Russia’s Dmitri Aliev rose to claim the gold on Thursday after the Men’s Free Skate in Graz, Austria. Teammate Artur Danielian captured the silver in his debut at this event, while Georgia’s Morisi Kvitelashvili pocketed the bronze—becoming the first man from his country to win a European medal.
Skating to “The Sound of Silence”, Aliev underroated and put a foot down on his opening quad Lutz, but landed a solid quad toe and quad toe-triple toe in addition to six solid triple jumps. The 2019 CS Nepela Memorial champion also showed strong level 4 footwork and two spins to finish first in the free skate with a new personal best of 184.44—over 15 points more than his personal best from 2019 Rostelecom Cup where he took silver. With a total overall score of 272.89 points, he easily won the gold.
“I am incredibly happy,” said the Russian Champion. “At the end of my program, I cried out of happiness and feeling proud. I could not hold back the tears, because right away I had imagined in my head of my path to this result. Now on the podium, I just feel crazily happy—it was fireworks inside. It was happiness and an inner smile. It was a good and happy day for me. I have not yet realized that I won, but I feel it. I somehow believed in myself and I am very happy that I was able to rely on myself. I was nervous, but I believed in myself.”
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What are your overall thoughts on the Men's event? What surprised or disappointed you? Were you moved by any of the performances?
Skating to “The Sound of Silence”, Aliev underroated and put a foot down on his opening quad Lutz, but landed a solid quad toe and quad toe-triple toe in addition to six solid triple jumps. The 2019 CS Nepela Memorial champion also showed strong level 4 footwork and two spins to finish first in the free skate with a new personal best of 184.44—over 15 points more than his personal best from 2019 Rostelecom Cup where he took silver. With a total overall score of 272.89 points, he easily won the gold.
“I am incredibly happy,” said the Russian Champion. “At the end of my program, I cried out of happiness and feeling proud. I could not hold back the tears, because right away I had imagined in my head of my path to this result. Now on the podium, I just feel crazily happy—it was fireworks inside. It was happiness and an inner smile. It was a good and happy day for me. I have not yet realized that I won, but I feel it. I somehow believed in myself and I am very happy that I was able to rely on myself. I was nervous, but I believed in myself.”
More...
What are your overall thoughts on the Men's event? What surprised or disappointed you? Were you moved by any of the performances?
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