Samarin and Aliyev against Aymoz

Two months ago, after the completion of the six stages of the Grand Prix series, the issue with the favorites of the European Championship among men seemed almost resolved. Alexander Samarin and Dmitry Aliyev demonstrated a good continental balance between the technical complexity of programs and stability. Both skaters began to justify the advances given to them after the departure of Javier Fernandez. It seemed that the time had come for the Russians and it would only get better.

But then the Grand Prix finals, confusing all the cards, took place: not only Samarin and Aliyev were unsuccessful and clearly below their capabilities, but at that moment the Frenchman Kevin Aymoz also blossomed. He gained stability in jumping elements, which he learned to incorporate into his brilliant and emotional programs. As a result, Aymoz earned 275.63 points - so many domestic skaters have not scored this season.

The recent Russian championship in Krasnoyarsk only confirmed that the Frenchman will be the favorite in Graz. Aliyev and Samarin still lost a lot of points and got into the team only because the younger rivals did not have the courage to push them off the podium. The exception was Arthur Danielyan, who won silver after 13th place in the short program.

In fact, now, apart from Aymoz, there are no first-class singles in Europe - the Italian Matteo Rizzo did not reach a new level this season, the Czech Michal Brzezina did not return to him, the Latvian Denis Vasiliev and the Georgian Maurice Kvitelashvili continue to gain experience under the guidance of their titled trainers and not demonstrate everything that they can.

No matter how hard Aliev and Samarin try to get out of this series of European middle peasants, in Graz they themselves can fall into it if they did not do a titanic amount of work, first of all, of a psychological plan, within a short time after the Russian championship.

It is possible that it will be much more important for two favorites from Russia to fight not with Aymoz, but with Danielyan. A 16-year-old skater with a wonderful quadruple salchow may well break up the usually inseparable pair of compatriots and replace one of them at the World Cup, where Russia will have only two quotas in this category.

In such a situation, both Aliev and Samarin should think about unloading their rentals technically, because the judges will appreciate the artistic component of their programs in any case. And stable performances in simplified schemes can at the same time bring medals, albeit not of the highest dignity.

High odds of a hat trick

Pair skating at the upcoming European Championship in its intrigue will resemble women's competitions. Both there and there are three participants from Russia, and all of them are the only real contenders for medals. The level of European sports couples this season has fallen so much that there will be a huge sensation if domestic skaters cannot take the entire podium for the 16th time in history.

However, if the girls this happens almost every year, then for couples a similar situation is new. The competition for the Russians was to be the current European champions Vanessa James and Morgan Sipre. The French missed the Grand Prix series this season to rest and gain strength, and initially planned to return to the ice for the European Championship.

However, they did not apply for the championship of the country and did not receive a ticket to Graz. It has not been officially confirmed whether the absence of the couple is connected with the sexual scandal that Sipre fell into, but the probability that the French have to shun publicity because of this exists.

Against this background, Russian couples can only play medals among themselves, and, as the national championship has shown, this fight can be very interesting. Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov were very close to regaining the status of leaders of the Russian team, lost due to not getting into the Grand Prix finals. And although the judges were delighted with the skating of the wards of Marina Zueva, Alexandra Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky still bypassed them by 0.45 points. In figure skating, such a gap cannot be somehow felt and understood, so the dispute between the two strongest pairs of Russia can be considered unfinished.

Daria Pavlyuchenko and Denis Khodykin will also try to join him. In Krasnoyarsk, the couple showed their most stable skating for the season, but in the case took third place. If by technique they do not lose so much, and even surpass compatriots in jumping due to the triple flip, then the pair still lacks harmony and organism to get solid points for the components.

The intrigue at the European Championships, even if not the most impressive, will be which couple will make the company the Russians in the strongest workout. These may be ice owners Miriam Ziegler and Severin Kiefer, experienced Italians Nicole Dela Monica and Matteo Guarize or Germans Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nolan Zegert, who this season lead in the list of the best non-Russian couples from Europe. True, their highest result is inferior to almost ten points to the worst Russian rentals.

  • French skaters Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron
  • AFP
  • © Marco Bertorello

In pursuit of Papadakis and Sizeron

The most intriguing discipline at the European Championships will be ice dancing. Let Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron win another victory - they have no other way but to repeat the record of Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov of six victories in the continental championship. But then the remaining two medals are claimed by the largest number of approximately equal strength participants.

First of all, the circle of applicants includes two Russian couples. This is still the first numbers of the team Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, as well as Alexander Stepanov and Ivan Bukin. According to the best results of the season, they surpass all European duets, except for the incomparable French.

But, as the Grand Prix finals showed, the result in a particular tournament for the Russians does not add up to the average performance in previous tournaments. Both couples were not close to their personal records, but to the achievements of those who consider the European Championship as the main tournament of the season.

Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbry are not used to beating the Russians - a year ago they became bronze medalists of the tournament in Minsk. This season, things are not going well with them, but the couple changed the short program and made progress, while from the side watched the showdown in the Grand Prix finals. If you take the best rental Italians from different tournaments, then in the sum of the points they will be quite competitive with the Russian skaters.

The British can still say their word Laila Fir and Lewis Gibson. This season they became winners of the Grand Prix stage and made a good statement about themselves. Fir and Gibson can be considered the main duet of the second tier of European dances, which will be picked up in the event of an accident by one of the more powerful duets. The same applies to the Spaniards Sarah Hurtado - Cyril Halyavin, and the third Russian pair of Tiffany Zagorski - Jonathan Gurreiro.