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2008 European Figure Skating Championships - HighlightsMen's Short and Pairs Long Programs
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The 2008 European Figure Skating Championships continued with the Men's Short and Pairs Long Programs.
In the men's error-ridden competition, Tomas Verner from the Czech Republic was one of the few to avoid major blunders, and is currently first with a new personal best of 79.03 (41.46/37.57) points.
Like last year, Verner was the last skate.
"The situation was worse than last year," Verner said, regarding the pressure. "I knew two weeks before that I would skate either after Brian (Joubert) or Stephane (Lambiel), and that I would skate last."
Though Verner didn't see Lambiel's score, he saw the skater's face.
"I knew that he wasn't perfect," said Verner. "Then you know there is chance, but as soon as you think about it, everything is over."
Performing to Melodie en Crepuscule and Gypsy Swing by Django Reinhardt, Verner opened his engaging program with an impressive triple flip-triple toeloop combination, but the landing of his triple Axel was tight.
The 21-year-old partially blamed the ice conditions for the less than flawless landing.
"We have to skate on clean edges," Verner later explained, "and if you do it fast, there is a 90% chance that you slip and that would be a very costly mistake. Therefore, I skated slowly. It (triple Axel) felt very good in the air, and I wanted to land it securely without any extravagances!"
Though Verner later stumbled on a twizzle during his circular footwork, the defending silver medalist nonetheless earned both the highest technical and component scores of the evening. The 2007 NHK Trophy silver medalist received a level 3 for circular footwork and flying change of foot combination spin, and a level 4 for his straightline footwork and change of foot sit spin.
Tomas Verner (21) of the Czech Republic performs to music by Django Reinhardt for his Short Program. |
France's Brian Joubert is currently second with 75.25 (39.43/36.82) points, despite making a mistake in his quad-triple combination jump (he put a three turn in between jumps) and falling on a triple Axel.
The current World Champion later admitted to being very nervous.
"That's why I was very tired," Joubert later explained. "I couldn't breathe. I think the reason why I was nervous was that my last international competition (Skate Canada) was so long ago and I was sick."
Despite the errors on the jumps, Joubert otherwise gained a level 3 on most of his non-jumping elements (except for a level 1straightline footwork sequence). The Frenchman was obviously winded towards the end of his performance to All For You.
The defending champion attributed his mistakes to the loss of training time due to a viral infection earlier this fall. The infection also forced him to withdraw from Trophee Eric Bompard and consequently, miss the Grand Prix Final.
"I am very disappointed," said the 23-year-old, of his performance. "I was not really ready for this competition. It was hard."
Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland is third with 71.78 (35.79/36.99) points after stumbling out of his opening triple Axel and turning his planned quad-triple combination into a triple-double. The 2007-08 Grand Prix Final champion nonetheless performed his program to Carne Cruda with lots of expression, while gaining a level 4 on all his spins and a level 3 on both step sequences. His program also stood out among the rest due to the intricate choreography which linked the required elements together.
"The triple Axel was a good attempt," said the 22-year-old, "but I couldn't catch it. Then I just hesitated on the quadruple toe loop, and only did a triple. It was hard to get into the program after that."
Notwithstanding, Lambiel remains rather optimistic about his chances of winning the competition.
"I just want to do a clean long program tomorrow," said the two-time and former European champion. "The most important thing is to do all the elements and the results will come. I will do my best to win the title."
Belgium's Kevin Van der Perren is currently 4th with 66.33 (34.97/31.36) points - just a notch below the top three competitors. The defending bronze medalist turned his planned quad-triple combination into quad-double and later doubled a planned triple Lutz out of footwork. His program to Xotica by Rene Dupere seemed empty compared to that of his rivals, but the Grand Prix finalist managed to gain a level 4 on all his spins. He also received a level 2 and 3 on his footwork, which fit the strong beat of the music well.
"It was the first Lutz I've missed this week," said the 25-year-old. "But I'm still very happy with the way it went. As the competition approached, I became more and more nervous. The warm-up was really, really bad. If I want to medal, I can't do any mistakes again."
