Credit: ISU
A golden farewell for Javier Fernandez
Spain’s Javier Fernandez celebrated a golden farewell in his last competition, taking his seventh consecutive European title in a dramatic Men’s Final. Russian Alexander Samarin claimed the silver medal and Matteo Rizzo of Italy surged from tenth to take the bronze, the first European medal for an Italian man in ten years.
Skating to “The Man of La Mancha” (Don Quixote), Fernandez hit a somewhat shaky quadruple toe-triple toe combination, a quadruple Salchow, triple Axel-double toe, triple Axel, loop and two triple Salchows, but he popped a flip. The Olympic bronze medalist earned a level four for two spins and scored 179.75 points to win the Free Skating and move up from third to first place at 271.59 points. “I feel amazing. I knew that was going to be my last skate, although I don’t know about professional skating after this, but I’m super proud to have been able to skate like that today,” the two-time World Champion said. “I hope people will think of me as a different type of skater, a more complete skater than the ones we are supposed to have. Skaters are not just jumps but they are about complete skating. I hope I have left something like that in figure skating,” he continued.
Samarin’s program to “The Greatest Showman” featured a quadruple Lutz, quadruple toeloop, two triple Axels and three more triples as well as difficult spins. He only two-footed a triple loop. The National bronze medalist set a season’s best with 177.87 points and totaled 269.84 points. “I tried to switch off from what was going on around me. I didn’t manage everything I wanted but I’m glad I kept going to the end, fought for every element, made my team happy and represented my country decently, finally, on my third go (at the European Championships),” the 20-year-old commented.
Rizzo opened his program to a Queen Medley with a quad toe and followed up with seven triples, including two triple Axels. However, he almost fell on a triple Axel. The Italian achieved a season’s best of 165.67 points and collected 247.08 points. “Of course there are a lot of emotions inside me, as going from tenth to third place was kind of incredible, and I’m really proud of myself and the work me and all my team have done. It brings a lot of joy and emotions so I’m really happy about this. It was very unexpected because I was first in the third group so 11 skaters had to skate after me and there was a lot of time before the result so we just watched and waited. We couldn’t have expected it but it’s amazing,” Rizzo commented.
Kevin Aymoz (FRA) remained in fourth place on 246.34 points. 2018 European bronze medalist Mikhail Kolyada (RUS), who led after the Short Program, dropped to fifth (240.87 points) after several errors and injuring his left hand on a fall on a triple Axel. Daniel Grassl (ITA) moved up from ninth to sixth place in his debut (236.70 points).
Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) dance to fifth European title
France’s Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron danced to their fifth consecutive title with 11 points to spare as the Ice Dance event concluded. Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin of Russia danced to the silver medal while Italians Charlene Guignard/ Marco Fabbri claimed the bronze, their first medal at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships.
Papadakis/Cizeron floated over the ice in their dance to “Duet” and “Sunday Afternoon” by Rachael Yamagata, executing effortlessly intricate footwork and lifts. The Olympic silver medalists collected a level four for all elements - the lifts, twizzles, spin and step sequence to achieve a new season’s best of 133.19 points. The three-time World Champions totaled 217.98 points.
“We are really happy, that skate was almost technically perfect. The crowd was really uplifting and we couldn’t be more grateful to them and to be surrounded by our amazing team,” Cizeron said. “It (the fifth European title) is probably a little bit less of a surprise than the first time, but we are still so proud of what we have achieved and proud in fact of the whole French team, especially Vanessa and Morgan (James and Cipres) who were so great in the pairs event,” he continued.
Stepanova/Bukin’s passionate performance to “Am I the One” by Beth Harth featured excellent twizzles, lifts and steps as well. The two-time European bronze medalists earned a level four for six elements, but the one foot step sequence was rated a level two for her and a level three for him. The Muscovites posted a season’s best with 125.04 points which added up to 206.41 points overall. “For us it is really nice to get the silver medal after we had two bronze medals at Europeans. It is a big step forward for us,” Bukin commented. “Everything happened so fast. It was a bit nerve-wracking, we stood in second place (following the Rhythm Dance) and we had to retain our emotions,” he added.
Dancing to “La La Land”, Guignard/Fabbri delivered a smooth dance highlighted by their combination spin, twizzles and footwork. The Italian Champions picked up a level four for all elements as well. They were ranked fourth in the Free Dance with 120.79, but overall remained in third place at 199.84 points. “It’s hard to say something right now because we’ve worked a lot throughout this year. We started from less than zero. I was a single skater before I started my ice dance career and, with her previous partner, she never really achieved a high level. Step by step, we built a strong partnership on the ice because off the ice we were a couple. It (the bronze medal) is really rewarding. We’re really excited,” Fabbri commented.
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final silver medalists Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov (RUS) pulled up from fifth to fourth place with their Free Dance to “Air” by Bach. They were ranked second in the Free Dance and had 193.95 points. Natalia Kaliszek/Maksym Spodyriev (POL) came fifth with a solid performance on 185.35 points. Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR) moved up one spot to finish sixth with their entertaining Disco Free Dance (182.05 points).