2011 European Figure Skating Championships

The 2011 European Figure Skating Championships was an international figure skating competition in the 2010–11 season. Skaters competed in the categories of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.

The 2011 competition was held from 24 to 30 January 2011 at the PostFinance Arena in Bern, Switzerland.

Qualification The competition was open to skaters from a European member nations of the International Skating Union who had reached the age of 15 before 1 July 2010. The corresponding competition for non-European skaters was the 2011 Four Continents Championships. Based on the results of the 2010 European Championships, each country was allowed between one and three entries per discipline. National associations selected their entries based on their own criteria but those skaters had to achieve a minimum technical elements score (TES) at an international event prior to the European Championships. The minimum TES for each discipline and segment were: Discipline Short program/dance Free skating/dance Men 20 35 Ladies 15 25 Pairs 17 30 Ice dance 17 28

With the exception of pairs, skaters who were ranked lower in the World Standings list also had to skate in a preliminary round before the main event. For advancement, the men's event required a top-11 finish; the ladies', a top-10 finish; and the ice dance, a top-8 finish.

The following countries earned more than one entry to the 2011 European Championships based on performance at the 2010 event.

Spots Men Ladies Pairs Dance 3 2 Great Britain Great Britain

Entries Country Men Ladies Pairs Ice dancing Viktor Pfeifer Belinda Schönberger Stina Martini / Severin Kiefer Kira Geil / Tobias Eisenbauer Mikhail Karaliuk Nastassia Hrybko Lubov Bakirova / Mikalai Kamianchuk Lesia Valadzenkava / Vitali Vakunov Jorik Hendrickx Kevin van der Perren Ira Vannut Damjan Ostojič Georgi Kenchadze Hristina Vassileva Kristina Tremasova / Dimitar Lichev Mirna Libric Michal Březina Tomáš Verner Martina Boček Klára Kadlecová / Petr Bidař Lucie Myslivečková / Matěj Novák Justus Strid Karina Johnson Viktor Romanenkov Svetlana Issakova Gerli Liinamäe Natalya Zabiyako / Sergei Kulbach Irina Shtork / Taavi Rand Valtter Virtanen Kiira Korpi Cecilia Törn Juulia Turkkila Henna Lindholm / Ossi Kanervo Florent Amodio Brian Joubert Alban Préaubert Maé Bérénice Méité Adeline Canac / Yannick Bonheur Pernelle Carron / Lloyd Jones Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat Elene Gedevanishvili Allison Reed / Otar Japaridze Peter Liebers Denis Wieczorek Sarah Hecken Katharina Gierok / Florian Just Maylin Hausch / Daniel Wende Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi Great Britain David Richardson Jenna McCorkell Sally Hoolin / Jakub Safranek Stacey Kemp / David King Penny Coomes / Nicholas Buckland Sinead Kerr / John Kerr Georgia Glastris Tigran Vardanjan Katherine Hadford Viktória Pavuk Nóra Hoffmann / Maxim Zavozin Zsuzsanna Nagy / Máté Fejes Clara Peters Maxim Shipov Danielle Montalbano / Evgeni Krasnapolski Brooke Elizabeth Frieling / Lionel Rumi Paolo Bacchini Samuel Contesti Alice Garlisi Carolina Kostner Valentina Marchei Stefania Berton / Ondřej Hotárek Carolina Gillespie / Luca Demattè Lorenza Alessandrini / Simone Vaturi Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali Federica Testa / Christopher Mior Saulius Ambrulevičius Isabella Tobias / Deividas Stagniūnas Fleur Maxwell Kim Lucine Boyito Mulder Manouk Gijsman Anne Line Gjersem Maciej Cieplucha Zoltán Kelemen Sabina Măriuţă Artur Gachinski Konstantin Menshov Alena Leonova Ksenia Makarova Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov Katarina Gerboldt / Alexander Enbert Yuko Kavaguti / Alexander Smirnov Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev Elena Ilinykh / Nikita Katsalapov Ekaterina Riazanova / Ilia Tkachenko Marina Seeh Jakub Strobl Alexandra Kunova Nikola Višňová / Lukáš Csolley Daša Grm Javier Fernández Javier Raya Sonia Lafuente Sara Hurtado / Adrià Díaz Kristoffer Berntsson Adrian Schultheiss Viktoria Helgesson Laurent Alvarez Moris Pfeifhofer Stéphane Walker Romy Bühler Sarah Meier Ramona Elsener / Florian Roost Ali Demirboga Birce Atabey Anton Kovalevski Irina Movchan Nadezhda Frolenkova / Mikhail Kasalo Siobhan Heekin-Canedy / Alexander Shakalov

Schedule There was no preliminary round for pairs due to the low number of entries.

