Free Skating

Repeat of 2006 European podium; Plushenko brilliant if not perfect – wins by 4.20;
Lambiel second, presents very enjoyable routine with matchless spins to earn top components score;
Joubert gets bronze but his free receives only seventh best technical marks

1.Total Score 255.39 Evgeni Plushenko, Russia; 1.Free Skate 164.09 (80.99 Elements + 83.10 Components)

Plushenko skated 18^th of the 20 allowed through to the free skate (down from 24 last season), immediately following Brian Joubert’s flawed showing, Plushenko was in a class by himself, winning his sixth European crown but first since 2006. He took the ice looking supremely confident, dressed in black including gloves with red sparkles. The ensemble was enlivened with a silver tie. He opened his Tango of Love with a Wow – a solid quad toe to triple toe, which has a base value of 13.80 and he got +0.80 Grade of Execution added to that.

That dynamic start was quickly followed by a +1.40 triple Axel, a +1.0 second triple Axel combined with a double toe and a +1.40 triple loop. That meant he had accumulated 35.10 points in just over a minute! His first spin, a flying sit got the maximum Level 4 with +0.30 and then came the mistake with the triple Lutz. He didn’t take off correctly, did only two rotations and had to struggle with the landing. "I am disappointed with that," said Plushenko, who turned 27 on November 3. "Maybe it’s because I’m working on the quad Lutz and I just need to do the quad and not a triple." That proved to be his only error.

His first spin was a Level 4 +0.60 change foot sit. That was followed by +1.0 Level 3 circular steps during which he flamboyantly threw kisses to women in the audience in keeping with his character as a sleek, lovable Don Juan. He had no problems with the second triple Lutz which was combined with a double toe, timed to take advantage of the point when the 10% bonus for jumps clicks in. With his +0.80 GoE and the bonus, he earned 8.83 points for this move, then 5.95 for the triple Salchow which followed and 4.85 for his last jump, a double Axel. At that point he pumped his fists in the air knowing he probably would win. He summoned all the energy he had left for his Level 2 straight line steps. Two of the nine judges thought they were so well performed, they awarded him the maximum GoE of 3. Four others gave +2 and the remaining three punched in +1. Plushenko wrapped the routine up with a +0.60 Level 4 combination spin. Two of the nine judges awarded it the maximum +3 GoE, four others gave +2 and the remaining three punched in +1. As he skated towards the kiss and cry area where he would wait for his marks, he followed his usual procedure of scooping up some churned up ice which he kissed. It’s his way of thanking the ice for helping him skate well.

Afterwards, he reviewed his showing. "I’m not OK with my performance today, because I missed one jump, the triple Lutz. It was not yet an Olympic performance. At the Olympics I need to do two quads and I need to skate much better. I am proud of myself that I’ve won today and that I beat strong competitors. It’s nice to have my sixth European gold. It’s nice to have all the titles and what comes with that. I have money. I have a great wife (Jana Rudkovskaia, a television personality), the best one. (He and his first wife had a brief marriage and his son Egor was born in the summer after he won Olympic gold.) My spins and steps are much better and I feel better now. That’s the difference between the 2006 Europeans and now. Of course I was watching what has happened in the sport since then. At the last two World Championships people won without a quad but I don’t believe that is possible today. Today, there are people doing two quads, and that’s good. They were pushed to do it and they realized that you can’t win without a quad. Nowadays, all the skaters are skating in a similar way. We all have to do the same spins with the change of edges, and the steps with the rockers and counters.

"My wife insisted on me coming back. It’s a great feeling to be in competition and maybe I was feeling a lack of that feeling of adrenalin surges. I had trouble in the warm-up with the triple-double. But, apparently, I still benefit from my experience and can pull myself together when it counts. I’m very happy for myself that I’m still competitive after such a long break. Winning feels a 1,000 times nicer as the other competitors are younger than I am and they came much later to the top than I did. I am really proud everything went well. Of course, the most important competition will be the Olympic Games. I’ll need to skate better. I want to do two quads."

