PHOTO:European Championship Ends with Gala Evening

The European Figure Skating Championships ended with a gala evening at which Europe’s best skaters showed off their talents.

ZAGREB, CROATIA - The European Championships in figure skating ended last night in Zagreb with a gala evening during which Europe’s best figure skaters performed in front of some 2,000 spectators.

The European Championships were held in Zagreb for the third time and the organisers deserve to be applauded for preparing an excellent event. There were magnificent performances by famous skaters, but also by skaters whose time is yet to come and for whom this was the first big performance, including Marija Dikanovic, who got her chance thanks to the cancellation of Croatia’s best skater, Idora Hegel.

Marija was the first to break the ice, so to speak. She performed her act accompanied by the music by Sandata and Rob Thomas. It was a good performance that was carried out as it was planned, but a bit more energy would not have hurt. She is young, though, and will get plenty other chances.

After Marija, Josip Gluhak came on the scene. The young Croatian skater made it to the finals, so he can be very pleased. Gluhak managed to mix the unmixable. He skated to an unusual combination of Swan Lake and Roll over Beethoven. The combination proved to be the winning combination since Gluhak was awarded with a big applause.

Brian Joubert, European champion, performed his act to the music of Coldplay without a fault. Stephane Lamiel, on the other hand, thrilled the spectators with numerous pirouettes and a performance to music from Romeo and Juliette.

European champion Karolina Kostner perhaps performed the most attractive performance to the song of Bonnie Tyler, showing off all her talent.

Skating couples were also excellent. The gala evening could be called the end of a beautiful and successful contest. The only shortcoming was the low turnout of spectators, but the high price of the ticked could be blamed for that, not the lack of interest from Zagreb’s citizens in figure skating.

See part of the atmosphere from the Ice Hall HERE.