2003 European Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Highlights

There were only 13 pairs competing at the 2003 European Championships in Malmo, Sweden this January, but they included most of the world’s top couples still remaining in amateur competition. All of the top pairs from the 2002 Europeans returned to compete for the gold and the top four remained the same as in 2002.

The competition itself was marred by errors from all of the couples. In the short, former European and World champions Maria Petrova and 32-year-old Alexei Tikhonov showed that their careers are still going strongly when they finished ahead of last year’s European champions, Russia’s Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, who had won three of this year’s Grand Prix events, and 2002 silver medalists Sarah Abitbol and Stephane Bernadis of France, who missed over six months after Abitbol ruptured her Achilles tendon in a fall during practice for the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Abitbol, who was tentative on some of her jumps, confessed…

2003 European Figure Skating Championships: Men’s Highlights

With defending champion Alexei Yagudin and silver medalist Alexander Abt unable to compete at the 2003 European Championships in Sweden, the time was ripe for new faces to make a bid for the podium. Only France’s Brian Joubert returned from last year’s podium and Joubert had been inconsistent during the Grand Prix season, winning Skate America after Yagudin withdrew but finishing fifth at Trophee Lalique in his native country. But two more contenders returned from injuries to compete in Malmo – Russia’s Evgeni Plushenko, the 2000 and 2001 champion, and France’s Stannick Jeannette, who finished third in 2001. The Russians also brought Grand Prix finalist and 1999 World Junior champion Ilia Klimkin and 2002 Junior Grand Prix champion Stanislav Timchenko so a battle royal was expected.

With only 31 entries, no qualifying round was needed so the men had plenty of time during the week to hone their skills. To the dismay of their coaches, however, many of the top…

2003 European Figure Skating Championships: Ladies Highlights

This was supposed to be another year that Irina Slutskaya was vulnerable at the European Championships after she narrowly lost to now retired Maria Butyrskaya last year. Slutskaya had not won an event since winning her first World Championships in Japan last March. She had already lost the Russian Championships to Elena Sokolova, rejuvenated after reuniting with former coach Victor Kudriatsev after a three-year absence, the Cup of Russia to four-time European bronze medalist Victoria Volchkova, and the NHK Trophy to Yoshie Onda. “This is a very tough season for me and I want it to end,” said Slutskaya, who had no holidays last summer and was sick with bronchitis for several weeks. Slutskaya was also facing a strong Finnish contingent in Elina Kettunen and Susanna Pöykiö, fifth and sixth last season, and revitalized Alisa Drei, who beat both the other Finns for the national title. With Finland’s lone spot at Worlds dependent upon the best finisher, the Finns…

2003 European Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance Highlights

The dance competition at the 2003 European Championships in Malmo, Sweden featured many changes from last season as couples moved up and down the rankings much more than in previous years. Last year’s gold and bronze medalists were gone, with Gwendal Peizerat appearing on the other side of the boards where he was working with France’s Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder in dance and Stannick Jeannette in the men’s competition.

Coming into the competition, three teams were favored. Ukraine’s Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov had been unbeatable in the Grand Prix season, winning three gold medals. The husband-wife team had been mired in the bottom half of the top ten before switching coaches from Natalia Linichuk to Tatiana Tarasova in the summer. Bulgaria’s ice dancers, Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski, had also made huge strides during the Grand Prix season, winning a gold and a bronze and qualifying for the Grand Prix Final. Russia’s defending World champions Irina Lobacheva and…

Jeffrey Buttle: Here Comes the Judge

Canada’s Jeffrey Buttle, who finished second at the 2003 Canadian Figure Skating National Championships, has a unique perspective when assessing his performances. The young Canadian is one of the few active skaters who are also working skating judges. “Canada’s short of younger judges so the director asked me if I wanted to give it a try,” he related. “It’s a hard job but very interesting. Right now I can judge up to novice at sectionals. It’s really helped me in my skating because we meet to analyze all of the deductions. I realize what’s more or less important in the marks and I understand my marks more when I’m being judged.”

A change in attitude also contributed to a breakthrough year in 2002 for the young…

Matthews and Zavozin Make Quick Impact on Dance Scene

After winning the junior dance title at the 2003 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships, Morgan Matthews and Max Zavozin are one of the hopefuls for a podium finish at the 2003 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

The couple began skating together in 2001 and was third in novice dance at the 2002 U. S. Nationals. This season saw the dancers win both the free dance and the original dance at the Lake Placid Dance Championships, with two second and two third places in the compulsories. Then they finished third at the North American Challenge Skate in Huntsville, Alabama, moving from fourth…

2003 US Figure Skating Championships: Highlights

Michelle Kwan, a veteran of eleven senior nationals at the ripe old age of 22, won her sixth consecutive title in grand fashion. Not since Tara Lipinski has Kwan been dethroned at home. Nursing a slight back injury, Kwan did not include a triple-triple combination in her winning free skate to “Aranjuez,” yet she won the competition without so much as losing an ordinal. Kwan was awarded a perfect mark of 6.0 for presentation despite having to skate in the unenviable position of first after the warmup. She landed a total of six triple jumps, including two lutzes, to hold off an upstart of teenagers battling her for the title.

Perhaps the most famous of those teenagers, seventeen-year-old Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes, finished a satisfying second after a season of uncertainty. Hughes missed her Grand Prix events due to a strained muscle and performed only adequately at two pro-am appearances in December. Hughes completed just five triple jumps in…

Scott Williams: Online Interview

For 30 years, Scott has devoted himself to the field of ice skating. Throughout his career he has excelled at every level, winning numerous competitions and awards as an amateur, culminating in the Junior World title, as well as the U.S. National silver medal and two-time World Team Member. As a professional, Scott has performed in thousands of shows and exhibitions including over twenty television specials. He also became the U.S. Open Champion and the World Professional Champion in 1991. Scott has also coached and choreographed extensively for nationally and internationally ranked skaters in the United States and abroad, as well as choreographing and directing for touring ice show productions including “Skate of Champions“, “Beverly Hills On…