Kostornaia (RUS) lead Ladies’ Short Program

Credit: ISU

Kostornaia (RUS) lead Ladies’ Short Program


Alena Kostornaia led the way for the Russian “triple A team” in the Ladies Short Program at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Graz (AUT) on Friday and was the only Lady to go for a triple Axel. Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova follow in second and third place.

Kostornaia opened her expressive program to “Departure” and “November” with a triple Axel and followed up with a triple Lutz, triple flip-triple toe and exquisite spins and footwork. The ISU Grand Prix Final Champion scored 84.02 points. “I’m not really (satisfied). I skated clean, I did all my elements but I would love to improve with every competition and it seems I went down,” the 16-year-old commented. “I’m skating my short program for the second season and of course as far as I’m growing the program is growing with me. I can interpret the character better. But the character itself is still the same. It is an angel who came to earth and got a chance to return back in the end of the story,” she continued.

Shcherbakova’s delicate performance to “The Perfume” soundtrack featured a double Axel, triple flip, triple Lutz-triple loop combination and she picked up a level for her spins and footwork like her teammates. The Russian Champion earned 77.95 points. “I was nervous, am glad I overcame that and did my elements. Indeed it feels like something that is behind and now I have to set myself to tomorrow,” the ISU Grand Prix Final silver medalist said. “I love my short program - the music, the story behind and I love skating it. The coaches help me to become a part of the character and project the music. Am glad I improve every competition.”

Trusova wobbled on her opening double Axel but recovered to land a triple flip and triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination to notch 74.95 points. “My coaches explained me what the error on the double Axel was. The double Axel is an easy jump and I want to do a triple Axel so badly,” the two-time World Junior Champion shared. “It (the triple Axel) is not yet recovered completely after the New Year break, I sometimes land it, but not always. I haven’t yet competed after the New Year and it will have to wait.”

Alexia Paganini (SUI) came fourth with a personal best performance of 68.82 points. Emmi Peltonen (FIN) sits in fifth with another clean performance and 66.49 points. Ekaterina Ryabova (AZE) turned in a solid skate to finish sixth (62.22 points).

Boikova/Kozlovskii lead Russian Pairs to podium sweep in Graz
Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitri Kozlovskii skated off with their first European title and led Russia to the 16th clean sweep in Pair Skating at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Graz on Thursday. Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov moved up to take the silver, their sixth consecutive medal at Europeans. Daria Pavliuchenko/Denis Khodykin claimed their first medal, the bronze.

Skating to music from James Bond movies, Boikova/Kozlovskii laid down a flawless performance that featured a triple Salchow, triple toe-double toe-double toe, triple twist, throw triple flip and loop as well as level-four lifts. The 2019 European bronze medalists set a new personal best with 152.24 points and totaled 234.58 points to take the title with almost 26 points to spare.
“This was one of the hardest free skatings we’ve done recently. Usually you focus on the difficult elements and other elements you do on autopilot, but today all elements demanded concentration and we’re happy we were able to deal with that specific pressure. We had to focus and spend our energy to take one element at a time. We really had to fight for this performance,” Kozlovskii shared.

Tarasova/Morozov produced a triple twist, throw triple loop and Salchow and collected a level four for the lifts and the pair combination spin. However, the two-time European Champions struggled with the solo jumps. The two-time World silver medalists moved up to second with a Free Skating score of 135.14 points and a total of 208.64 points. “The feelings are not the nicest, but there are some positive sides. We have a great program and we are managing to bring it across. The elements - we'll nail them, but the emotions and the feelings are one of the most important things to show, something that requires a lot of work,“ Tarasova noted.

Pavliuchenko/Khodykin completed a rare side by side triple flip that was a bit shaky, triple toe-double toe-double toe, a triple twist and original lifts, but Pavliuchenko fell on the exit of the throw triple flip. The 2018 World Junior Champions scored 131.61 points, which was a personal best, and slipped to third at 206.53 points. “It's our first European medal and our journey just begins. We know what to work on, what to improve and we are enjoying our skating. Even though sometimes we do make mistakes in our skates,“ Khodykin said.

Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise (ITA) finished fourth like they had a year ago on 194.44 points. Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nolan Seegert (GER) came fifth (186.39 points) followed by Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer (AUT) on 177.41 points.