The ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2017 continued in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Thursday with the Pairs Free Skating.
France’s Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres after repeated struggle won the bronze medal, while Aliona Savchenko/Bruno Massot of Germany claimed silver medals again. But Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov of Russia battled the gold in the Pairs final.
The World bronze medalists owing up to “Lighthouse” by Patrick Watson, Savchenko/Massot produced a huge triple twist, a triple Salchow, throw double Axel and throw triple Salchow as well as level-four lifts and spins. He won the Free Skating with his best of 148.59 points and totaled 222.35 points to race up from third to the second place. “This medal shines like gold to me. I am very happy to come back after my injury”, Savchenko commented. “It was an amazing comeback for us after these hard three months. Now we’re back. We do everything to win and this is the message we want to share”, Massot said.
Tarasova/Morozov brought down a triple twist, side by side triple Salchow, triple toe-double toe, throw triple Salchow and loop and picked up a level four for two lifts and the side by side spin to score a personal best of 146.76 points. Dramatic finals reached the pitch with the free skating of Vanessa James and Morgana Cipres. French tried, yet they were almost a point behind Tarasova-Morozov, which put them in the third place. The ISU Grand Prix Final Champions were ranked second in the Free Skating. Nevertheless with a total score of 227.58 points they barricaded their overnight lead to grab the gold medal. “We were emotional while skating, but feel empty now, like squeezed lemons, this is a pleasant exhaustion though. We are very satisfied as we demonstrated good skating in both programs, even despite a tiny mistake at the end of the free program today. We are getting better and better with every year, we are growing up and our skating becomes more mature”, Morozov said. “Gold at the Europeans means a lot to us, we have worked a lot to win it. We believe that our main victories and gold medals are still to come, this motivates us to grow”, Tarasova added.
James/Cipres landed a triple twist, throw quadruple Salchow (two-footed), a triple toe-double toeloop-double toeloop combination, triple Salchow along with a six level-four elements. The French Champions took up 145.84 points, a brand new record and thus gathered 220.02 points to leap forward their first medal at Europeans and the first pair skating medal for France in 14 years. “We were never as happy as we are today. Of course we were also happy yesterday, but we needed to stay concentrated for today and we are so proud of us now”, James made known the press. “It’s just fantastic. We have worked and sacrificed so much over the last years. This third place finish is for sure another step in the right direction”, Cipres noted.
The ISU European Figure Skating Championships promises to resume Friday with the Men’s Short Program and the Ladies Free Skating.
Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov (RUS) remained in fourth place at 216.51 points backed by Natalia Zabiiako/Alexander Enbert (RUS) at 200.75 points while Valentina Marchei/Ondrej Hotarek (ITA) stay at sixth (191.93 points).