Van der Perren also claimed he is no longer bothered by his hip injury.
Kristopher Berntsson of Sweden finished fifth despite his low ISU World Standings, which placed him in the fourth of six groups. The 2007 Nordics champion gave a fairly solid performance which featured a triple Lutz-triple toe combination (tight landings on both jumps), a triple Axel, and very good level 4 spins and level 3 footwork. However, he put his hand down on the landing of a triple flip and the judges did not appear to enjoy his entertaining performance as much as the audience. He received a score of 65.62 (38.37/27.25) points, with the third highest technical score of the night.
Russia's Sergei Voronov appeared to be nervous and reserved throughout his program to Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto, which put him in sixth place with 64.26 (31.12/33.14) points. The student of Alexei Urmanov competed at Worlds last year, but this event marks his debut at the continental championship. The Russian champion opened his program with a quad-double combination, but later had to fight for the landing of a triple Axel (later called as underrotated), while noticeably turning out of the jump in the process. He also had trouble maintaining balance on the landing of his triple loop, and had a minor stumble during the straightline step sequence (level 1).
"I did the quad before at Russian Nationals and I landed it there," said Voronov. "I'll try to do the triple flip tomorrow in the long program."
The 20-year-old was not happy with the call on his triple Axel.
"It's a nice feeling to be here at the Europeans," said Voronov, "but it's not nice if they count a clean triple as a double. That's a minus. I am happy that I fully rotated all my jumps. My knee is really hurting and I didn't know if I can compete here. I coped with my first program and I did all I can do."
The highest ranked skater not to receive any negative Grades of Execution (GOE) on any elements, was Gregor Urbas from Slovenia. The 2007 Golden Spin champion, who is currently 7th with 63.43 (36.18/27.25) points, produced a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel, and a triple loop out of steps. His non-jumping elements, however, were relatively weak as his step sequences received only levels 1 and 2, and one of his spins was graded a level 2.
Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany delivered a nearly flawless routine to L'Oiseau by Rene Dupere. |
In the Pairs event, defending champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy justified the foregone conclusion that they would repeat their victory. The German champions delivered a nearly flawless routine to L'Oiseau by Rene Dupere.
The defending champions opened with a huge throw triple flip, but then Szolkowy had a slightly shaky landing on his jump in the side-by-side tripe toe-triple toe sequence. Later, however, he popped a triple Salchow to a single - making it the fifth time this season that the team has failed to complete the element.
Otherwise, the students of Ingo Steuer were mesmerizing. None of their rivals came close to their level of complexity and originality in element entries and exits, or the flow - which they seem to achieve almost effortlessly. The 2007-07 Grand Prix Final champions earned 132.03 (67.57/64.46) points for the long program, and new total personal best of 202.39 points.
"The performance today was quite good," said Szolkowy, at a post event press conference. "Not perfect, but good."
"At the moment we are just enjoying ourselves," added his partner, Savchenko. "We obviously have a lot of work to do, but right now we just want to enjoy the moment. It's our second gold medal at the European Championships. The first one was a bit more of a surprise. It was somewhat sweeter because of it, but this one is also very precious for us."
When asked about his problems with triple salchow, Szolkowy replied: "The Worlds in Sweden is going to be my last chance to show you my triple Salchow, and I promise you I'll land it!"
Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov opened their program with strong side-by-side triple toe-double toes, a triple twist, and side-by-side triple Salchows. It was the first time this year that they have completed both their jumping passes, but the 2007 Finlandia champions missed their usually consistent throws. Mukhortova popped the first throw triple loop into a single, and later fell on throw triple Salchow.
"I don't know what happened on the throws," Trankov later told the press. "Normally they are very good elements for us, and Maria never falls on them. Perhaps we were too nervous, too concentrated on the jumps, and simply were too relaxed for the throws."
The 2008 Russian silver medalist's non-jumping elements, however, were solid, with only the straightline footwork and side-by-side flying combination spin receiving a level 1. Their other elements were awarded levels 3 and 4. On occasion, however, their routine to Rachmaninov's Prelude appeared to be too heavy and oppressive for the skaters to express. Be that as it may, their power and flow were up to the musical level, and they placed second in the long with 106.68 (53.32/54/36) and overall (169.41 points).
