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AFTER SHOCK
SECOND IN SHORT DANCE, FRENCH CLEARLY SUPERIOR IN FREE RECLAIM THEIR TITLE
1.164.18; 2.SD; 1.FD.99.29 (46.07+53.22) Nathalie
Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat
of France came from behind to defend, by a very clear 3.95 points,
their European title with a very dynamic Egyptian-themed Free in which he
plays a grieving Pharaoh, who dreams of one last dance with his beloved,
now mummified wife.
The 28-year-old Pechalat explained, “Tonight, it was
very hard to skate because of the pressure. At the European Championships
there is something to gain and something to lose. The title we won tonight
was harder than the one we won last year because the program is very
physical and we were second (by just a sliver - 0.17) after the short
dance. But we enjoyed it and we have enjoyed being in Sheffield.
“A few years ago, we thought, ‘What
can we do that is crazy for an exhibition that we couldn’t do in
competition?’ And we came up with this theme. We loved it and thought we
could do it again. But it was very hard to learn to make square shapes
with your arms and legs so we worked a lot on the floor.” The music uses
four pieces, starting with Passion by Peter Gabriel, which goes into In the Garden of Souls by Narada World and then morphs into
Le Retour de Punt by Bernard Becker, and finishes with
Alf Layla Wa Layla by Ahmad
Sidqi.
In contrast to last year’s coldest-ever indoor
Europeans, the arena was comfortably warm but that, and the very short
re-surface time, meant there was water on the ice. They were asked what
they thought of that. Pechalat admitted, “I saw some water in the corner
but I just thought if I have to fall, then, not here! It’s so
uncomfortable to skate when you’re wet. But I don’t think it was a
problem. We’re so used to skating on wet and dry ice.
“We enjoy every program we do. We
decide for ourselves. We don’t expect our coaches to do everything for us.
We talk together and we decide. (They train now in the Detroit FS Club
with Angelika Krylova and Pasquale Camerlengo.) Getting what we wanted to
match the music was hard. At one point we almost gave up the program. So
we went to Philippe Candeloro for help. Tomorrow, we will still be at the
Europeans, watching the Ladies and Men and supporting our team mates.
Before working for Worlds we will have a break and take a rest. ”
They had been expected to retire after this year, after
the World championships in Nice in their home country. They have taken
part in Worlds every year since 2004 and have finished just off the podium
on the past two occasions. Last year was particularly draining since they
would have won bronze had they not both fallen in their Charlie Chaplin
routine. Bourzat, 31, was asked what this win means for the future. “I
told Nathalie that I will go to Sochi (the Olympic Games in 2014) if
there’s a meaning for me (which he explained as winning four titles in a
row). We will try every year to get better and keep the title.”
Skating 17th of the 20 couples allowed into
the Free, they delighted the very responsive crowd. The Motorpoint Arena,
which seats 9,000, was about three quarters full. Pechalat and Bourzat
gained eight of the maximum +3GoEs, spread over their lifts (two short and
one long). The lifts were all the maximum Level 4, as was their final
move, the spin. However their twizzles were only Level 3 and their
diagonal steps Level 2.
3.153.09; 6.SD, 4.FD 93.47 (45.36+48.11) Ekaterina
Bobrova, 21, and
Dmitri Soloviev, 22, from Russia, who had been unexpectedly in
the lead after the Short Dance, drew to perform their very frenetic
routine immediately prior to the French and
repeated as silver medalists. Their music is
Walpurgis Night from the opera,
Faust, by Gounod. Soloviev explained, “She plays the devil and she steals
my soul. We really enjoyed skating this evening, but we especially
enjoyed the short dance. We skated a bit worse in the free. But we’re
pleased with the results with the technical elements and the performance.
We skated with a lot of emotion. In international championships you win
three medals, one overall, one for the short dance and one for the free
dance. We are very happy that we won gold for the short dance.”
They chose to do four short lifts. (The other option is
two short and one long. Both options have the same base value.) Like the
French, they earned the maximum Level 4, for all their lifts and for their
spin. But their twizzles and circular steps were only Level 2. Their
diagonal steps were Level 3. Bobrova explained, “On Sunday we will skate
in the exhibition gala which we are very happy to do. Then we will have a
short break. I want to go to Russian Junior Nationals as I have a lot of
friends competing there and I want to cheer for them. We don't plan major
changes in the program.”
Last year Sinead
and John Kerr won their second European bronze in three years and promptly
retired from competition. The Scottish sister and brother have been very
visible at this event, promoting it, starring in the Opening Ceremony and
commentating on television.