Date Time /Event Sunday, 23 January 1st Official practice Monday, 24 January 12:00 h Ice dance, Preliminary: Free dance 16:00 Men, Preliminary: Free skating Tuesday, 25 January 10:00 Ladies, Preliminary: Free skating Wednesday, 26 January 14:30 Ice dance: Short dance 18:30 Opening on ice 19:30 Pairs: Short program Thursday, 27 January 14:00 Men: Short program 19:30 Pairs: Free skating Friday, 28 January 14:00 Ladies: Short program 19:15 Ice dance: Free dance Saturday, 29 January 13:00 Ladies: Free skating 18:30 Men: Free skating Sunday, 30 January 14:30 Exhibition

Competition notes

The temperatures at the Swiss venue were unusually cold for a skating event, reaching minus-3 Celsius. ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta conceded it was something new to have the event in such conditions and said the ISU would be more vigilant in the future. Many spectators used blankets to keep warm during the long hours of competition. Skaters also admitted they were affected by the cold, and Russian Alexander Smirnov said that he felt like the muscles weren't ready and jokingly added "If we had known about the temperature earlier, we would have prepared for it at home in St. Petersburg by skating naked," adding that "it is a little strange that a competition of this level would be held under these conditions. But the conditions are the same for everyone." German pair team Maylin Hausch and Daniel Wende aborted an Axel lasso lift on the take-off, with Wende later saying "Already after the first minute I felt like shock frozen; just before the first lift I had no feeling in my fingers and in my legs. I couldn't do anything to prevent it." The practice rink also received some criticism, with Nóra Hoffmann saying, "It was so white and everybody got lost in it. That was specially my problem there, I was so lost in the rink that I couldn't really focus, I didn't know where I was going."

In men's singles, Florent Amodio won the European title in his debut. He became the first skater to win Europeans in his first appearance at the event since Ilia Kulik did so in 1995. Brian Joubert won his tenth consecutive Europeans medal, equaling the record of most medals by a singles skater, previously set by Ulrich Salchow and matched by Karl Schäfer. In the ladies event, Sarah Meier, a previous medalist, ended her competitive career with her first European title in front of her home crowd. It was Switzerland's first gold in ladies' singles since Denise Biellmann's win at the 1981 event. In the pairs event, Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy won their fourth European title, edging out defending champions Yuko Kavaguti / Alexander Smirnov. Nathalie Pechalat / Fabian Bourzat, who had finished fourth in 2009 and 2010, reached their first ISU Championship podium and captured the gold in the ice dance event. It was France's fifth European ice dancing title after 1962, 2000, 2002, and 2007. This was the final competitive event for ice dance bronze medalists Sinead Kerr / John Kerr.

Results Men

Rank Name Nation Total points PR SP FS 1 Florent Amodio 226.86 1 78.11 3 148.75 2 Brian Joubert 223.01 7 70.44 1 152.57 3 Tomáš Verner 222.60 5 72.91 2 149.69 4 Kevin van der Perren 216.59 4 73.61 5 142.98 5 Artur Gachinski 216.07 3 73.76 6 142.31 6 Samuel Contesti 204.88 6 72.78 9 132.10 7 Konstantin Menshov 202.62 14 58.82 4 143.80 8 Michal Březina 201.39 2 76.13 10 125.26 9 Javier Fernández 199.65 11 60.48 7 139.17 10 Alban Préaubert 196.15 10 63.77 8 132.38 11 Peter Liebers 189.00 9 64.53 11 124.47 12 Paolo Bacchini 178.34 12 59.39 13 118.95 13 Adrian Schultheiss 178.19 15 58.36 12 119.83 14 Kristoffer Berntsson 172.58 8 66.62 21 105.96 15 Anton Kovalevski 169.33 19 53.47 14 115.86 16 Jorik Hendrickx 168.39 1 118.46 13 59.14 19 109.25 17 Kim Lucine 167.97 2 115.12 20 52.56 15 115.41 18 Viktor Pfeifer 164.83 17 55.70 20 109.13 19 Javier Raya 164.68 5 100.82 21 51.98 17 112.70 20 Denis Wieczorek 163.60 3 111.96 22 50.62 16 112.98 21 Zoltán Kelemen 160.50 4 106.57 23 50.38 18 110.12 22 Laurent Alvarez 159.45 16 56.64 23 102.81 23 Maxim Shipov 158.28 8 98.84 18 53.99 22 104.29 24 Stéphane Walker 137.64 10 95.51 24 49.74 24 87.90 Did not advance to free skating 25 Maciej Cieplucha 9 97.14 25 49.33 26 Moris Pfeifhofer 6 100.73 26 46.93 27 Ali Demirboga 11 92.58 27 42.09 28 Justus Strid 7 100.42 28 41.84 Did not advance to short program 29 David Richardson Great Britain 12 91.59 30 Tigran Vardanjan 13 89.59 31 Damjan Ostojič 14 85.58 32 Jakub Strobl 15 83.21 33 Valtter Virtanen 16 79.90 34 Saulius Ambrulevičius 17 76.40 35 Mikhail Karaliuk 18 71.03 36 Boyito Mulder 19 70.25 37 Georgi Kenchadze 20 68.46 WD Viktor Romanenkov