2. TS 238.54 Stephane Lambiel, Switzerland; 2. FS 160.79 (76.79 + 85.00 -1.0 for a fall) Lambiel climbed from fifth after the Short Program with second place in the Free and the top components score, 1.90 over Plushenko, who was second in this area. Lambiel skated last, knowing that Plushenko had performed to a high standard. Lambiel said, "This competition was ‘WOW’. It was a hard one. After the Short Program, I was wondering how I’m going to make it work. I was ready to fight. I was in good shape. I didn’t have doubts, but you never know. When I got out on the ice, I told myself, just follow the music." He had changed his routine from earlier in the season and now uses well loved music from Verdi’s opera, La Traviata"

The 24 year old many time national champion retired in 2008 due to persistent pain, and nobody replaced him. Although he still has the pain, he says he now manages it by simply not performing his famous spins except in competition or in exhibition. He has returned, he says, simply because, "The Olympic Games are very special for all the athletes. I wanted to challenge myself once again at the Olympic Games when I’m healthy enough."

He began with a planned quad toe to double toe. However, the landing of the first jump was flawed and he was unable to get airborne for the second jump. He received credit for the full four revolutions but was given a -1.92 Grade of Execution. Since the base value of the quad toe is 9.80, he still banked 7.88 points. He explained, "I had to put my hand on the ice on the first quad or I would have fallen." He recovered and executed a +0.40 triple Lutz followed by a successful +0.60 quad toe to double toe. That element earned him 11.70 points. A +1.20 triple flip put 6.70 points into his bank. His circular steps were Level 3 and +1.00 and the flying combination spin the maximum Level 4 and +0.80.

At the bonus time, he executed a +1 double Axel, then a +1.40 triple Loop. However, in his triple flip to triple toe, which was planned as a three-jump combo, the landing on the second jump was a bit dicey, and -0.20 was removed from its base value plus 10%. His flying sit spin was a +0.80 Level 4 but the serpentine steps were only Level 2 and -0.54, because he fell. "I lost my concentration and the edge," he said when asked how he could have gone down on such a simple step. "I was sad I wasn’t able to show the Waltz in the serpentine step sequence, because of that slip, but I will make it even more beautiful in three weeks. It could have been worse, but it could have been better. Now I feel very confident with the silver medal and I want to win the gold in Vancouver."

On his last jump, the triple Salchow, he had to land on a very bend knee which resulted in a -1.20 being taken off the base value. However, he finished on a very high note with a change foot combination spin which concludes with his head flung far back which gives the illusion of him being "headless". Four judges punched in the maximum +3 GoE and the others all gave +2. The audience went wild and he was given a standing ovation. The cost of doing such fast spins which create a "blur" was obvious. His face as he stood receiving his applause was very red. The centrifugal force created in spinning sends the blood cells towards the skin surface and, in extreme circumstances, can break blood vessels. Just ask another great Swiss spinner, Lucinda Ruh. Lambiel explained, "For me it is important what you express on the ice. For me the music is right when I feel the vibrations. It was good, but this performance wasn’t perfect. I felt great this week in Tallinn. But the competition is very tough. The level is very high. There is a lot of stress."

3. TS 236.45 Brian Joubert, France; 3. FS147.90 (68.10 + 79.80) Joubert dropped from second to third with a technical score which was only seventh best. He said, "I’m very disappointed with my free skating, but it’s not a big surprise. I knew that I wasn’t ready for the free skating (because of his foot injury). I was confident for the short program, because I worked a lot on that. But I wasn’t confident enough for the free skating." Both Joubert and Plushenko had a bad warm-up but since Joubert skated 17^th, he didn’t have the advantage of knowing how either of his leading rivals had performed. At the end of the four and a half minute routine, the 25 year old three-time holder of this title (2004, 2007 and 2009) bowed to the audience shaking his head.

He opened his routine, set to Ancient Land by Ronan Hardiman, with a quad toe loop but had to do a double three turn to hold the landing and had -1.60 taken off the base value. He immediately tried a second variety of quad, the Salchow, but doubled it and received the base value of that move, just 1.3 points. Asked what happened, he said "I wasn’t relaxed enough and I didn’t have enough speed." Things went better for a while. He received +1.0 GoE for his triple Axel to triple toe, +0.50 over the base value for his Level 4 flying sit spin and +0.60 extra for his triple Lutz to double toe. A second triple Lutz followed as the bonus marks clicked in and he earned a total 7.8 points for that. However, then he landed his triple loop with a bad lean and was unable to execute the two other jumps planned for this combination. His circular steps were given +0.90 but deemed only Level 2. He presented another Salchow, stepping out of this triple. A triple flip followed but he is not taking-off from the correct "inside" edge and because of that, the move was saddled with the dreaded "e" which resulted in a minus 1.20 GoE. He finished the routine with a Level 3 +0.40 change foot combination spin, Level 2 +0.70 straight line steps and a Level 4 +0.30 change foot sit spin. He said, in a dejected voice, "I am disappointed. This was practice for the Olympics and now I don’t know how to proceed. Maybe I’m still not ready for this program, and that’s why there were mistakes. For sure this was not a winning performance. I don’t have any problems with the technique. It is more a physical problem. I feel ready mentally, but I can be more confident.