3.153.12; 7.SD, 3.FD 93.63 (45.15+48.48)
Stepping into that
“vacancy” were Elena Ilinykh, 17 and Nikita Katsalapov,
20, who won the 2010 world junior championship. They were lying seventh
after the Short Dance, although fourth through eighth were separated by a
mere 0.38. Their Free was set to Spenser-Wortley’s
Ave Maria. Ilinyhk
said, “We’re so happy with our experience tonight because we had a great
feeling. We had nothing to lose. Nikita was talking to me before the
program. He said we need to be together and we need to do it well. We’re
happy with our third place. I didn’t think we would make the podium so I
got changed. We didn’t know we were third until after the British couple
skated, and they weren’t till last, and then I had to rush to get
redressed.”
He said, “Of course we knew that we had a chance because
the difference in the marks was not great so we just tried to concentrate
on us and the power between us and skate with our feelings tonight. We
will have a few days’ rest and then start again to practice hard to get
ready for worlds where we hope to skate much better in the Short Dance.
After the short we were a little bit sad. We like our short dance very
much and in our practice we did it very well and at Nationals, too. But
here it was our worst performance. Our circular step sequence has always
been a Level 4 but here it was Level 1.” In the Free, they received all
Level 4s except for the Level 3 circular steps and the Level 2 diagonal
steps.
4.153.09; 6.SD, 4.FD 93.47 (45.36+48.11) Anna
Cappellini, 24, and
Luca Lanotte, 26, from Italy, rose from sixth to fourth with a fourth
best FD to the poignant music from the movie
La Strada. They were eighth in
the world championships in Moscow last April after not competing since
August 2010 when he suffered a bad knee injury. They first competed in the
European championship in 2007 when they finished eighth. They were 5th in
the 2009 European Championship and sixth in 2010. He said, “Our
performance was amazing. We always try to challenge ourselves and today we
won.” She said, “In our previous performance we were perhaps too nervous
and trying too hard. Tonight we promised ourselves to just feel the music
and try not to worry about anything else. In terms of the points, I think
it really paid off.” They earned Level 4 for all their moves except for
their Level 3 circular steps and Level 2 diagonal steps.
5. 152.22; 3.SD,
5.FD 90.88 (45.28+45.60) Ekaterina Riazanova, 20, and Ilia Tkachenko, 25,
Russia, dropped from third to fifth, with a fifth ranked FD set to
Romance from the Russian movie,
The Snowstorm. Skating
immediately following the winners, they received all Level 4s except for
both step sequences, which were Level 3. They were national bronze
medalists this season after being second the year before. However, two
weeks prior to that event, she suffered a concussion and a broken nose in
practice. They were sixth in their debut in this event last year. He said,
“I think we did quite well.”
6. 145.31; 4.SD,
6.FD 85.53 (44.22+43.31 -2) British champions,
Penny Coomes and Nick
Buckland, gave an energetic showing to music from Elvis Presley’s last
television show which opened with the music from the movie, 2001. The two
22-year olds drew to skate last. They train with Evgeni Platov in New
Jersey. The routine gained all Level 4s, apart from the two step sequences
which were Level 3. However, they received two one-point deductions for
going over-time on two of their lifts. Since they were 14th last year,
they were absolutely delighted with their finish.
She said, “Being on the same practice ice with the top
couples has been such a privilege.” He said, “We’ve worked amazingly hard
and that’s why we’ve seen such improvement. And now we’ve got to do the
same going into Worlds. The competition has been amazing. For a start,
we’ve never been in the last group, let alone skated last! The crowd was
fantastic.”
7. 142.27; 8 SD, 7 FD 84.87 (42.28
+42.59) Pernell Carron, 25, and
Lloyd Jones, 23, France, who skated to a Gershwin medley, now train
in the US with Natalia Linichuk. They gained Level 4s for their lifts but
the other elements received 3.
8.
140.84; 9 SD, 8 FD 84.05
(43.00+42.05 -1). Nelli Zhiganshina,
24, and Alexander Gazsi, 27, Germany, Of her
partner’s fall, Zhiganshina said, “It was probably my fault, I think I
slightly bumped into him, maybe hitting his skate, I'm not sure. It was
really, really, stupid. Especially at the beginning this is hard to deal
with and skate with this kind of feeling for the rest of the program. But
then everything else was good, our coaches were satisfied, and today we
got everything we could. So we're satisfied except for that “little
error.”
He said, “Things like this are
rather unexpected in ice dancing, and it's stupid this happened right at
the beginning, too, but then again, after that the pressure fell off our
shoulders and we just skated. All you can do is get up quickly and skate
on. I just got caught on something when I fell. That little error probably
cost us one placement. We could have probably beaten the French
(Carron/Jones) I think, but who knows what would have been and could have
been? Overall we're happy it's over now. It was a very, very long
competition and we're very happy we did it.”
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