The German pair skating duo Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nolan Seegert impressed with sixth place in the short program at the World Figure Skating Championships in France. After an atmospheric performance, the two Berliners are aiming for their first top 10 placement at world championships.
Hase/Seegert beckons best World Cup placement
The Olympic 16th, whose Beijing competition was overshadowed by Seegert’s corona quarantine for days, showed a solid performance with some wobbles. Like the Olympics, the preparation for the World Cup was not ideal. Hase/Seegert, who actually train on the Black Sea in Sochi, had to switch training to Italy after the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Nevertheless, the best World Cup placement of the career beckons, this is 13th place from 2019. In Montpellier they collected 66.29 points, so they just missed their season best (67.93 points).
Two US teams lead
The two are in the lead after the short program U.S-American teams Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (76.88 points) and Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy Leduc (75.85 points). The Japanese Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara follow in third place (71.58 points).
As Olympic sixth, Knierim/Frazier are in the fight for WM-Gold also slightly favored. The medal decision will be made on Thursday (03/24/2022).
Big applause for Ukrainian team
Sofija Holitschenko and Artem Darenskij have nothing to do with the top rankings. The two Ukrainians are only ranked 13th out of 14 teams. Nevertheless, the duo received the greatest applause from the audience – a statement of solidarity by the French spectators for the Ukrainians, who have not been able to train for three weeks in their own country and have had a difficult journey to get there.
Top 5 of the Olympic Games not included
However, the top six of the Olympic Games in Beijing are missing. The Chinese Olympic champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han are missing because they also like fifth-placed Cheng Peng and Yang Jin because the Chinese had to be in quarantine for three weeks after the Beijing Olympics. Like all Russian athletes, the teams Yevgeniya Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov, Anastasiya Mishina/Aleksander Galliamov and Alexandra Boikova/Dimitri Kozlowaski, who came from Russia, were pitted against the Ukraine after the Russian war of aggression WM not start.
Source: Dirk Hofmeister