French couple clinches gold
Source: Agencies |
January 30, 2011, Sunday
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NATHALIE Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat won their first major title by taking the ice dance gold medal at the European Championships in Bern, Switzerland, on Friday.
Skating last as leaders from the short dance, the French couple also scored best in the free dance with a playful medley of moves on a Charlie Chaplin theme.
Pechalat and Bourzat, who train in Moscow, had a total score of 167.40, more than six points ahead of Russian champions Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev.
For 27-year-old Pechalat and 30-year-old Bourzat it was their first time atop a senior championship podium. They placed seventh at the Vancouver Olympics last season.
"It is something that we waited for a long time, and finally it has arrived tonight," Bourzat said.
British siblings Sinead and John Kerr scored 157.49 for a second European bronze at their eighth appearance. They edged Pechalat and Bourzat into fourth two years ago.
"We've competed against Nathalie and Fabian for all our careers, and they missed a medal when we got ours," Sinead Kerr said. "We were really happy to see them on the podium here."
At their sixth European event, Pechalat and Bourzat finally emerged from the shadow of another French couple, Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, who won the 2007 title then became world champions one year later.
Pechalat and Bourzat also turned their season around after scoring poorly last September at a competition in Oberstdorf, Germany.
"Sometimes it's good to get your (butt) kicked and we got it pretty bad," Bourzat said. "It was a good chance to change things."
The French couple then won their first career grand prix events and were second in the GP Final behind Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the US.
Pechalat and Bourzat are coached by Russian Alexander Zhulin, who also works with fourth-placed teenagers Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov. The Russian world junior champions impressed with a balletic routine on their major championship debut.
Italian couple Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali repeated their fifth-place finish from Vancouver in their last European appearance. A well-received matador dance lifted them from ninth after the short dance.
Earlier, Kiira Korpi of Finland led the women's opening short program. Korpi, the 2007 bronze medalist, scored 63.50 points for a crowd-pleasing routine set to "Over the Rainbow." Russian Ksenia Makarova, who represented the United States as a junior before moving home to St. Petersburg, was second on 60.35.
Sarah Meier placed third on 58.56 in her farewell before home fans.
Skating last as leaders from the short dance, the French couple also scored best in the free dance with a playful medley of moves on a Charlie Chaplin theme.
Pechalat and Bourzat, who train in Moscow, had a total score of 167.40, more than six points ahead of Russian champions Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev.
For 27-year-old Pechalat and 30-year-old Bourzat it was their first time atop a senior championship podium. They placed seventh at the Vancouver Olympics last season.
"It is something that we waited for a long time, and finally it has arrived tonight," Bourzat said.
British siblings Sinead and John Kerr scored 157.49 for a second European bronze at their eighth appearance. They edged Pechalat and Bourzat into fourth two years ago.
"We've competed against Nathalie and Fabian for all our careers, and they missed a medal when we got ours," Sinead Kerr said. "We were really happy to see them on the podium here."
At their sixth European event, Pechalat and Bourzat finally emerged from the shadow of another French couple, Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, who won the 2007 title then became world champions one year later.
Pechalat and Bourzat also turned their season around after scoring poorly last September at a competition in Oberstdorf, Germany.
"Sometimes it's good to get your (butt) kicked and we got it pretty bad," Bourzat said. "It was a good chance to change things."
The French couple then won their first career grand prix events and were second in the GP Final behind Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the US.
Pechalat and Bourzat are coached by Russian Alexander Zhulin, who also works with fourth-placed teenagers Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov. The Russian world junior champions impressed with a balletic routine on their major championship debut.
Italian couple Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali repeated their fifth-place finish from Vancouver in their last European appearance. A well-received matador dance lifted them from ninth after the short dance.
Earlier, Kiira Korpi of Finland led the women's opening short program. Korpi, the 2007 bronze medalist, scored 63.50 points for a crowd-pleasing routine set to "Over the Rainbow." Russian Ksenia Makarova, who represented the United States as a junior before moving home to St. Petersburg, was second on 60.35.
Sarah Meier placed third on 58.56 in her farewell before home fans.
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