Medvedeva soars to second Euro title
OSTRAVA: Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva soared to a second straight women’s European figure skating title in world record style on Friday.
The 17-year-old produced a flawless skate to music by Alexandre Desplat to eclipse South Korean star Kim Yu-Na’s overall total score from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics by over a point with 229.71. Medvedeva also posted a new record 150.79 points for the free skate to surpass her own mark achieved on her way to world gold in her first senior season last year.
She led a Russian 1-2 finishing over 18 points ahead of teammate Anna Pogorilaya (211.39). On the ice in Ostrava, wearing a delicate pink and grey dress, the tiny skater from Moscow impressed with the ease of her jumps and free flowing style. She even added a superfluous combination of three jumps for good measure, “because I wanted to do a little me more than normal,” giggled the teenager. It was a second gold for Russia in Ostrava after Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov won the pairs title on Thursday. Former five-time European champion Carolina Kostner of Italy, returning after almost three years away from competition, prevented a Russian women’s sweep for a third consecutive year by taking bronze with 210.52. Russia’s Maria Sotskova was fourth.
For 29-year-old Kostner, the 2012 world champion and 2014 Olympic bronze medallist, it was a 10th European medal. She took time off after the Olympics and then received a ban in 2015 after being caught up in a doping scandal involving her former companion, walker Alex Schwazer.
“The joy of skating well surpasses the joy of a medal. It’s the cherry on the cake after this beautiful week,” said Kostner. Earlier Spain’s Javier Fernandez put himself on track for a recordequalling fifth straight men’s title.
The 25-year-old from Madrid earned a new personal record 104.25 points for his Flamenco routine to open up a lead of nearly ten points on Russian Maxim Kovtun (94.53) going into Saturday’s free skating final. Israel’s Alexei Bychenko, the bronze medallist in 2016, is sitting third (86.68). “It’s my first clean short programme of the season. Work and training are finally paying off,” said Fernandez, who slipped to fourth in last month’s Grand Prix final.
The reigning two-time world champion is bidding to match the record of five straight European titles last achieved by Czech Ondrej Nepela in 1973.
In ice dancing, Russians Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev lead going into today’s free dance final. Two-time reigning champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France are in third.