skating with 124.84 points and slipped from first to second place at 196.14 points overall.
“The most important thing for me was to skate clean and unfortunately it didn't happen today,” Metelkina said. “Since I fell on the Salchow, I did not expect to win anymore, so I am glad we are on the podium. It’s an important competition and it’s our first season together and yet we are disappointed we did not skate clean.”
Berulava agreed: “Not everything worked today, but again it’s a sport and things happen. It’s the first season skating together and the silver is also a medal and we are happy about it. We will work on our mistakes.”
Ghilardi/Ambrosini put on an energetic performance to “Dracula“ that was highlighted by triple throws, strong lifts and a slightly underrotated side by side triple Salchow (q).
Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (ITA) in the Pairs Free Skating in the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Kaunas (LTU) © ISU
The 2023 ISU European silver medalists set a personal best with 130.81 points in the Free Skating and accumulated 195.68 points overall to move up from fifth to third and claim their second consecutive medal, after silver a year ago.
“We did our best and we are very happy with our performances yesterday and today - and we did our job,” Ghilardi noted. “We are very happy when we knew we are on the podium and it was a big goal for us. This time it was not harder, but the competition was very strong,” she continued.
ISU Grand Prix Finalists Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN) turned in a clean performance and were ranked third in the Free Skating, but remained in fourth place overall on 194.02 points. ISU Grand Prix Final Champions Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin (GER) missed the throw loop and a lift to drop from second to fifth place (190.69 points). 2023 ISU European Champions Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii (ITA) finished in sixth place (187.25 points).
For full results please see here.
Schedule of the event
The schedule of the ISU European Figure Skating Championships is as follows:
Wednesday, January 10: Pairs & Men’s Short Programs
Thursday, January 11: Women’s Short Program, Pairs Free Skating
Friday, January 12: Rhythm Dance & Men’s Free Skating
Saturday, January 13: Women’s Free Skating & Free Dance
Sunday, January 14: Exhibition Gala
For full entries and results, please see the ISU event page and the official website. Follow the discussion on social media using #EuroFigure and #FigureSkating.
Where to watch the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2024:
The ISU European Figure Skating Championships will be live streamed on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. Geo-restrictions will apply in markets where TV rights are in place. You will find the full list in the Where to Watch news here.
Subscribe to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive alerts when the live streams start and when new videos are posted.
.png)
