| 2002 European Figure Skating Championships: Day Two |
The 2002 ISU European Figure Skating Championships continued in Lausanne with the Compulsory Dances and the Men's Short Program.
Ice Dance, Compulsory Dances
Defending Champions Barbara Fusar Poli/ Maurizio Margaglio (ITA) and last year's silver medallists, Marina Anissina/ Gwendal Peizerat (FRA) were tied in first place after the two Compulsory Dances, the Ravensburger Waltz and the Blues.
Anissina/ Peizerat won the first dance (the Ravensburger Waltz) which they skated with elegance and flow. Six out of the seven Judges awarded first place ordinals to the French couple, placing them ahead of the Italians. "We did well in both dances. We had a bad draw to start first in the first dance, but we did well", Peizerat commented. "The competition is not yet over. We feel good on the ice and we are ready for the rest."
Fusar Poli/Margaglio were equally pleased with their performance. "Maybe someone expected us to go down, but we are stronger than before", Margaglio told the press. "We are on track. We felt we must attack again. That's what we did in the past."
In the second dance, Fusar Poli/ Margaglio took the lead. This time, five of the seven Judges opted for the Italians, who turned in an expressive and smooth Blues. Anissina/ Peizerat had to settle for second, leaving the two couples tied going into Thursday's Original Dance.
The top two couples are followed by the 2001 bronze medallists, Irina Lobacheva/ Ilia Averbukh of Russia, who placed third in both dances, ahead of 2000 bronze medallists Margarita Drobiazko/ Povilas Vanagas (LTU). The Russians are competing in their first international event this season, as Lobacheva has been dealing with an injury since September and lost over a month of training time. "Maybe we were a little bit more nervous. We couldn't skate (compete) half the season. The Blues was much better than the Waltz," Averbukh said.
Men, Short Program
Tonight's Short Program was on a high level as many skaters turned in strong performances. Alexei Yagudin and Alexander Abt (both of Russia), the winners of Qualifying Round A and B, took first and second place respectively in the Short Program. France's Brian Joubert placed third in the second part of the competition.
Skating first in the final flight, Yagudin nailed a quadruple-triple toeloop combination right at the beginning of his "Winter" program. Then, the three-time World Champion reeled off a high triple Axel, a triple Lutz and spectacular footwork. The crowd cheered him on and gave him a standing ovation. Yagudin's marks went up to 5.9 for both required elements and presentation, picking up all first place ordinals. "I enjoy this short program a lot", he told the press. "Whenever I have the choice between short and free program in practice, I skate the short. I like the footwork the most in the program."
Abt was a clear second, hitting a quadruple-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel and a triple Lutz. The Russian also showed strong spins in his routine to Armenian music. "It was a bit hard to skate, physically", Abt said. "I was calm when I went out there, but in general I skate better in practice. I'll attack again in the free program, like today."
Joubert turned out to be the surprise of the evening. Competing in his first European Championships, the 17-year-old wasn't impressed by the big names and delivered a dynamic performance that featured a quadruple-double toeloop, a triple Axel and a triple flip. "I had fun. It's like an exhibition for me", Joubert happily explained. "First I focused on the quadruple combination, then on the choreography and the gestures."
Ilia Klimkin of Russia came in fourth. The 1999 World Junior Champion also landed a clean quadruple-triple toeloop combination but stumbled on the triple Axel.
The European Figure Skating Championships continue Wednesday with the Ladies Qualifying Rounds and the Pairs Free Program.
