| 2002 European Figure Skating Championships: Day Five |
The 2002 ISU European Figure Skating Championships continued in Lausanne with the Ladies Short Program and the conclusion of the Ice Dance competition.
Ladies, Short Program
The Ladies started today's competition with the Short Program. Three Russians dominated the competition and are standing in first, second and third after the Short Program. Maria Butyrskaya took the lead ahead of Viktoria Volchkova and Irina Slutskaya.
Butyrskaya, who was tied in first place with Slutskaya after the Qualifying Round, delivered a clean and lyrical performance. The program set to "Tune of the White Nights" featured a triple flip out of footwork, a triple Lutz-double toeloop a double Axel and nice spins. Her marks went up to 5.8 for required elements and up to 5.9 for presentation. "There is no "most difficult" element in the short for me, they are all equally important", the 1999 World Champion said. "If you miss one, it costs you dearly. I was nervous, as always. I'm even nervous before skating in an exhibition! I'm happy with this program, it was well done."
Volchkova turned in a clean performance as well, although she had a tooth-ache. She hit a high triple Lutz-double toeloop, a triple flip and showed nice spirals in her routine to "Moonlight Sonata". The judges awarded her marks ranging from 5.5 to 5.8 for required elements and from 5.8 to 5.9 for presentation. "I skated very well today and hope to do the same tomorrow", the Muscovite told the press. "I don't think about a place or a medal; I concentrate on my skating. I had some problems with my tooth, but did not even think of that."
Skating to a Serenade by Franz Schubert, four-time and defending Champion Slutskaya took an unexpected fall on the flip, but she produced a triple Lutz-double loop combination and excellent spins to place third. "Nothing really happened. I just fell", the 22-year-old shrugged. "Tomorrow, I'll come back strong and win."
Ukraine's Elena Maniachenko came in fourth today. She landed a triple Lutz-double toeloop and a triple flip, but touched down with her hand on the double Axel.
Butyrskaya collected six first place ordinals and three second places, while Volchkova had the remaining three first place ordinals.
Ice Dance, Free Dance
In a thrilling Ice Dancing finale, overnight leaders Marina Anissina/Gwendal Peizerat of France won the Free Dance to recapture the European title they lost last year. Barbara Fusar Poli/Maurizio Margaglio (Italy) settled for the silver medal this time and the bronze went to the Russian team, Irina Lobacheva/Ilia Averbukh.
The defending Champions, Fusar Poli/Margaglio, skated first in the final flight. They put in an energetic disco-dance routine to the hit "I will survive". As the audience clapped along and cheered loudly, the team produced interesting lifts and dance moves. When the program ended, the Italians hugged each other tightly, obviously pleased with how they skated their program. The marks went up to 5.8 for technical merit and up to 5.9 for presentation. "I was thinking a lot during the program, especially about the hard work we did after the Grand Prix Final in Canada",
Margaglio said. "I felt that I skated my program very easily tonight and this makes me happy whatever the result is. The top four ice dancing couples here are simply amazing and the result can vary."
Lobacheva/Averbukh were up next. Their routine was totally different. Skating to the peace song "Turn Turn Turn" the married couple thrilled the crowd with strong lifts and intricate footwork. The panel awarded them marks up to 5.7 for technical merit and up to 5.8 for presentation. "It's only the second time in my life that I got a standing ovation. That's like a victory for us", Averbukh commented. "Our program is dedicated to the events of September 11th in the USA. We want to show the angst, the terror of lives being taken, of loosing loved ones. But we also want to show that there is love. The words of the song emphasize that love eventually will prevail."
Anissina/Peizerat where the last dancers to take on to the ice. The atmosphere in the arena was electric. The French wanted their title back and put their hearts into their program called "Liberta". Displaying deep edges, they performed original lifts and spins and strong footwork. The choreography of the program projected Anissina/Peizerat's artistry and unison. The tension was high as they sat in the Kiss & Cry to wait for their marks. As soon as the marks for technical merit (ranging from 5.7 to 5.9) came up on the score board, Peizerat raised his arms in triumph. Anissina/Peizerat beat Fusar Poli/Margaglio by a majority of seven to two Judges.
Lithuania's Margarita Drobiazko/Povilas Vanagas remained in fourth with an inspiring and passionate performance set to Johnny Halliday's song "Quelques Cris".
The Championships continue tomorrow with the conclusion of the Ladies competition.
