Montpellier (AP) – Nicole Schott achieved tenth place at the World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, the best result for a German individual skater in 24 years.
The native of Oberstdorf slipped from sixth place after the short program after a double instead of a triple Salchow. Nevertheless, she showed the best performance of her career so far and scored 188.42 points.
The Japanese Kaori Sakamoto won gold with a spectacular freestyle with seven triple jumps and 236.09 points. Loena Hendricks won Belgium’s first individual World Championships medal with a silver medal. Alysa Liu of the USA took bronze in her World Championships debut.
“I never expected to finish in the top ten, even if the Russians aren’t there,” said Schott. “It was always my dream to be in the top ten, but that was always so far away. It’s definitely my biggest success,” continued the six-time German champion. In 1998, Tanja Szewczenko finished ninth for the last time for the German Skating Union in the top ten at a World Championships.
Before that, ice dance Olympic champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron from France were heading for their fifth title at their home World Championships. The duo scored a record 92.73 in their signature rhythm dance to songs by John Legend. A German ice dance couple is not at the start.