Colours of the Europeans: from Ondrej Nepela to Javier Fernández

If you’re looking for the champion, you came to the right place: we’re in Ostravar Arena, on January 28, and Javier Fernández has just been crowned European champion for the fifth time in a row – a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since Ondrej Nepela did it, between 1969 and 1973. The Spaniard making history for his country, and for the sport altogether – well, that itself might be enough for our story, any story, but the men’s event at 2017 Europeans also featured a couple of more “firsts”: Maxim Kovtun finally “breaking the barrier” and putting together a great set of programs, and not just one, as it had happened so often before; and Mikhail Kolyada winning the first big medal of his career, the European bronze. But apart from the big stories, there are tons of little ones that are worth knowing about; read them all in our detailed recap of the men’s event at this year’s edition of the Europeans.

by Florentina Tone/Ostrava

That’s right, it’s him, it’s Javier Fernández, future five-time European champion. Of course, we don’t know that yet: it’s late evening on January 24, the men’s practice has just ended, Javier looks tired and jet-lagged; still, he finds time to chat and smile to his fans in Ostravar Arena; and because selfies are somehow difficult to take (you’ll notice why when seeing the pictures), he takes the fans’ phones himself and captures the moments. There’s a certain air of joy in the arena – and enthusiasm, anticipation: the 2017 Europeans will debut the following day.

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For the second story of our series we don’t need to go that far: it’s January 27, the men’s short program is under way, and Latvia’s Deniss Vasiljevs is ready to open group 5 of competitors, skating to “Voodoo Child” by Stevie Ray Vaughan. And he does open the group, and the ball, in grand style, while attentively watched from the boards by his coach and choreographer, Stéphane Lambiel.

And, luckily, from where I stand, I can see them both: a festival of movements – because while Deniss performs his wild, rock routine, Stéphane seems to do exactly the same. He jumps and bangs his head in the air, and watches the end of the program from behind a flock of black hair. Deniss had just skated a beauty of a short program, the 6th of the day in terms of scores, one that will allow him to enter the lions’ group the following day. During the draw for the free skate, they’ll be all smiles, Deniss and Stéphane – a terrific start of their first Europeans as a team.

But first there’s Deniss and his reactions in the mixed zone, right after his skate: “When I compare myself today and the Deniss in Bratislava one year ago, I must say I was more worried before the short program now. That is true. I felt responsibility, I wanted to show something special, to bring joy to the people. In the end, it was amazing. I love the ice here, the atmosphere is also great. It is a big pleasure to perform here. I changed my coach and I grew up; I am more serious, focused… We managed to recover from the injury completely and now the goal is to do my best”.

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Mikhail Kolyada’s short program, to “Nightingale Tango” and “John Grey” (the so-familiar foxtrot), had everything you could have wished for: colours, fun, enthusiasm – except for the Axel. And the skater’s disappointment was clearly visible in the mixed zone: “That [singling the Axel] hasn’t happened to me in a long time, not in practice, not in competition. It is a big shame and unforgivable at this level. I expected more from myself”.

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Just this: Jorik Hendrickx’s short program, to “Broken Vow” performed by Josh Groban, is a joy to the eyes. Too bad you can’t rewatch it (with sound) on youtube due to a copyright claim. But here’s a good exercise for everyone, us at Inside Skating included: watch it even without music – Jorik has progressed so much in the last couple of seasons that he has now the capacity (and talent) to move the audience even when skating to silence.

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A bubble of joy – that was Alexander Majorov’s skate to „Tuli palo hongan juurela” and the remix of “Leva’s Polka”. Not a single movement was spared during the performance, and he truly took the crowd with him in his journey. He’ll acknowledge the support in the mixed zone, right after the short program: “The audience was with me, basically from warm-up and then through the whole program. I have changed the intro a little bit, just because I wanted to get a better connection with audience, and I am glad it paid off”.