Results Ice Dance FPl. Name Nat. Points C1 C2 OD FD 1 Marina ANISSINA / Gwendal PEIZERAT FRA 0.6 1 2 1 Barbara FUSAR POLI / Maurizio MARGAGLIO ITA 0.6 2 1 3 Irina LOBACHEVA / Ilia AVERBUKH RUS 1.2 3 3 4 Margarita DROBIAZKO / Povilas VANAGAS LTU 1.6 4 4 5 Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI ISR 2.0 5 5 6 Albena DENKOVA / Maxim STAVIYSKI BUL 2.4 6 6 7 Tatiana NAVKA / Roman KOSTOMAROV RUS 2.8 7 7 8 Elena GRUSHINA / Ruslan GONCHAROV UKR 3.2 8 8 9 Eliane HUGENTOBLER / Daniel HUGENTOBLER SUI 3.8 10 9 9 Sylwia NOWAK / Sebastian KOLASINSKI POL 3.8 9 10 11 Marika HUMPHREYS / Vitali BARANOV GBR 4.6 11 12 11 Natalia ROMANIUTA / Daniil BARANTSEV RUS 4.6 12 11 13 Alia OUABDELSSELAM / Benjamin DELMAS FRA 5.2 13 13 14 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 5.8 14 15 14 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 5.8 15 14 16 Natalia GUDINA / Alexei BELETSKI ISR 6.6 16 17 17 Veronika MORAVKOVA / Jiri PROCHAZKA CZE 6.8 18 16 18 Stephanie RAUER / Thomas RAUER GER 7.0 17 18 19 Jill VERNEKOHL / Dmitri KURAKIN GER 7.6 19 19 20 Roxane PETETIN / Mathieu JOST FRA 8.2 20 21 21 Julia GOLOVINA / Oleg VOIKO UKR 8.4 22 20 22 Zita GEBORA / Andras VISONTAI HUN 8.6 21 22 23 Jessica HUOT / Juha VALKAMA FIN 9.2 23 23 24 Anna MOSENKOVA / Sergei SYCHOV EST 9.6 24 24 25 Tatiana SINIAVER / Tornike TUKVADZE GEO 10.0 25 25 Men FPl. Name Nat. Points QA QB SP FS 1 Alexei YAGUDIN RUS 1.0 1 1 2 Alexander ABT RUS 1.6 1 2 3 Brian JOUBERT FRA 2.6 2 3 4 Ilia KLIMKIN RUS 3.2 2 4 5 Andrejs VLASCENKO GER 5.0 5 5 6 Stéphane LAMBIEL SUI 5.2 4 6 7 Dmitri DMITRENKO UKR 6.0 3 8 8 Sergei DAVYDOV BLR 6.6 6 7 9 Ivan DINEV BUL 6.6 3 9 10 Frederic DAMBIER FRA 7.6 4 10 11 Gabriel MONNIER FRA 8.6 5 11 12 Stefan LINDEMANN GER 10.0 7 12 13 Kevin VAN DER PERREN BEL 10.2 6 13 14 Margus HERNITS EST 11.6 8 14 15 Gheorghe CHIPER ROM 13.0 10 15 16 Juraj SVIATKO SVK 13.2 9 16 17 Tomas VERNER CZE 13.4 8 17 18 Vakhtang MURVANIDZE GEO 14.4 9 18 19 Gregor URBAS SLO 15.8 11 19 20 Matthew DAVIES GBR 17.4 12 21 21 Patrick MEIER SUI 18.0 15 20 22 Angelo DOLFINI ITA 18.0 12 22 23 Kristoffer BERNTSSON SWE 18.4 7 26 24 Sergei RYLOV AZE 18.8 11 24 25 Michael SHMERKIN ISR 19.0 13 23 26 Markus LEMINEN FIN 20.2 13 25 27 Hristo TURLAKOV BUL 21.4 10 29 28 Bertalan ZAKANY HUN 21.8 14 27 29 Daniel PEINADO ESP 22.8 15 28 30 Clemens JONAS AUT 23.6 14 30 31 Aidas REKLYS LTU 16 31 Bartosz DOMANSKI POL 16 33 Tayfun ANAR TUR 17 33 Ivan KINCIK SVK 17 35 Aramis GRIGORIAN ARM 18 35 Milos MILANOVIC YUG 18 R Panagiotis MARKOUIZOS GRE For further information please contact: 2002 European Figure Skating Championships Aline Bussat Ingweresen, Michelle Bohin, ISU Media Coordinator Press Officer Tel: + 41 21 620 78 08 Tel: +1 (647) 221 31 06 E-mail: bussat@isu.ch E-mail: media@euroskating2002.com