4. TS 224.74, Michal Brezina, Czech Republic; 5. FS 145.14 (72.54 +72.60) The 19-year-old held onto fourth place despite ranking only fifth in the free, a big advancement from his 16^th and 10^th places in the previous two years. Brezina, who trains in his hometown of Brno and in Oberstdorf in Germany, said, "I felt a bit nervous before the event, because I was skating in the last group (after Plushenko and before Lambiel) with these big names! But now I feel great and, on the ice, I was comfortable." He skated to An American in Paris, opening with a triple Axel although he was forced to do a double three turn to control the landing and was not able to combine it as planed with a second jump.

All but two of his other elements gained the base value or better. He brought off a good triple Axel to double toe loop which earned an extra +0.60 just as the bonus marks click in although the following triple flip to triple toe had a slight minus. "Yes, I made one big mistake in the last jumping pass," Brezina admitted. "I did a single Axel and I lost about eight points."

5. TS 221.33, Samuel Contesti, Italy, 4. FS 145.43 (76.33 + 69.10) The former Frenchman who changed nationalities because of quarrels with the French Federation, was last year’s silver medal. Here, he rose two places from seventh. "It was a great performance," he said. Skating to an interesting selection of music by Pan Pipes of the Andes, he began with a +1 triple Axel to triple toe followed by a +0.60 triple flip, a +0.8 triple Lutz, two Level 4 spins earning +0.10 and +0.30 and +0.50 straight line steps. His only negative was -1.0 on the triple Salchow to triple toe. Just as the bonus marks clicked in he executed a second triple Axel which earned a full point over the base value. He also did a triple loop and a double Axel which earned their base values. His last jumping pass was a double Axel to two double toes which gained the base value. He finished with a Level 4 +0.20 flying sit spin. He said, "I’m very happy. I was fighting for the last three-jump combination, because every point is important. One point can make a difference, like it was in short program. The public was wonderful. I also want to thank all people who helped me, my coaches, and my coach’s wife, my family and many others. The pressure is always there, because all competitions are important. It is impossible to not feel pressure. If you don’t, it means you don’t care. Now I will train, train, train and maybe train some more to get ready for the Olympics."

6. TS 219.52, Yannick Ponsero, France; 7. FS 137.12 (63.12 +74.00) Ponsero, who has been 12^th twice and was fourth last year in this event, dropped from third to sixth. Skating to a mixture of four pieces, Caravan, Summertime, Porgy and Bess, and Sing, Sing, Sing, he started well with a speedy +1.60 quad toe which had great height and a +1.0 triple Axel, but then he did a double Lutz. There were only two more triples, a +0.40 Salchow combined with two toe loops and a triple toe in which he stepped out of the landing. All his Level moves were 2 except for the first spin, a change foot sit which got a Level 3. He said, "It was a very good competition with Brian, Evgeni Plushenko and Stéphane Lambiel who returned. Everyone was skating well tonight. So it was hard for me physically and mentally to hold it together. I gave all my energy in the first minute and I was tired afterwards. That’s a little disappointing."

7. TS 207.61 Alban Preaubert, France; 9. FS 131.24 (64.84 + 66.40) Preaubert was also disappointing, dropping a place to seventh with a ninth ranked Free to a medley by the Rolling Stones, Paint it Black, Angie, Mannish Boy and Start Me Up. He said, "I’ve made it really well through these Europeans. It has been a pleasure to skate here. The audience, especially, was great. I carry a positive feeling with me to the Olympic Games. Although I’m an old hand, the Olympic Games are a new step for me. It was the first time I tried a quadruple toe in a competition in a long time. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out." It turned into a triple, but the following triple Axel to double toe earned +0.20 over the base value and a three-jump combo of triple flip to double toe to double loop earned the base value. Then, after a Level 4 change foot combination spin which earned +0.2 over its base value, he brought off a second triple Axel which got its base value. The triple loop which followed was downgraded and a triple Lutz was saddled with a -1.20. He then brought off a triple flip to double toe and a triple Salchow both of which earned their base values. The 24-year-old admitted, "I was a bit nervous and my legs felt heavy. But towards the end of the program, I improved. This event has been an important test for me. I’ve gained a lot of confidence here. Now, I have to put emphasis on the quadruple toe, and I have to work on reducing my nervousness."

