Figure skatingCinderella story emerges at European championships

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The ladies results are a strong indicator of the high degree of quality in skating skills coming from Finland in recent years.

Defending two-time European champion Carolina Kostner of Italy had her work cut out for her after a third-place finish in the short program, but a solid free program and a new season-best score moved her into second overall. Honourable mention has to go to Russia’s Alena Leonova who was dazzling in the free program with six clean triples and enough points to move her from 11th to fourth place.

'Finnstep' challenges ice dancers

Ice dance got off to a great start with the debut of the Finnstep. The newest compulsory dance, created and first performed as an original dance in 1995 by legendary Finnish champions Susanna Rahkomo and Petri Kokko, is a challenging dance with very fast timing.

The Finnstep proved to be too much for defending European champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia, who had a fall resulting in a fifth-place finish. They withdrew from the remainder of the competition because of a recurring injury to Shabalin’s left knee. He had surgery in December 2007 on his knee and re-injured it in March 2008, which forced the Russians to miss the world championships.

Teammates and defending European and world bronze medallists Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitsky were the eventual winners in Helsinki, leading in all three segments of the competition. First-time European medallists Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali of Italy took the silver, while the brother and sister duo from Great Britain, Sinead and John Kerr, took the bronze. Defending world champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France are still sidelined while she recovers from shoulder surgery in early January.

In the men’s event, France’s Brian Joubert captured his third European title since 2004 and posted a season-best score in the short program. Though he withdrew during the ISU Grand Prix and missed the French nationals because of a back injury, Joubert appeared in fine form and even showed off a new free program.

Defending European champion Tomas Verner from the Czech Republic was second after the short, but had a disastrous skate in the free and dropped to sixth overall. Worthy of mention is the winning free program from France’s Yannick Ponsero, which elevated him from ninth after the short to fourth overall. Italy’s Samuel Contesti, who formerly competed for France up until 2006, won the silver medal, while Kevin Van Der Perren of Belgium took the bronze.

With 21 teams entered in the pairs competition, this was the largest field ever at the European championships.

Defending world and two-time European pairs champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany were able to capture their third-consecutive title in Finland, but not without having to fight back from a second-place finish in the short program. Russian rivals and short program leaders, Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, faltered in the free and dropped to third overall with teammates Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov taking the silver.

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