Lithuania will host the European Figure Skating Championships for the first time. On Wednesday, in the home hall of the Žalgiris basketball team in Kaunas, the skaters will begin the competition for medals. The Estonian team came out with an ice dancing couple and four solo runners.
For the first time, Estonia can send two single female athletes and two men to the European Figure Skating Championships. Nataly Langerbaur is the only one of the four to make her debut in the title competition.
“The physical form is very good. I think I can ride very well and I think the spirit is ready too, but this is still my first title race and I’m looking forward to it,” Langerbaur told ERR and added that a little tremor is important.
Langerbaur scored 165 points with two routines at the Budapest competition in October. He extended his scoring streak by more than 13 points this season.
“I think I’ve improved in everything. The technical part has become more stable and lately we’ve been working a lot on the choreography. There’s been little progress in every area,” he said.
Langerbaur, 19, trains in Tallinn alongside his university studies and the last month has been very stressful. “I study at the School of Police and Border Guards of the Internal Defense Academy. I’m in my first year and I did an internship immediately after the Estonian championships,” the skater said.
“I did patrols in the Northern Prefecture, 12-hour shifts. Yes, it’s difficult to go to school every day and do high-level sports at the same time, but I can do it.”
After a gap of six years, Kristina Lisovskaja joined the team, whose first EC ended with 25th place. Compared to your debut at that time you are now a much more experienced and mature athlete.
“She was still small. She was still a little girl, now she is already an adult woman,” Lisovskaya compared herself. “You are a different person and also an athlete. There is already a lot of experience.”
In November, Lisovskaja raised her two-program record to 158 points. Before EC she trained twice a day and only practiced skating. “I’m in great shape now. I’ve trained so hard that I’ve never trained so hard before. I’m confident and ready now.”
Her plans were drawn up by the coach’s mother, Alina Škuleta-Gromova, who expects clean races from her daughter at EC. “Kristina is definitely well prepared,” Škuleta-Gromova said.
“His physical shape is good. We’ll see how his mental shape will be. We’ll see it in the races, but we’ve trained a lot and I think he’s quite ready to start.”
In men’s singles, for the first time, the Selevko brothers can skate in a joint title competition. The youngest, 21-year-old Mihhail finished eighth at EC last year and hopes to compete just as well now.
To preserve the ankle of his left foot, in the last training session at home he focused on cleaning the intermediate steps. Former ice dancer Taavi Rand helped film and perfect the performances.
This season he scored 223 points. Ten points less than his record. “I worked a lot on the technical elements and presentation of the program. The shape is quite good,” Selevko said.
Aleksandr Selevko, one year older than Mihaili, has shown better performances this season. Aleksandr, who will go to the third EC, earned his record 238 points in Zagreb in December.
“Everything is fine now,” he said. “All the elements are there. We included two quads in the free program and I hope to be able to do everything cleanly.”
Both the Selevko brothers and the Langerbaur brothers are coached by Irina Kononova. “They are good. They trained well. They competed successfully in international competitions and in Estonia. I hope they will make clean plans at EC,” the instructor said.
The European Championship starts on Wednesday in Kaunas.
2024-01-07 20:30:00
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