Nurmenkari lands in tenth place after short programme

Flawless German display wins pairs event

print this

When Finland’s Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari announced on the eve of the ISU European Figure Skating Championships that his aim was to make it to the top ten in the men's event, a good many eyebrows were raised.
      Ambition is fine, but, hey, Nurmenkari’s previous best result was 22nd.
      In the men’s short programme that was completed yesterday, however, Finland's sole representative in the event proved that his goal is perfectly realistic.
      Nurmenkari's routine earned him 66.64 points, which placed him tenth before today’s free skating component.
     
“Quite insane", a satisfied Nurmenkari commented after having heard the results. “But this was just one day.”
      The current leader is France’s Brian Joubert, whose personal-best score of 86.90 points from the short programme was enough to clearly hold off his closest rival, the defending champion Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic.
      Verner’s undoing was that he failed to produce a full quadruple in his combination jump. Before the free skate section, 5.45 points separate the two.
      An Italian newcomer Samuel Contesti is currently in third place.
     
In his free skating routine Nurmenkari’s plan is to avoid taking unnecessary risks.
      During the Finnish Championships the skater and his coach Sirkka Kaipio still deliberated whether to include another triple Axel in his programme, but this plan was discarded due to insufficient preparation time.
      The plan is to perform one triple Axel in the routine, but not a triple-triple combination.
     
After the short programme Nurmenkari was first slightly displeased by his fairly low score from performance/execution.
      This quickly changed, however, after he heard his end-of-day result.
      “Other competitors scored surprisingly low performance points as well”, Nurmenkari explained.
     
Late on Wednesday evening Aliona Savtšenko and Robin Szolkowy showed in the clearest possible way that they belong at the top.
      In Helsinki’s Hartwall Arena the Germans took their third consecutive pairs skating European Championship title.
      The Germans produced a free skating routine that was nothing short of brilliant, to the music of Schindler’s List and Adagio by Albinoni.
      The pair’s free skating result, 132.43 points, was 15 points higher than anyone else’s.
      Savtšenko and Szolkowy’s total points of 199.07 were also significantly higher than those of the runner-ups Yuko Kawaguchi and Aleksandr Smirnov (182.77) of Russia.
      The bronze medals went to last year’s silver medallists Maria Muhortova and Maksim Trankov, also from Russia.
      They had led the competition after the short programme, but could not consolidate their position, especially after a nasty fall by Muhortova. As it was, they were also overhauled by the Kawaguchi-Smirnov pairing.
     
Thursday afternoon sees the original dance, the second part of the ice dancing competition, and the evening's programme is given over to the men's free skating.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sauli Niinistö scores at opening of European Figure Skating Championships (21.1.2009)

Links:
  ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2009
  International Skating Union

Helsingin Sanomat