8. TS 204.83, Javier Fernandez, Spain; 6. FS 138.33 (73.43 + 64.90) Fernandez rose from 13^th after SP. This was the 18 year old’s fourth Europeans. He has advanced steadily from 28^th in 2007, 17^th in 2008 and 11^th last year. He now trains with Nicolai Morozov in Hackensack, NJ. Skating to Pirates of the Caribbean, he tried a quad and succeeded with the rotation but messed up the landing and received a -2.88 deduction. His second jump, the triple Axel, earned 0.20 over the base value but his triple Lutz got -1.60 taken off. After a Level 3 flying sit spin and Level 3 circular steps, he did a triple Axel to double toe just as the bonus clicks in and earned +0.60 over that base value. A triple flip, triple loop, triple Salchow to two double toe loops and a triple toe to double Axel all earned their base value plus 10%. He said, "I’m satisfied and happy with my performance. It was good. Yes, I made some mistakes in the first part, it is also the hardest part. I don’t feel anything special before the Olympic Games. I’m too young to hope for the first place there, so I’ll just go to get the experience and let’s see. I want to train good for that, my training is different every day."

9. TS 203.95, Stefan Lindemann, Germany; 8. FS 133.76 (68.76 + 65.00) stayed 9^th although he was 8^th in Free. Lindemann is also a returnee. He doubled his first jump, an attempt at a quad toe, but his second was a +1.2 triple Axel. He later presented a second triple Axel combined with a double toe when the bonus point clicked in. He also brought off a triple loop, a double Axel to triple toe loop, a triple Lutz and another triple toe. His three-jump combo of triple Salchow and two double toes got -0.40 taken off the base value, but everything else got the base value or better. However, of his five "Level" moves, only one was a 3. The others were called as 2s. The 29-year-old said, "I’ve made it really well through these Europeans. It was the first time I tried a quad to in a competition for a long time. Unfortunately it didn’t work out. I was a bit nervous and my legs felt heavy. But towards the end of the program, I improved. This event has been an important test for me. I’ve gained a lot of confidence here. Now I have to put emphasis on the quad and I have to work on reducing my nervousness. It has been a pleasure to skate here. I carry a positive feeling into the Olympic Games. Although I’m an old hand, the Olympic Games are a new step for me.

10. TS 203.18, Tomas Verner, Czech Republic; 10. FS 130.43 (58.03+73.40-1.0 fall) Verner won this title in 2008 but this time he dropped two places after the SP. He fell on his quad toe loop attempt and then tried a second one but messed up the landing. Both were given credit for the full rotation. He brought off a triple Axel with +0.20 GoE. But then he singled his second triple Axel. He explained, "For the second triple Axel, I was a little unfocused, I focused too much on my physical state. My legs were tired, but I know that I can skate the second part of my program, no matter what happened before. My other error was the single loop (his 10^th element). Before that I thought all the time about how many jumps I can repeat as I didn’t do combinations. I thought I still can do a triple-triple to pick up some points, and then it was too late, my shoulder was gone and I couldn’t save it. For my next competition, I really need to take each element separately and to focus on each one. I have to check them off one by one and move on to the next one. Europeans wasn’t a practice competition for me, this is always an event at a high level. It was a good experience for me. It is good for me to know that I won’t be a champion without hard work. I really learned that I have to focus on the one important thing."

11. TS 195.48 .Kevin van der Perren, Belgium; 11. FS 127.76 (65.06 + 65.70) 11^th throughout . Van der Perren, who is 27, said, "Considering whole season, I am very happy with my performance today. I said to my coach that I want to skate clean today and that´s why I did a combination of 2 triple jumps and a double (instead of triple-triple-triple). I worked with a choreographer and the choreography didn’t work out. I ended up with an injury so I decided to go back to this (Robin Hood) program. In the Short Program only the Axel didn’t work out. This is the worst preparation for Olympics I ever had. I always considered Vancouver as my last competition, but maybe I’ll come back for next European Championships."

