Many people remember the real starfall that happened a year ago at the Olympics. In the original dance, the ice was too slippery for the Lithuanians Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas, Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Loson, Italians Barabara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margallo. The overthrow for the leaders was especially offensive. Before my eyes there is still a dumb scene: Fusar-Poli incinerates the eyes of a partner.
In Warsaw, the main suppliers of curious news were compatriots of the famous skaters. In an arbitrary dance, the debutants of the top tournament Anna Cappellini - Luca Lanotte oiled the performance: in an innocuous situation, the athlete could not keep his balance. Toward the close of the audience, Federica Faella and Massimo Scali were excited, who ventured into risky support.
In search of a new one, athletes and their teams turn to gymnasts, acrobats for help and sometimes surprise the audience with pearl finds. However, always when performing such elements, a man acts as protection and support. Faella and Scali decided to turn everything upside down and switched roles. In a circus trick, the skater made a handstand, leaning on the knees of a partner sliding on the ice! But the law of gravity has not been canceled. The hall flinched as the fragile structure collapsed. This time everything worked out, although the consequences could be sad. By the way, both Italian couples entered the top ten, taking eighth and sixth places.
And to the final stage of the dance event, the leading duets settled down like this: the first - Isobel Delobel and Olivier Schonfelder, the second - Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, the third - Albena Denkova and Maxim Stavijsky.
The results of compulsory (golden waltz) and original (tango) dances were promising for the French. In the free program, the leaders, according to the draw, opened the performances of the group of the strongest. Delobel - Schonfelder, represented in the images of Bonnie and Clyde, showed modern choreography and high technique. Although last year's "Carnival in Venice", according to many, went to them more. But the dance, which was successful in a creative sense — let’s recall the partner’s gloves, which turned into a mask — did not bring dividends to the French then. In 2006, they became fourth on “Europe” and fifth on “world”. At the championship of the continent in Lyon, Isobel barely sat in the zone of tears and kisses, seeing the marks that left them outside the podium. True, after a while the figure skater pulled herself together and vowed in an interview that from now on she and Olivier would work even harder to get their way.
Following the French, two Russian duets appeared on the ice. Note the wonderful performance of Yana Khokhlova and Sergey Novitsky. Over the year, they not only made a giant leap, turning from the tenth pair of Europe into the fourth, but also showed a special handwriting. From now on, Muscovites are considered apologists for a subtle, intelligent style.
When it was time for Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin to speak, Delobel and Schonfelder clasped their hands. And they did it right. For the irrepressible “Polovtsian Dances”, in which the khan captivated the Russian beauty, received the highest judiciary marks. Our skaters won an arbitrary dance, and only 0.31 points separated them from gold. This season, Oksana and Maxim loudly declared themselves by winning the Grand Prix stage in the Chinese Nanjing, where they beat the silver medalists of the American Olympics Tanit Belbin and Benjamin Agosto. Then they entered the podium of the Russian Grand Prix and the final of the “Champion Series”. Warsaw silver was for the 2003 World Champions among juniors so far the most serious award in his career.
Last year's world champions Denkova - Staviyski in Poland could not rise above third place. Although their free rental looked definitely the best ...
Olga GONCHAROVA