Results Ladies FPl. Name Nat. Points QA QB SP FS 1 Maria BUTYRSKAYA RUS 1.0 1 1 2 Viktoria VOLCHKOVA RUS 2.0 2 2 3 Irina SLUTSKAYA RUS 2.2 1 3 4 Galina MANIACHENKO UKR 3.2 2 4 5 Silvia FONTANA ITA 4.2 3 5 6 Susanna PÖYKIÖ FIN 4.8 3 6 7 Elina KETTUNEN FIN 6.2 5 7 8 Elena LIASHENKO UKR 6.8 5 8 9 Vanessa GUSMEROLI FRA 7.0 4 9 10 Julia SEBESTYEN HUN 8.2 4 11 11 Laetitia HUBERT FRA 8.8 7 10 12 Julia LAUTOWA AUT 10.0 7 12 13 Sarah MEIER SUI 10.2 6 13 14 Zuzana BABIAKOVA SVK 11.4 6 15 15 Mojca KOPAC SLO 11.6 8 14 16 Marta ANDRADE ESP 13.6 10 16 17 Lucie KRAUSOVA CZE 14.4 9 18 18 Vanessa GIUNCHI ITA 15.0 12 17 19 Julia LEBEDEVA ARM 15.0 9 19 20 Idora HEGEL CRO 15.8 8 21 21 Roxana LUCA ROM 16.4 11 20 22 Sara FALOTICO BEL 18.4 13 22 23 Tamara DOROFEJEV HUN 18.8 11 24 24 Svetlana PILIPENKO UKR 19.4 14 23 25 Sabina WOJTALA POL 20.2 13 25 26 Asa PERSSON SWE 20.2 10 27 27 Tugba KARADEMIR TUR 21.6 15 26 28 Karen VENHUIZEN NED 21.6 12 28 29 Darya ZURAVICKI ISR 23.0 14 29 30 Georgina PAPAVASILIOU GRE 24.0 15 30 31 Olga VASSILJEVA EST 16 31 Andrea DIEWALD GER 16 33 Gintare VOSTRECOVAITE LTU 17 33 Ksenia JASTSENJSKI YUG 17 Ice Dance FPl. Name Nat. Points C1 C2 OD FD 1 Marina ANISSINA / Gwendal PEIZERAT FRA 2.2 1 2 1 1 2 Barbara FUSAR POLI / Maurizio MARGAGLIO ITA 3.8 2 1 2 2 3 Irina LOBACHEVA / Ilia AVERBUKH RUS 6.0 3 3 3 3 4 Margarita DROBIAZKO / Povilas VANAGAS LTU 8.0 4 4 4 4 5 Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI ISR 10.0 5 5 5 5 6 Albena DENKOVA / Maxim STAVIYSKI BUL 12.0 6 6 6 6 7 Tatiana NAVKA / Roman KOSTOMAROV RUS 14.0 7 7 7 7 8 Elena GRUSHINA / Ruslan GONCHAROV UKR 16.0 8 8 8 8 9 Eliane HUGENTOBLER / Daniel HUGENTOBLER SUI 18.2 10 9 9 9 10 Sylwia NOWAK / Sebastian KOLASINSKI POL 19.8 9 10 10 10 11 Marika HUMPHREYS / Vitali BARANOV GBR 22.8 11 12 12 11 12 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 25.6 14 15 13 12 13 Alia OUABDELSSELAM / Benjamin DELMAS FRA 26.6 13 13 14 13 14 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 28.8 15 14 15 14 15 Natalia GUDINA / Alexei BELETSKI ISR 31.2 16 17 16 15 16 Veronika MORAVKOVA / Jiri PROCHAZKA CZE 33.0 18 16 17 16 17 Stephanie RAUER / Thomas RAUER GER 34.8 17 18 18 17 18 Julia GOLOVINA / Oleg VOIKO UKR 37.8 22 20 19 18 19 Roxane PETETIN / Mathieu JOST FRA 39.8 20 21 21 19 20 Zita GEBORA / Andras VISONTAI HUN 41.8 21 22 22 20 21 Jessica HUOT / Juha VALKAMA FIN 44.0 23 23 23 21 22 Anna MOSENKOVA / Sergei SYCHOV EST 46.0 24 24 24 22 R Natalia ROMANIUTA / Daniil BARANTSEV RUS 12 11 11 R Jill VERNEKOHL / Dmitri KURAKIN GER 19 19 20 25 Tatiana SINIAVER / Tornike TUKVADZE GEO 25 25 25 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