12. TS 188.79 Adrian Schultheis, Sweden; 13. FS 122.24 (59.94 + 62.30)

13. TS Anton Kovalevski, Ukraine; 14. FS 121.64 (58.94 +62.70)

14. 185.38 Sergei Voronov, Russia, 12. FS 125.11 (65.61 + 59.50) Voronov, who was 4^th in his debut in this event in 2008, and 9^th last year, pulled up from 17^th after the SP. He said, "I was aggressive today. My marks were not so high, but, first of all, I made some errors, and secondly, I skated in the first group, and it’s hard to get high marks in the first warm-up group. To be honest, when you are skating for Russia you should not skate in the first group. I am ashamed of myself and I disappointed my coaches. I had to motivate myself. I tried to forget about yesterday, the day that turned into an ice nightmare for me. Today, I started from scratch. I talked with my coach (Alexei Urmanov, 1994 Olympic champion) and I decided to do just a quad toe and a triple Axel-triple toe instead of a quad-triple toe as it (Axel-toe) was going well in practice."

Short Program

THE KING IS BACK. BRILLIANT PLUSHENKO WIPES THE FIELD.  SETS RECORD SHORT PROGRAM SCORE

BRIAN JOUBERT REDUCES DIFFICULTY OF COMBO

STEPHANE LAMBIEL PRESENTS GREAT SPINS BUT WEAK JUMPS

Thirty eight entries from 30 countries were reduced to 20 for the Free, down four slots from last year’s 24 for reasons of "economy". Once ousted, the host country does not pay for the skaters’ accommodation, and, only those skaters giving exhibition will have their hotel paid past the morning after their event. Sources say this is turning out to be a costly nightmare. Flights have to be changed for both competitors and officials. Some countries are just having the ousted bunk in with other competitors but then there is no food allowance, and it is unclear whether their credentials will even get them into the rink to watch the rest of the competition. This is a policy which will be in effect for all ISU championships

In what is the strangest change, the first group of five men will perform their free from 6:45pm Thursday till 7:30 and then there will be a gap of 45 minutes until the next group takes the ice at 8:15. What’s that all about? There are similar gaps between the beginning group and the rest of the competitors for the Free in the other three disciplines.

1. Evgeni Plushenko, Russia, Total Score 91.30 (51.10 Elements + 40.20 Components) Plushenko has made time stand still. Now 27, he performed second of the top 19, skating just as brilliantly as he did when he won the Olympic gold in 2006. Dressed in black and silver with black gloves, his straight blond hair flapping away as he swept smoothly, confidently and easily though the eight required elements choreographed to Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concerto de Aranjuez.

His initial move, a textbook quad toe to triple toe was followed by a triple Axel and triple Lutz. The rest of the program was window dressing. The three spins, a change foot combo, a flying sit and a change foot sit, were awarded the maximum Level 4. His circular steps were Level 3 and the straight line steps executed towards the end of the two minute 50 second routine were Level 2. All the judges gave him Grades of Execution that were +1 and +2 with the exception of one 0 for his final spin and one +3 for his triple Lutz. The 3 was out of line with that judge’s colleagues who all gave Plushenko +1 for this jump. His components ranged from a low of one 7.00 for the ‘Transitions’ cateogory, up to two 8.75s for ‘Performance’ and two other 8.75s for his Interpretation. His component score was only the third best, with the judges tying both Joubert and Lambiel in first place for this section with 40.75, but that was by only 0.55 over Plushenko.

Plushenko said, "I think it was the best performance of the season. Everything went well, except for a little wobble on the combination spin. I did the quad-triple and that was REALLY important! For some reason, the quad wasn’t so consistent in practice here. I had an early practice, at 8:30 in the morning. I got up at six and the quad didn’t go so well. So, I worried about my jumps. I had a few inner doubts. The jumps are, after all, the most important things in Men’s figure skating, in my opinion. But I told myself just to go out and do it. I pushed myself. Today, I beat my personal best score but I won’t be euphoric. Tomorrow is another whole day – an important day!

"I am very happy with my performance today, and with my feeling. I’m not flying to the moon right now, because there will be a big fight tomorrow. It is a great feeling to be in the middle seat be given the ‘small’ gold medal for the short program." He was asked about the knee for which he had hospital treatment in December. "I feel healthy. I didn’t have a problem today and I hope I won’t have a problem tomorrow. Of course I watched Joubert. I skated before him. I saw all the skaters. They are all very strong."