Ladies

Rank Name Nation Total points PR SP FS 1 Sarah Meier 170.60 3 58.56 2 112.04 2 Carolina Kostner 168.54 6 53.17 1 115.37 3 Kiira Korpi 166.40 1 63.50 4 102.90 4 Ksenia Makarova 162.04 2 60.35 5 101.69 5 Alena Leonova 154.31 13 48.40 3 105.91 6 Viktoria Helgesson 151.66 4 54.70 7 96.96 7 Ira Vannut 150.66 1 90.98 10 50.90 6 99.76 8 Elene Gedevanishvili 147.96 5 53.68 8 94.28 9 Maé Bérénice Méité 138.74 2 87.10 7 51.61 10 87.13 10 Valentina Marchei 137.44 8 51.24 14 86.20 11 Sarah Hecken 137.43 9 51.12 12 86.31 12 Sonia Lafuente 135.82 11 49.10 11 86.72 13 Gerli Liinamäe 133.73 16 44.07 9 89.66 14 Jenna McCorkell Great Britain 132.15 12 48.65 15 83.50 15 Juulia Turkkila 131.38 14 45.17 13 86.21 16 Romy Bühler 122.33 4 74.69 15 44.42 17 77.91 17 Karina Johnson 121.63 6 69.34 24 38.30 16 83.33 18 Svetlana Issakova 118.44 5 73.42 18 42.30 18 76.14 19 Viktória Pavuk 112.70 19 42.18 21 70.52 20 Daša Grm 112.54 21 38.97 20 73.57 21 Alice Garlisi 112.36 3 78.81 22 38.79 19 73.57 22 Fleur Maxwell 110.59 9 65.29 17 43.64 24 66.95 23 Hristina Vassileva 106.79 10 64.31 20 39.11 22 67.68 24 Alexandra Kunova 105.86 23 38.67 23 67.19 Did not advance to free skating 25 Anne Line Gjersem 7 67.38 25 34.66 26 Irina Movchan 26 31.43 27 Clara Peters 8 65.70 27 30.91 28 Birce Atabey 28 30.50 Did not advance to short program 29 Belinda Schönberger 11 63.95 30 Nastassia Hrybko 12 63.81 31 Martina Boček 13 61.67 32 Cecilia Törn 14 60.54 33 Marina Seeh 15 58.30 34 Katherine Hadford 16 57.51 35 Georgia Glastris 17 57.37 36 Sabina Măriuţă 18 47.38 37 Mirna Libric 19 45.91 WD Manouk Gijsman

Pairs

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS 1 Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy 206.20 1 72.31 2 133.89 2 Yuko Kavaguti / Alexander Smirnov 203.61 2 69.49 1 134.12 3 Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov 188.24 3 62.89 3 125.35 4 Katarina Gerboldt / Alexander Enbert 169.95 5 57.50 4 112.45 5 Stefania Berton / Ondřej Hotárek 164.83 4 60.08 5 104.75 6 Maylin Hausch / Daniel Wende 149.97 6 53.86 6 96.11 7 Klára Kadlecová / Petr Bidař 139.94 8 48.45 7 91.49 8 Stacey Kemp / David King Great Britain 128.04 7 48.46 9 79.58 9 Adeline Canac / Yannick Bonheur 125.34 9 43.02 8 82.32 10 Lubov Bakirova / Mikalai Kamianchuk 120.72 10 41.51 10 79.21 11 Katharina Gierok / Florian Just 118.06 11 40.70 11 77.36 12 Carolina Gillespie / Luca Demattè 115.53 12 40.11 12 75.42 13 Natalya Zabiyako / Sergei Kulbach 106.47 14 35.01 13 71.46 14 Sally Hoolin / Jakub Šafránek Great Britain 104.16 13 36.41 14 67.75 15 Stina Martini / Severin Kiefer 100.87 15 34.74 15 66.13 WD Danielle Montalbano / Evgeni Krasnapolski

Ice dancing