Diana Stellato Dudek and Maxime Deschamps finished with a Canadian win in the doubles competition on Thursday at the World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal. Pavlova Maria and Alexei Sviatchenko, who were born in Russia but compete in Hungarian colours, improved two places and finished fourth.
The Hungarians produced a sumptuous program in terms of artistic elements. The triple spin lift was flawless, and the Axel jumps following the triple toe loop were also successful, as was the triple somersault. After the three-turn Salchow, Rittberger's thrown triple was also perfect, as was the one-handed lift. At the end of the course, there were amazing spins and spins.
The judges rated the production excellent, awarding them 136.59 points, nearly eight points higher than their best free skate at the European Championships in January. With their amazing performance, they took the lead when there were only four competitors left, because in front of them, the pair of world junior champion and European silver medalist from Georgia made several mistakes. As a result, they could not finish lower than fifth place with their highest score of 204.60, an improvement on last year's seventh place.
In the last group, which included the best, the German pair of Minerva Fabian Haase and Nikita Volodin skated wonderfully, but last year's European champion and World Cup bronze medalist Sarah Conti and the Italian pair led by Nicolo Masi performed several times worse, so Pavlova's team improved another place. In the end, the outstanding duo of the field, Diana Stellato Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, who played in front of the home crowd, and the defending champion Miura Rikuo and Japan's Kihara Rujichi, competed separately, although the latter fared better. In the round, the Canadians won by four points in the short program. The member of the gold-medal-winning women's team reached the top at age 40, returning to the ice at 32 after a 16-year absence.
The value of the performance of the fourth Hungarian pair at this year's European Championships is enhanced by the fact that their performance was the best training in terms of technical values. However, even this was not enough to win a medal, which means that since the victory of ice dancing duo Kristina Regucci and Andras Szálai in 1980, no Hungarian has finished on the podium at the World Championships. In Paros, Hungary's last World Cup medal was in 1955 thanks to Marian Nagy and Laszlo Nagy, who finished third 69 years ago.
The World Cup competition will continue on Friday from 16.20 CET with the rhythmic dancing of the ice dancers, in which the Hungarian contingent will also be interested.
results:
Doubles, World Champion:
– Diana Stellato Dudek, Maxime Deschamps (Canada) 221.56 points.
2. Reiko Miura, Ruguichi Kihara (Japan) 217.88
3. Minerva Fabienne Haase, Nikita Volodin (Germany) 210.40
4. Pavlova Maria, Sviachenko Alexei 204.60
Cover Photo:
Pavlova Maria and Sviachenko Alexei (Photo: MTI/EPA/Mark R. Cristino)
