Gabriele Frangipani showed a very good performance. © APA/afp / DANIEL MIHAILESCU

Strong short program: Frangipani gets a taste of the European Championship medal

The European Figure Skating Championships in Kaunas (Lithuania) opened on Wednesday. Right from the start, three South Tyrolean men were in action in the short program. Gabriele Frangipani was particularly convincing.

10 January 2024

From: leo

The 22-year-old put in strong performances this season with 5th and 6th places at the two Grand Prix events in Asia and therefore went into the race with a lot of self-confidence. The top 10 spot he was aiming for is more than within reach after the short program.

The man from Bolzano, who took 10th place at last year's European Championships, only made a mistake once: namely when he only showed three turns instead of four in a Salchow. Otherwise he ran his program as desired. He was awarded 83,51 points for this. This is just below his best score (87.39). This placed him in fourth place - ahead of Italian hopeful Matteo Rizzo, who fell short of expectations with 4 points. The lead after the short program is held by Frenchman Adam Siao Him Fa (80,43) ahead of Swiss Lukas Britschgi (94,13) and Aleksandr Selevko from Estonia (91,17).

Maurizio Zandron starts for Austria. © APA/afp / DANIEL MIHAILESCU

In addition to Frangipani, two other South Tyroleans, Maurizio Zandron and Jari Kessler, were in action. The 31-year-old Zandron, who competes for Austria, just qualified for the free skate in 22nd place (65,47). However, Kessler, who plays for Croatia, missed this with a score of 62,44. Kevin Aymoz caused a big surprise. The Frenchman was one of the hottest contenders for a medal, but came second to last and therefore has to watch the free skate.


The result of the short program