Figure skatingMeier sheds bridesmaid label at Europeans

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Sarah Meier, centre, didn't post the best score in the short or free skate, but her combined score was good enough to claim her first European title. (Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images)

The last stop for European figure skaters before the worlds championships in March took place last weekend in Bern, Switzerland, site of the 2011 European championships.

Overall, the competition held very few surprises, with a couple of notable exceptions.

Swiss national champion Sarah Meier won the women's event for the first time, placing third in the short program and second in the free to earn enough points for the title. The accomplishment was made much sweeter by the fact that she'd announced it would be her final competition before retiring.

Meier had been skating's perpetual "bridesmaid," always knocking on the door but rarely converting potential into big results. She'd been plagued in the past by injuries, nerves and inconsistency, and she wasn't on my radar for the podium, but Meier delivered in front of a home crowd. She earned it the old-fashioned way.

The defending champion, Italy's Carolina Kostner, said in a press conference that she had to laugh about her disastrous sixth-place finish in the short. In typical Kostner fashion, she then went out and won the free program, earning her the silver medal. Also predictable was Finland's Kiira Korpi, who won the short before succumbing to nerves with a fourth-place finish in the free to end up with the bronze. Honorable mention in this event goes to Russia's Alena Leonova, who was a write-off for the podium after a 13th-place finish in the short, but took third place in the free to shoot up to fifth place overall.

Steely Amodio tops Joubert

The men's event was also a bit of a surprise, signalling a changing of the guard of sorts. France's Florent Amodio showed a steely resolve in winning the short program and capitalized on an almost eight-point advantage to stay ahead of countryman Brian Joubert, who took the silver.

Joubert, a three-time European champion, proved that he is still a contender by overcoming his seventh-place finish in the short with a win in the free to jump to second overall. The bronze medal went to the 2008 European champion, Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic, who recovered from his fifth-place finish in the short to come second in the free and earn his spot on the podium.

The two-time world pairs champions from Germany, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, took their fourth European title. Savchenko and Szolkowy were able to stay ahead of the eventual silver medallists - Russia's Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov, who won the free - by capitalizing on the three-point lead they had coming into the final segment. The bronze medal went to Russia's Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov, who made the podium for the first time at Europeans.

The ice dance event was dominated by French national champions Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, who led in both the short and free segments to take the title.

Pechalat and Bourzat also posted personal-best scores in both segments as well as in their overall total. Landing on the podium for the first time at Europeans were Russian national and 2007 world junior champions Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev, who are finally starting to be recognized in the senior ranks. Bobrova and Soloviev also posted personal-best scores in their short, free and overall totals.

Veteran Brits Sinead and John Kerr took the bronze medal for the second time, but seem to slowly be losing their spot at the top of the European ice dance world despite personal-best scores in their free and overall.  In the same boat were the defending European silver and world bronze medalists from Italy, Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali, who finished out of the medals in fifth place.

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