ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2008 Day Three
The 2008 European Figure Skating Championships continued
Wednesday in Zagreb, Croatia, with the Original Dance and
the Men’s Free Skating.
Ice Dancing, Original Dance
The Original Dance of the 2007/2008 season is the “Country/Folk
Dance”. The 25 couples in the event presented a wide
range of styles and music, from Russian Folklore over French,
South American, Greek and Austrian dances to Gypsy and Egyptian
themes.
Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder of France defended
their lead after the Compulsory Dance ahead of Russia’s
Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin and Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski.
Delobel/Schoenfelder had opted for a French Gavotte from
the Bretagne, named “Replique”. The defending
European Champions delivered an entertaining dance that featured
intricate steps, a straight line-lift and a dance combination
spin that were graded a level four. The couple effectively
used scarves in their program. They earned 62.72 points (31.63
element score/31.09 program component score) and now have
103.97 overall heading into the final Free Dance. “We
can be very satisfied with what we did today. We really got
into it. I was a bit tense in the beginning, and then it’s
easy to make errors, but I think we dealt well with it”,
Delobel commented. “We’ll go into it (the Free
Dance) with positive emotions. We had great practices here
all week and we have new costumes. We’ll really have
to do well but I think that’s exactly what we will do
with our “Piano Lesson” (program)”, she
added. Schoenfelder agreed. “We won the Original Dance,
and that was the second part of the competition that we did
well. It gives us a good feeling for the free dance, and if
we finish our competition like that we’ve a chance to
win. It’s very close as it was to be expected and everything
will be decided in the free dance”, he said.
Indeed, Domnina/Shabalin are trailing the leaders by just
1.82 points at 102.15. The reigning Grand Prix Final Champions
produced a level-four dance spin, a level four circular step
sequence and a one armed rotational lift in their dynamic
Cossack dance, but Shabalin was off on the last twizzles in
the side by side footwork and this part of the element was
graded only a level two. The Russians scored 61.90 (30.86/31.04)
points.
Performing to a Russian Gypsy Dance, Khokhlova/Novitski completed
a dance combination spin with interesting positions as well
as a level-four circular step sequence, a rotational and a
straight line lift. However, Novitski as well struggled with
his last twizzle of the midline steps, but still got a level
three. The Russian Champions collected 60.03 points (31.02/29.01)
and have accumulated 97.40 so far.
Men, Free Skating
In what was a dramatic Men’s event, Tomas Verner of
the Czech Republic fended off the challenge of Switzerland’s
Stéphane Lambiel to claim the European title. The bronze
medal went to Brian Joubert of France.
Overnight leader Verner had drawn to skate first of the top
three after the Short Program. Skating to “Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, the 21-year-old put down his
hand on his opening quadruple toeloop but then nailed a triple
flip-triple toe, a triple Lutz-double toe combination as well
as a high triple Axel and three more triple jumps. The 2007
European silver medallist earned all level three and fours
for his spins and footwork, and his only other mistake was
a singled Axel. Verner scored a new season best of 153.64
points (75.92 element score/77.72 program component score)
and accumulated a total score of 232.67 points to claim the
first gold medal for the Czech Republic in 16 years. Petr
Barna was European Champion in 1992. “I am so happy
although this wasn't my best performance. I left my heart
today on the ice, and judges and the audience recognized that.
This gold medal is for my team, it is a final product of a
great teamwork”, the skater told the press. “The
main reason is that I kept fighting until the end. I hope
this is not my last medal. Now I want to rest for a few days
and I’ll start practicing again”, he continued.
The next top contender to skate was Lambiel. He doubled his
planned triple Axel right at the beginning of the expressive
Flamenco program but then pulled off a quad toe-double toe-double
loop combination followed by a triple loop and a somewhat
shaky triple flip-triple toe combination. He completed a triple
Salchow, but the second jump in his triple Lutz-triple toe
combo was cheated and downgraded, and he doubled the last
jump, a flip. However, the Swiss produced excellent spins
and footwork and picked up 153.46 points, which added up to
a total of 225.24 points overall. Lambiel took the silver
like he had in 2006. (He didn’t compete in 2007 at Europeans).
Joubert was last to skate. He stood in second place after
the Short Program. The Frenchman did a three-turn out of his
opening quad toeloop, but landed a solid triple Salchow, a
triple flip-triple toeloop combination and a triple Lutz-double
toe in his routine set to a Metallica medley. However, he
touched down with his hand on the triple Axel and struggled
with the back end of his triple loop-double toe-double toe
combination and stumbled out of a triple Lutz. The 23-year-old
earned a level three for three of his spins and the circular
footwork, but the upright spin was graded only a level one.
Joubert was awarded 144.20 points (70.30/74.90) and was ranked
fourth in the Free Skating. He slipped from second to third
at 219.45 points total and claimed the bronze, his sixth consecutive
medal at Europeans. Joubert has medalled in each European
Championships since 2002 when he debuted at the event and
took the bronze.
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