WSSA European Freestyle Skating

Championships 2014

September 19th-21st, Busto Arsizio, Italy

The 6th European Freestyle Skating Championships 2014 was held on September, 19th-21st, in Italy. Around 140 skaters from 15 countries were competing in the main disciplines : Classic Freestyle Slalom, Battle Freestyle, Speed Slalom and Freestyle Slides for the European Champion title.

Day 1 - Classic Freestyle Slalom and Freestyle Sides

Junior Classic Freestyle Slalom

The 6th European Freestyle Skating Championships started on friday, September 19th, with Freestyle Classic junior categories. It is the first time that a Junior category was held at European Championships. 24 girls and 19 boys from 7 countries were fighting for the victory. 

In the Junior Women competition, the victory went to Sofia Bogdanova (Rus, #24). After her victory in the Junior Classic category of the RollerClub Cup 2014, she made a great performance again and took the first place. Junior French champion, Lily Granjon (Fra, #18) took the second place. Justyna Czapla (Pol, #15) finished third. 

In the Junior Men competition, Nathan Ménard (Fra, #28), the best world ranked skater in this category, got the victory. Despite many penalties and a fall at the end of his run, he was far enough to get the first place. Valerio Degli Agostini (Ita, #52) finished right after him. Federico Morrone (Ita, #36) took the third place.

WOMEN'S JUNIOR TOP-5:

1. Bogdanova Sofia (Rus)

2. Granjon Lily (Fra)

3. Czapla Justyna (Pol)

4. Garcia Patino Alba (Esp)

5. Mazzieri Linda (Ita)

MEN'S JUNIOR TOP-5:

1. Ménard Nathan (Fra)

2. Degli Agostini Valerio (Ita)

3. Morrone Federico (Ita)

4. La Volpe Enrico (Ita)

5. Ferrari Roberto (Ita)

Senior Men's Classic Freestyle Slalom

In the final of the Senior Men category, the 9 strongest Europeans of the world top 20 showed up and the competition level was very high.

Out of the 6 countries represented in this category, the Italians were the most represented, with 6 skaters, then, the French with 5 skaters, then the Russians and Spanish with 3 skaters, and the Polish and the Belgium with 2 and 1 skaters  respectively.

The Timchenko brothers got the Champion and the Vice-Champion titles of the Classic category. It is the second time, after Fort brothers (Speed Slalom, London 2011) that two brothers take two first places at the European Championship. Sergey Timchenko (Rus, #2), after his double victory in the SSO 2014, won the European Freestyle Skating Championships in the Classic category, getting his first international title. All the 5 judges put him on the first place without any doubts in front of his older brother, Alexandr Timchenko (Rus, #8). Michal Sulinowski (Pol, #6) was not so far away from the second place but ended up third. The current world number one, Romain Lebois (Fra) took the fourth place, after two titles in the row in 2012 and 2013. Alexandre Claris (Fra, #5) finished 5th.

MEN'S TOP-5:

1. Timchenko Sergey (Rus)

2. Timchenko Alexandr (Rus)

3. Sulinowski Michal (Pol)

4. Lebois Romain (Fra)

5. Claris Alexandre (Fra)

Senior Women's Classic Freestyle Slalom

In the final of the Senior Women category, the 13 strongest European skaters of the world top 20 were competing for the title of the European Champion. 

Out of the 7 countries represented in this category, the Italians were the most represented, with 6 skaters, then, the Polish and the Russians with 4 skaters, the Ukrainians and French with 2 skaters and Belorussians and Spanish with 1 skater for each country.

Daria Kuznetsova (Rus, #1) confirmed her European Champion title in Classic Freestyle of the last two years. She was the best for all the judges and got the first place. Maryna Boiko (Ukr, #3) finished on the second step of the podium with a strong run, taking advantage of the mistakes of her direct opponents. Olga Semenikhina (Rus, #171), who came back to the competitions after one year break, took the third place. The young Russian skater, Ksenia Dubinchik (Rus, #13) ended up fourth, her best result in an European Championship so far. Klaudia Hartmanis (Pol, #2), who missed too many tricks in her run, finished fifth.

WOMEN'S TOP-5:

1. Kuznetsova Daria (Rus)

2. Boiko Maryna (Ukr)

3. Semenikhina Olga (Rus)

4. Dubinchik Ksenia (Rus)

5. Hatrmanis Klaudia (Pol)

Freestyle Sides

In the Men's Slides final, Aleksey Martsenyuk (Ukr, #139) improved his result from the Europe Championship 2013, where he was a Vice-Champion, and got the victory this time. He did perfectly most of his slides and was leading the whole competition from the beginning to the end. The Europe Champion 2013, Kirill Ryazantsev (Rus, #3) finished on the second step of the podium. Denis Shirobokov (Rus, #8) and Denis Lamtsov (Rus, #48) took the third and the fourth places respectively. 

In the Women's Slides final, Olga Fokina (Rus, #1) got the victory for the third time in a row. Bohdana Hotsko (Esp, #3) became a Vice-Champion of Europe, this is her best result so far. Natalia Krykova (Rus, #2), who did too many mistakes in the pressure of the final, took the third place. Yulia Korolyova (Rus, #7) ended up fourth.

MEN'S TOP-4:

1. Martsenyuk Aleksey (Ukr)

2. Ryazantsev Kirill (Rus)

3. Shirobokov Denis (Rus)

4. Lamtsov Denis (Rus)

WOMEN'S TOP-4:

1. Fokina Olga (Rus)

2. Hotsko Bohdana (Esp)

3. Krykova Natalia (Rus)

4. Korolyova Yulia (Rus)

Day 2 - Speed Slalom

Junior Speed Slalom

The second day of the European Freestyle Skating Championships was dedicated to Speed Slalom. 

