Golden Plushenko sends out warning
Source: Agencies |
January 23, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
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Russia's Yevgeny Plushenko kissed the ice after showing his rivals he has no intention of giving up his Olympic crown next month in Vancouver by easily winning gold at the European championships in Tallinn, Estonia, on Thursday.
The two skaters making their comebacks after absences from the sport beat those who had been keeping the podium warm for them with Switzerland's popular Stephane Lambiel taking the silver when his mesmerizing spins lifted him up from fifth.
Last year's champion Brian Joubert of France took bronze after an error-strewn routine. Plushenko scored 255.39 points, with Lambiel on 238.54 and Joubert on 236.45.
"I am just really proud, everything went well. Of course the most important competition this year will be the Olympic Games," Plushenko, whose last major competition had been the 2006 Turin Games, said in a rinkside interview.
But he wasn't ready to declare himself fully back from a three-year layoff, even if the cheering crowd was.
"It wasn't an Olympic performance today. I have to do a second quad," he said.
Lambiel, who has come out of retirement, got a standing ovation after his delightfully presented routine to Verdi's La Traviata, with fans whooping when they saw he had scored enough despite slipping during a simple step sequence.
"For me, this was, wow, hard," Lambiel said. After his short program problems he was nervous and "when I went out on the ice today I just said to myself 'follow the music'."
Joubert, who had been second after Wednesday's short program, shook his head while taking his time to take a bow after messing up his landings on the triple salchow and triple flip and downgrading a planned quadruple salchow to a double.
Ice dancers Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin wore loin cloths and leaves to help extend their lead with a dance that has offended Australian Aboriginal elders.
The Russians had led by just under five points following Tuesday's compulsory dance and they increased it slightly to lead Italy's Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali. Russia's Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski are third.
The Italians took a more traditional approach, skating to a native tarantella and incorporating moves characteristic of various regions. "It's really, really cool for us to bring this deeply folkloric stuff to the ice," Scali said.
Before the ice dance medals are decided, the women's event gets under way with the short program yesterday.
The two skaters making their comebacks after absences from the sport beat those who had been keeping the podium warm for them with Switzerland's popular Stephane Lambiel taking the silver when his mesmerizing spins lifted him up from fifth.
Last year's champion Brian Joubert of France took bronze after an error-strewn routine. Plushenko scored 255.39 points, with Lambiel on 238.54 and Joubert on 236.45.
"I am just really proud, everything went well. Of course the most important competition this year will be the Olympic Games," Plushenko, whose last major competition had been the 2006 Turin Games, said in a rinkside interview.
But he wasn't ready to declare himself fully back from a three-year layoff, even if the cheering crowd was.
"It wasn't an Olympic performance today. I have to do a second quad," he said.
Lambiel, who has come out of retirement, got a standing ovation after his delightfully presented routine to Verdi's La Traviata, with fans whooping when they saw he had scored enough despite slipping during a simple step sequence.
"For me, this was, wow, hard," Lambiel said. After his short program problems he was nervous and "when I went out on the ice today I just said to myself 'follow the music'."
Joubert, who had been second after Wednesday's short program, shook his head while taking his time to take a bow after messing up his landings on the triple salchow and triple flip and downgrading a planned quadruple salchow to a double.
Ice dancers Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin wore loin cloths and leaves to help extend their lead with a dance that has offended Australian Aboriginal elders.
The Russians had led by just under five points following Tuesday's compulsory dance and they increased it slightly to lead Italy's Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali. Russia's Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski are third.
The Italians took a more traditional approach, skating to a native tarantella and incorporating moves characteristic of various regions. "It's really, really cool for us to bring this deeply folkloric stuff to the ice," Scali said.
Before the ice dance medals are decided, the women's event gets under way with the short program yesterday.
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