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Kavaguti/Smirnov crowned European Pairs Champions
26.01.2010 by
Kavaguti/Smirnov (RUS) crowned European Pairs Champions
Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirnov of Russia skated to the gold medal in the Pairs event, upsetting reigning World Champions Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy of Germany. Russia’s Maria Mukhortova/Maxim Trankov earned the bronze medal.
Performing to “Sentimental Waltz” and “On the Blue Danube”, Kavaguti/Smirnov opened with a high throw triple Salchow and a side by side triple toeloop, but she stepped out of the landing. The Russians didn’t let that error affect the rest of their dynamic performance, pulling off a triple twist, a double Axel-double Axel sequence and throw triple loop as well as difficult spins. The couple picked up 139.23 points (69.31 element score/69.92 program component score), and surpassed their previous personal best of 124.15 points by 15.08 points. They racked up 213.15 points. Kavaguti/Smirnov won their first major international title after taking silver at Europeans last year and the bronze in 2008. “We are so happy and satisfied with our performance. The audience gave us energy and we gave energy to the audience”, a radiant Kavaguti told the press. “This is very unexpected for us. I don’t have words right now. It’s just great”, Smirnov added.
Savchenko/Szolkowy nailed a strong triple toe-triple toe sequence, but errors on the next two elements were costly: she stumbled on the throw triple flip and doubled the side by side triple Salchow. The two-time and reigning World Champions continued their routine to “Out of Africa” without further errors. Nevertheless the overnight leaders slipped to second with a Free Skating score of 137.60 (66.88/70.72) and a total of 211.72 points. „Of course we are a little disappointed, but not too much. We came here to win and to skate clean. But we did some small mistakes. Except for the errors on the throw (flip) and the second triple jump (Salchow), it was a good performance, a clean performance”, Szolkowy commented.
Mukhortova/Trankov turned in a strong performance to “Love Story” as well that featured a double Axel, triple toe-double toe combination and a high triple twist, but she put her hands down on the throw triple loop. The Russians earned 128.49 points (64.65/63.84) and remained in third at 202.03 points. “It wasn’t our best performance, there were a few errors, some landings of the jumps weren’t so good, but we fought through it. But we’ve skated clean in most competitions of the season, which is important in an Olympic season”, Trankov said.
Tatiana Volosozhar/Stanislav Morozov (UKR) finished fourth with a good program to “Pearl Harbour” (187.83 points). Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov (RUS) came in fifth in what was their debut at the European Championships (159.84 points).
The ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2009 continue Thursday with the Original Dance and the Men’s Free Skating.