The ice dance competition at the European Figure Skating Championships in Espoo came to an end with the victory of the Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri.
The pair prevailed ahead of Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson and local Finnish heroes Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis.
The two-time German ice dance champions Jennifer Janse van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan took ninth place in their joint European Championship debut. The two people from Oberstdorf thus secured a second starting place for the German Skating Union (DEU) for the 2024 European title fights in Budapest.
“It was our first major championship and a huge experience”, said Janse van Rensburg. Her ice partner added: “We are very proud that we managed to put in a consistent performance throughout the week. It was worth changing a few details.”
Gubanova European Champion
Anastasija Gubanova from Georgia had previously become the new European champion in figure skating. After a strong short program, she also showed a convincing freestyle with many flawless jumps.
Loena Hendrickx, who went into the European Championships as the big favorite, was left behind. However, as in the short program, the Belgian suffered two falls, so that in the end she had to settle for second place.
Kimmy Repond from Switzerland secured the bronze medal in her first international title fight.
Schott without a chance after the short program
After a weak performance with two falls in the short program, the seven-time German champion Nicole Schott had no chance – and went into the freestyle in 16th place. There she showed a courageous performance and rewarded herself with a catch-up race that only ended in ninth place.