Out of the blue, 2 days ago I decided to go to the European Figure Skating Championships to see the ice dance finals. It was very unexpected and not on my “to do” list but I always wanted to attend an official skating competition. In the end skating has been in my life long before tennis as both my grandmother and mother loved the sport and followed every competition that was broadcast on TV. Skating evening meant that the whole family would be in front of the TV set watching closely and listening to the comments. However, the moment I wasn’t at home anymore I lost my interest in watching and following the rankings. That was pretty much the same time I started focusing on watching tennis. Still, I felt that this time it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss. In the end ice dancing was my favorite part of a championship and even now I still watch some old dances performed by teams that competed 15 years ago like this one:

So this year I had the opportunity to see live how such a competition takes place. When you watch it so close it is even easier to realize the difference between the first pairs that go on the skating ring, the ones that will hold the last positions in the final rankings, and the ones that fight for a medal. The first teams are quite slow and their dances have nothing that you can call spectacular. They do have a lot of grace, some teams at least, but there is nothing that leaves you breathless. But when the competition reaches its peak and the best of the best enter the skating ring for the warm up, you can actually feel the excitement and the tension that gather around. Some contestants can’t handle this tension and they miss, this is what happened to the Russian pair that was in 2nd place after the short program and unfortunately it made them loose any chance for a medal. I liked the fact that some teams went on the ice and appeared to have fun and just enjoy what they were doing. Only they know how much effort they have to put up with to actually focus on what they have to do and give the impression that it is actually easy. I liked how the Italian team Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri danced to Irish music and, of course, I liked the French team, Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron

Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron

who was the best team by far and the final scores showed it: there was a 9 points difference between the 1st and the 2nd place. There was also a 9 points difference between 2nd and 3rd place, the silver going to Italians Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (defending champions) who had a very expressive dance, and the bronze going to the Russian team of Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin.

What I didn’t like was that the venue was more than half empty. I think that happened because the tickets were extremely expensive. I managed to find some at an acceptable price but honestly now, why have expensive tickets and a half empty venue when you can have cheaper tickets and a full house?

All in all it was a nice experience and a beautiful event to attend. Now I know what it feels like to freeze next to the skating ring while watching the contest. I hope I will do it again one day.