Day One Press Report

The 2001 ISU European Figure Skating Championships began in Bratislava, Slovakia Monday with 162 skaters participating from 33 ISU Member countries.

Men

The Championships opened with the Men's Qualifying Round which counts for 20% of the skaters' final score. Thirty skaters (fifteen from each group) went through to compete in the Short Program.

Three time world champion Alexei Yagudin (RUS) was the winner of the first Qualifying Group to skate. He drew to skate first of the 18 skaters in his group and consequently had to take the ice at 11.00 am. The 2000 European silver medallist began his Gladiator program with a clean quadruple toeloop/double toeloop combination and included seven triples in his program. It was not a vintage Yagudin performance but it was more than enough to win the group, earning first places from all seven Judges and a total of eleven marks of 5.8.

Teammate and 1999 European bronze medallist Alexander Abt placed second. Skating with a serious sinus infection, he was clearly not at his best in his program also set to the soundtrack from Gladiator. He put a hand down on his attempt at the quadruple toeloop but managed six triples, earning marks ranging from 5.3 to 5.7. Abt later went to hospital for further medical treatment. French champion Stanick Jeannette placed third.

"I know how hard it's to skate without morning practice," said Yagudin. "My body was still sleeping. The jumps were less powerful than I would like to skate in the real free program. I decided that one quad would be enough."

The third member of the Russian team and last year's European champion Evgeni Plushenko won the second group. He too drew to skate first and, like Yagudin, was not at his best. He did not include a quad in his program to a variety of film soundtracks but landed seven triples in his fast and intricate program. He received first places from all seven Judges and his marks included six 5.8s for presentation.

Romanian national champion Gheorge Chiper, skating a program choreographed by his wife Sandra Schar, placed second in a split Judges' decision. Third was Bulgarian national champion, Ivan Dinev.

"I didn't do the quads," said Plushenko. "I was just tired. It was OK to skate first, it just was a practice today."

Vitali Danilchenko (UKR) was the only other skater of the day to land a clean quad - a quadruple toeloop. It was his first successful quad in competition.

Pairs

Former world and European champions Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze (RUS) took the lead in the Pairs Short Program ahead of French champions Sarah Abitbol & Stephane Bernadis.

The French were the first pair to skate and produced a good performance of their Ninja program, including a throw triple loop and original moves but Bernadis had a shaky landing on the side by side triple toeloop. Their marks included a total of three 5.6s and twelve 5.5s. Then they had to wait to see what happened.

Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze were first in the last group. Skating to an arrangement of Russian folk music, they performed excellent side by side triple toeloops centre ice out of steps and a spectacular double twist. But Berezhnaya fell heavily on the landing of the throw triple loop and the following side by side spin was out of synch. They recovered to complete all the other required elements with their characteristic speed and power. Their marks ranged from 5.2 - 5.5 for required elements but their presentation marks included one 5.9 and two 5.8s. The Judges split five to four in favor of the Russian couple ahead of the French. Third were Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim Marinin, also from Russia. Skating to an arrangement of Liszt, their lyrical and flowing performance featured a throw triple loop and very high double twist. Defending champions Maria Petrova & Alexei Tikhonov placed fourth.

Tamara Moskvina, coach to Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze, said: "They were very well prepared and determined. They had more speed, better flow, better positions. I think the mistake happened because of the different sizes of the American and European ice rinks. They are disappointed that they did such a mistake. They were ready."

The Championships continue tomorrow (Tuesday) with the Compulsory Dances and the Men's Short Program.

For further information please contact:

Aline Bussat/Penny Dain in Bratislava on +421 749149 406
E-mail: isupress@euroskate2001.sk.


2001 European Championships of Figure Skating, Bratislava, Slovakia

Day One

Results

Men

FPl.	Name			Nat.	Points	QB	QA	SP	FS

1	Alexei YAGUDIN 		RUS	0.4	1			
1	Evgeni PLUSHENKO 	RUS	0.4		1		
3	Alexander ABT 		RUS	0.8	2			
3	Gheorghe CHIPER 	ROM	0.8		2		
5	Stanick JEANNETTE 	FRA	1.2	3			
5	Ivan DINEV 		BUL	1.2		3		
7	Vitali DANILCHENKO 	UKR	1.6	4			
7	Sergei DAVYDOV 		BLR	1.6		4		
9	Robert KAZIMIR 		SVK	2.0	5			
9	Stéphane LAMBIEL 	SUI	2.0		5		
11	Alexei KOZLOV 		EST	2.4	6			
11	Andrejs VLASCENKO 	GER	2.4		6		
13	Frederic DAMBIER 	FRA	2.8	7			
13	Markus LEMINEN 		FIN	2.8		7		
15	Vakhtang MURVANIDZE 	GEO	3.2	8			
15	Sergei RYLOV 		AZE	3.2		8		
17	Kristoffer BERNTSSON 	SWE	3.6	9			
17	Konstantin KOSTIN 	LAT	3.6		9		
19	Michael SHMERKIN 	ISR	4.0	10			
19	Dmitry DMITRENKO 	UKR	4.0		10		
21	Zoltan TOTH 		HUN	4.4	11			
21	Angelo DOLFINI 		ITA	4.4		11		
23	Konstantin TUPIKOV 	UKR	4.8	12			
23	Silvio SMALUN 		GER	4.8		12		
25	Alan STREET 		GBR	5.2	13			
25	Gregor URBAS 		SLO	5.2		13		
27	Daniel PEINADO 		ESP	5.6	14			
27	Robert GRZEGORCZYK 	POL	5.6		14		
29	Kevin van der PERREN 	BEL	6.0	15			
29	Hristo TOURLAKOV 	BUL	6.0		15		
31	Clemens JONAS 		AUT		16			
31	Lukas RAKOWSKI 		CZE			16		
33	Aidas REKLYS 		LTU		17			
33	Panagiotis MARKOUIZOS 	GRE			17		
35	Milos MILANOVIC 	YUG		18			


Pairs

Fl.	Name					Nat.	Points	SP	FS

1	Elena BEREZHNAYA / Anton SIKHARULIDZE 	RUS	0.5	1	
2	Sarah ABITBOL / Stephane BERNADIS 	FRA	1.0	2	
3	Tatiana TOTMIANINA / Maxim MARININ 	RUS	1.5	3	
4	Maria PETROVA / Alexei TIKHONOV 	RUS	2.0	4	
5	Dorota ZAGORSKA / Mariusz SIUDEK 	POL	2.5	5	
6	Sabrina LEFRANCOIS / Jerome BLANCHARD 	FRA	3.0	6	
7	Aliona SAVCHENKO / Stanislav MOROZOV 	UKR	3.5	7	
8	Olga BESTANDIGOVA / Jozef BESTANDIG 	SVK	4.0	8	
9	Inga RODIONOVA / Andrei KROUKOV 	AZE	4.5	9	
10	Viktoria SHKLOVER / Valdis MINTALS 	EST	5.0	10	
11	Tatiana CHUVAEVA / Dmitri PALAMARCHUK 	UKR	5.5	11	
12	Mariana KAUTZ / Norman JESCHKE 		GER	6.0	12	
13	Maria KRASILTSEVA / Artem ZNACHKOV 	ARM	6.5	13	
14	Michaela KRUTSKA / Marek SEDLMAJER 	CZE	7.0	14	
15	Ivana DURIN / Andrei MAXIMOV 		YUG	7.5	15	

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