In the Junior Women category, Lily Granjon (Fra, #7), who made a best qualification time (5,169 sec), got the victory in front  Justyna Czapla (Pol, #17). Elena Moretto (Ita, #18) won the consolation final against Gaia Parma (Ita, #238).

In the Junior Men category, Eric Zaghini (Ita, #171), made his best result so far, winning the final in front Francesco Galli (Ita, #54); E. Zaghini was the last qualified  in 8th position but beated all the favourites one by one to reach the title and give to Italy the only title of the whole competition. Federico Morrone (Ita, #19) won the small final against Matteo Pallazzi (Ita, #40).

WOMEN'S TOP-4:

1. Granjon Lily (Fra)

2. Czapla Justyna (Pol)

3. Moretto Elena (Ita)

4. Parma Gaia (Ita)

MEN'S TOP-4:

1. Zaghini Eric (Ita)

2. Galli Francesco (Ita)

3. Morrone Federico (Ita)

4. Pallazzi Matteo (Ita)

Senior Men's Speed Slalom

Almost all the TOP-20 was represented in the Senior Men's Speed Slalom competition. Italy was represented most with 19 skaters, then France with 8 skaters, after Russia with 6 skaters, then Spain and Poland with 4 skaters each, Slovakia and Czech Republic (2 skaters) and Switzerland and Estonia with one skater each.

Jimmy Fort (Fra, #36) got the European Champion title for the first time in his career, winning in front the current world number one and European Champion 2013, Simone Nai Oleari (Ita, #1). Yohan Fort (Fra, #38), repeated his result from the last year and got the victory of the consolation final. He won against Savio Brivio (Ita, #3), who showed the best qualification time (4,428 sec) but finished fourth. World Champion 2013, Davide Piacentini (Ita, #32) did the best time of the finals (4,849 sec) but was eliminated by A.Claris (Fra, #4) in the round of 8.

MEN'S TOP-4:

1. Fort Jimmy (Fra)

2. Nai Oleari Simone (Ita)

3. Fort Yohan (Fra)

4. Brivio Savio (Ita)

Senior Women's Speed Slalom

All the strongest skaters from the Women TOP-20 were represented in the Women's Speed Slalom competition. Out of 9 countries, Italy was represented with 12 skaters, France and Russia with 6 skaters each, then Poland with 4 skaters, Ukraine with 3 participants, Spain with two skaters and Ireland, Norway and Slovakia with one skater each. 

The big surprise was that the two main leaders didn't reach the big final of the European Championships. The world number one, Barbara Bossi (Ita) took the third place, winning against Sara Barlocco (Ita, #132). The double European Champion (2012, 2013), Cristina Rotunno (Ita, #2) showed the best qualification time but she lost against Sara Barlocco in the quarter-finals and finished only at the 5th place. Tiffany Derisbourg (Fra, #6) won the European Championship for the first time in her career, this is her best result so far. It's already a very good season for her after her victory in the PSWC and her second place in Lishui. Zoe Granjon (Fra, #3) is the Vice-Champion of Europe. She made the best result in her Speed Slalom career as well. 

WONEN'S TOP-4:

1. Derisbourg Tiffany (Fra)

2. Granjon Zoe (Fra)

3. Bossy Barbara (Ita)

4. Barlocco Sara (Ita)

Day 3 - Freestyle Battle

Men’s Freestyle Battle

For the last day of the European Championships, was scheduled the battle women and men's finals.

In the men's category, there were 63 competitors from 8 countries. Almost all TOP-20 was represented in the Battle competitions. 

The final gathered two Russian, Sergey and Alexandr Timchenko, and two French, Romain Lebois and Alexandre Claris. The fresh Classic European Champion, Sergey Timchenko (Rus, #2) got one more victory and won the Battle final. He is the first Russian to win The European Champion title in the Men's category in a slalom competition. The European Champion 2013 and current world number 1, Romain Lebois (Fra) took the second place. Alexandr Timchenko (Rus, #8) finished on the third step of the podium. Alexandre Claris (Fra, #5), Eurorean Champion 2012, ended up fourth.

MEN'S TOP-5:

1. Timchenko Sergey (Rus)

2. Lebois Romain (Fra)

3. Timchenko Alexandr (Rus)

4. Claris Alexandre (Fra)

Women’s Freestyle Battle

In the women's category, there were 64 competitors from 11 countries. Almost all TOP-20 was represented in the Women's Battle. 

The final gathered two Russian, Daria Kuznetsova and Olga Semenikhina, Polish Klaudia Hartmanis and French Zoé Granjon. The current world number one and the Classic winner, Daria Kuznetsova (Rus) got one more victory and became a double European Champion for the third year in the row. She established a new record, being the only skater to get a double victory 3 years in the row and 6 titles in the European Freestyle Skating Championship's history. Klaudia Hartmanis (Pol, #2) finished right after her on the second step of the podium. Olga Semenikhina (Rus, #171) took one more time the third place, finishing in front Zoé Granjon (Fra, #4) who ended up fourth.

WOMEN'S TOP-4:

1. Kuznetsova Daria (Rus)

2. Hartmanis Klaudia (Pol)

3. Semenikhina Olga (Rus)

4. Granjon Zoe (Fra)

2014 European Freestyle Skating Championships medal table

Check the full results here...