"We are not happy with the way we skated," said Trankov, "but we are happy to win the medal here. We re-claimed the status of the best Russian pair. It's very important for us."
When asked if they had some ideas on how they could defeat the German team in the future, Trankov replied: "We know what to do. We have to skate clean. More often than once a season, so the judges will recognize that [we] are the good team and give us good marks. We have to skate clean with strong choreography and solid elements. I don't think it's impossible to do."
Skating before their main rivals, teammates Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov delivered what might have been their best performance of Love Story to date. Although it wasn't the strongest technically, the overall impression of their program finally started to approach the soft and lyrical style required by the music.
The 2008 Russian champions got rid of their questionable costumes, which seemed excessive and distracting, and cleaned up their lines well enough not to distract from the overall impression. The mistake on their trump element - the throw quad Salchow - also wasn't as disruptive as usual, since Kawaguchi only slightly touched the ice with her hand. The team did, however, miss both their jumping passes.
Smirnov stepped out of his first jump and fell on the second of what should have been a side-by-side triple toe-triple toe sequence, and later singled a planned double Axel. Combined with the tight landing of throw triple loop, and the rather slow and hesitant carry lift, it was enough to negate their advantage in the program starting values arising from a quad throw and difficult non-jumping elements, which were all graded level 3 and 4. They finished third in in the long with 106.00 (53.63/53.36), and overall with 167.25 points.
Immediately after the performance, Smirnov expressed doubts that they skated good enough to medal: "I am very upset," he said, "because I didn't do my job tonight. Not even 50 percent".
"For us, our first European championship ended up with bronze medal," added a subdued Kawaguchi. "But both in the short and in the long programs, we made mistakes. We have to improve for the next competition."
When asked about the German team advantage, Kawaguchi added: "I don't know what we have to do to beat the Germans, but I suppose our coach does. We have to listen to our coach and do what we are told to do."
When asked about the throw quad, Kawaguchi said that it's the first time she has landed it in competition, and that it meant a lot for her that it happened at this event.
Ukrainians Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov slipped to fourth place (163.43 points) after serious problems with several elements in their long program to music from the Tears of Sun soundtrack. Morozov underrotated his second triple toe in the opening side-by-side triple toe-triple toe sequence, and later popped a planned triple Salchow. The team also aborted their third lift and subsequently lost far too many points in basic value to make up for it with the excellent execution of triple twist, good lifts and throws. They scored 102.14 (49.02/54.12) points for a fourth place finish in the long.
The team refused to comment on their performance.
Arina Ushakova and Sergei Karev of Russia remained in fifth (130.34 points) despite finishing sixth in the long program after Ushakova popped a double Axel. The team also took a hard fall on the third lift. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and they were able to complete their routine without interruption. They program and the quality of their skating was a notch above the team who finished below them. While their throw jumps and triple twist were very solid, their mistakes were too costly, and they earned 80.91 (40.46/36.61) points for their long program.
"I don't know what happened," said Karev. "This never happened to us before. We did quite well except for the fall. It was our first time at Europeans. It was an experience for us to compete in such a big event."
Great Britain's Stacey Kemp and David King pulled up to sixth place overall (129.13 points) after finishing fifth (83.08 points) in the long program. The students of Mariusz and Dorota Siudek didn't attempt side-by-side triple jumps, and Kemp fell on throw triple salchow. She also had to fight for the landing of a throw triple loop, but overall, their routine to music from the James Bond soundtrack made a rather nice and neat impression.
Mari Vartmann and Florian Just of Germany slipped to seventh place (119.86 points) after they failed to execute either side-by-side jumps or clean triple throw jumps. The team had earlier considered withdrawing from the event as Just is suffering from a painful back injury.
The 2007 Coupe de Nice and Finlandia Trophy bronze medalists later told the press they were simply happy to complete the competition.
The event continues with the Original Dance and the Men's Long Program.