Nodding towards Joubert and Ponsero, who lie second and third, Plushenko said, sportingly, "Good job!" He also said he didn’t know how many quads he will do in the Free. Since he has drawn to skate third in the last group of five skaters, following Ponsero and Joubert, he said he (or more likely his coach, Alexei Mishin) would wait to see how they skate. "We’ll see how Brian skates. I have my strategy, but I actually plan one quad. I want to win."

Plushenko had to wait two and a half hours after he skated to be sure he had won and who would claim second and third going into the following night’s free. His score is a new ISU SP world’s best. He set the previous best of 90.66 when he won the Short Program in Torino on his way to winning Olympic gold. If he achieves his goal of becoming a double Olympic medalist, he will be the first to do that in mens figure skating since Dick Button won his laurels in 1948 and 1952. Plushenko has won the European title five times, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2006. He has been dethroned twice: by his Russian teammate Alexei Yagudin in 2002 and by Joubert in 2004.

2. Brian Joubert, France, 88.55 (47.80+40.75) skated last. In addition to his 2004 win, he held this title in 2007. He was dethroned by Tomas Verner in 2008 and took the crown back last year. Dressed in black with red sparkles, Joubert, 25, performed to Rise by Safri Duo. But his planned quad triple combo turned into a quad double. He said, "It wasn’t easy for me to skate last, especially after the kind of program that Evgeni Plushenko did. I felt the pressure and I was nervous. I watched his program in my hotel live on television. It was actually the same situation as in the Olympics in 2006. He skated early and I watched in my room. I got very nervous then but now I cope better with nerves." (Brian was 4^th in that SP and 6^th overall in Torino.)

Joubert had planned to match Plushenko’s combination but was not able to bring off that feat. He said, "I’m disappointed I did a quad double. This morning, in practice, I didn’t feel very good but this was at the practice rink. I felt good during the six minute warm-up and the quad went really well. My program today reflects my training. I’ve worked on the footwork and the spins and it really paid off."

Only four of the 72 Grades of Execution punched in for Joubert by the nine judges were 0, which is given for a satisfactory completion. Pluses mean the move was done in a superior fashion and minuses mean there was something wrong. One zero was for Joubert’s jump combo, one was for his triple Lutz and two were for his final spin. The rest of his GoEs were +1s and +2s. Like both Plushenko and Ponsero, Joubert got the maximum Level 4 for all three spins. Ponsero matched Plushenko’s Level 3 and Level 2 for his two step sequences, but both Joubert’s step sequences were only 2.

3. Yannick Ponsero, France, 82.40 (46.00+36.40) Ponsero, who is 23, performed to La Corrida as a fiery Matador. He was French champion last season, but was dethroned by Florent Amodio, who will have one of the two French Olympic berths along with Joubert. However, Amodio has not been entered for this event! Last year Ponsero was fourth in the European championships. Like Joubert, Ponsero brought off a quad-double for his combo and a triple Axel although his solo jump out of footwork was "only" a triple Salchow. Ponsero said, "I did a good job today. I am satisfied about my performance, that´s for sure! Even more so, because it is my season´s best performance. 82 points is very good. I would like to make the same tomorrow. Of course, I was nervous. There is always pressure during competitions. Now I have to stay focused for tomorrow." One judge even awarded Ponsero the maximum +3 GoE for his straight line steps, and received no negative GOEs.

4. Michal Brezina, Czech Republic, 79.60 (45.40+34.20) Brezina, who turns 20 on March 30, gave a snazzy showing to Putting on the Ritz dressed in black with a white waistcoat. The 2009 world junior silver medalist showed the form with which he was able to defeat the 2008 European champion Tomas Verner in the recent Czech championship.

5. The very flamboyant Stephane Lambiel, Switzerland, 77.75 (37.75+40.75), was the 2006 Olympic silver medalist and 2005 and 2006 world champion. Despite taking silver in the 2006 and 2008 European championships, he has never won this title. He retired from competition in October 2008 due to injury but couldn’t resist making a comeback even though he still skates with back pain. In a well designed routine to the William Tell Overture, wearing a very authentic costume from that period, he presented some great spins including the final element, a change foot combination. In the final position, he spins so fast with his head thrown back, it actually disappears from view. The judges almost unanimously awarded it the maximum GoE of +3 with only one dissenter giving the spin, a +2. It was "called" as the top Level 4 by Technical Specialist Ricardo Olavarrieta and his assistant, former French competitor, Vanessa Gusmeroli. Lambiel also received five +3s, three +2s and a miserly +1 for his Level 3 straight line steps.