Day 1 ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2020

Credit: ISU

Day 1 ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2020

Michal Brezina (CZE) and Pair Skaters Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitri Kozlovskii (RUS) took the lead as the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2020 opened in Graz, Austria Wednesday with the Men’s and Pairs Short Programs. Graz hosts the ISU European Figure Skating Championships for the first time, but Austria has hosted the ISU European Figure Skating Championships at total of 11 times in Vienna (2000, 1957, 1952, 1931, 1927,1914, 1901, 1894 and 1892), in Innsbruck (1981) and Seefeld (1934).
164 Skaters from 32 ISU Members have been entered for this 113th edition of the European Championships: 35 Men, 37 Ladies, 19 Pair Skating couples and 27 Ice Dance couples.

Brezina (CZE) clinches lead in Men’s Short Program in Graz
Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic, the most experienced skater in the field, clinched a narrow lead in the Men’s Short Program over Russia’s Dmitri Aliev as the ISU European Figure Skating Championships opened in Graz (AUT) on Wednesday. Youngster Artur Danielian of Russia came third in the first segment of the event.

Skating to “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” by Chris Isaac, Brezina produced a quadruple Salchow-double toeloop, a triple flip and nice triple Axel as well as two level-four spins and a level-four step sequence. The Czech Champion picked up a season’s best of 89.77 points. “I'm very happy, it's my 13th Europeans, so it only took 13 years. I practiced well, and I just did what I do at practices for the past one and a half months,“ the 29-year-old said. “I didn't really come here with any expectations of the placing in top three or top ten, I just wanted to show what I did at the practices and am happy, it's a happy shiny bonus (to be in first),” he continued.

Aliev went for a quad Lutz-triple toe, but he underrotated the Lutz. The Russian Champion nailed a quad toe and earned a level four for the spins and footwork, but he again underrotated the triple Axel to score 88.45 points for his routine to “Je dors sur les roses” from “Mozart L’Opera Rock”. “I was confident, it was a good skate. I’m not satisfied with the marks, there were underotations, of course the judges are right, but I’ll have to see and find out where I underrotated,” the 2018 European silver medalist commented. “I have to regroup for the long program, see where I will end up in the group, tomorrow is another day and I’ll be ready.”

Danielian, at 16 the youngest man in the competition, delivered an expressive Flamenco program that featured a quadruple Salchow, triple Lutz-triple toe as well as difficult spins and footwork, but he stumbled on the triple Axel. The 2018 World Junior silver medalist set a new personal best of 84.63 points. “I’m so happy am here, that I made it to the team, it's my first time at such a major event and for me it's more about fun and the experience. I want to show what I can do on the senior level. The skate today was not bad but there is room to grow and I have to increase the difficulty,“ the National silver medalist shared.

Morisi Kvitelashvili (GEO) landed a quad Salchow-triple toeloop combination but missed the quad toe to finish fourth on 82.77 points. Deniss Vasiljevs (LAT) sits in fifth on 80.44 points and Paul Fentz (GER) came sixth with a clean performance (80.41 points). 2019 European bronze medalist Matteo Rizzo (ITA) placed seventh on 79.07 points. 2019 European silver medalist Alexander Samarin (RUS) ranks 13th after making errors on two quadruple attempts (74.77 points).
Medal hopeful and ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalist Kevin Aymoz (FRA) faltered on all three jumping passes to finish a distant 26th (64.40 points). He did not advance to the Free Skating on Friday.

Boikova/Kozlovskii (RUS) dazzle in Pairs Short Program in Graz
Russia’s Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitri Kozlovskii dazzled in the Pairs Short Program at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Graz on Wednesday to take a strong lead over teammates Daria Pavliuchenko/Denis Khodykin and Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov.

Boikova/Kozlovskii didn’t miss a beat in their fluid performance to “My Way”, nailing a side by side triple toeloop, triple twist, throw triple flip. The 2019 European bronze medalists collected a level four for the spin, footwork, death spiral and lift to post a personal best of 82.34 points.
“We are very excited to receive so many points, and skate clean, but I don't think we need to concentrate on the points, we need to do our job and we'll get the points,” Boikova commented. “The hardest part is still to come, the long program. But the schedule here is good. It’s nice to have a day off tomorrow to catch our breath,” Kozlovskii added.

Pavliuchenko/Khodykin’s performance to “The Storm” featured a triple twist, a set of triple toeloops and a throw triple loop. The 2018 World Junior Champions scored 74.92 points. “We are happy with the skate today, we did our job. Compared to Nationals we were much calmer here”, Khodykin noted. Indeed it was easier (to compete in our second European Championship), we knew what kind of a competition it is, what to prepare for,” he added.

Tarasova/Morozov started well into their “Bolero” Short Program with a triple twist, triple toes and high throw triple loop. But they struggled with the lasso lift, losing the balance and Tarasova almost well. The two-time European Champions earned 73.50 points. “It was really a shame, we skated the first part of the program so well and then there was this stupid mistake. I was not frightened - Vladimir held me tight. It’s an annoying,” Tarasova said. “My blade was caught during the second turn. This lift is all about the balance,” Morozov explained.

Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise (ITA) finished fourth on 70.48 points with a solid performance, just ahead of Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nolan Seegert (GER), who also skated very well, on 70.43 points. Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer (AUT) came sixth on 67.90 points with another clean performance.