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“At the end of the program I just wanted to hug Inna Goncharenko and carry her to the Kiss and Cry”, Maxim Kovtun will say laughing in the press conference after the short program. The enthusiasm was clearly understandable: in the fifth Europeans of his career, the 21-year-old pulled off a great short program, to “Bahamut” by Hazmat Modine”, one that was equally loaded with character and high technical content. In the end, he was happy, just happy: “I think today I was not so much focused on the responsibility and the pressure. I was more relaxed, I didn’t pay attention to things like: I forgot something in the room or in my bag, or I didn’t put the right foot first. I didn’t pay attention to these details – I just focused and enjoyed my performance, and wanted to give a celebration to the fans and people watching”. It was a celebration for him too: Maxim scored a personal best in Ostrava, 94.53 points for his SP, one allowing him to enter the free skate as the runner-up.

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And here’s a story you usually don’t want to see or hear at competition, any competition: airlines losing the luggage, y compris the skates, of athletes. A fact like that can ruin one’s event – and in Daniel Samohin’s case it did just that. But the way the Israeli skater tried to handle the misfortune clearly showed guts and determination.

We’ll start with the end: Daniel had a terrible short program at Europeans. 7th last year in Bratislava and the current World Junior champion, he didn’t even qualify for the free skate in Ostrava. And now here’s the story behind it, as told by his teammate, Alexei Bychenko, at the press conference after SP: “What happened today with Daniel was a sad story, the airline lost his luggage on the way to European Championships, and all the time he was here he didn’t get the luggage back, so this was really bad for him. But this guy is really crazy – crazy in a good way: he tried to skate yesterday with a totally new pair of boots. He ordered a new pair of boots, new blades, he tried, I saw him in practice… But it was a disaster because he couldn’t even do normal crossovers, his legs were shaking all the time, he was really uncomfortable. But today I know his brother brought him his skates, his brother’s skates, and he tried to skate with them because they have the same size. They have same company, same blades, everything was the same. So Daniel tried to use those skates during practice. I saw his practice in the morning, and it wasn’t that bad. But it was still very hard for him to fight. I’m impressed that he tried to skate with them today, and do the best he could do – because these are a totally new pair of boots. If you asked me what I would have done on that moment, probably I would have gone home. So I just applaud this guy [for trying] and I hope he’ll have many wins in the following time. I believe this will not destroy him. He is a strong guy, he will do better”.

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And when Michal Březina takes the ice for his short program, you can’t hear a thing, that big is the noise in Ostravar Arena. And when Michal hits a gorgeous triple Axel in the warm-up, the enthusiasm goes through the roof. You can almost feel it – and tens of little girls and boys prepare their flags and plushy toys for when he’ll end the routine. He’s slick and elegant, Michal, while skating to “The Way You Look Tonight” – a solid, fluid, beautiful performance… until that fall on the triple Axel. The disappointment is huge – both on his face and in the audience; and you really feel for this skater who has the talent and abilities to be on the podium of big competitions; he’s just not broken the barrier yet.

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Alexei Bychenko does the exact opposite – he pulls a great short program, worthy of the 2016 European silver medalist. “I felt great on the ice today. I did exactly what I had expected. My goal is always to show the best I can”, he’ll say in the mixed zone right after the skate.

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As for Javier Fernández, he is the highlight of the entire men’s SP – as you’d expected, as he’d himself expected. “This was the first clean short program of the season”, he’ll proudly say in the mixed zone, one that got him 104.25 points in Ostrava. But since he’s one of the most realistic, feet on the ground skaters out there, Javier will add in a second: “Half of the work is done. But I’ve seen skaters that were 10 points ahead, and then they were not first after the free program. I cannot relax and I need to deliver a good performance [in the free]”.

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At the draw for the free skate, some skaters are glowing – take Estonia’s Daniel Albert Naurits, for example, who caught the last qualifying spot (24th after SP) – while others are tired (Javier) or simply upset (Michal). And then there is one who gets the applause of everyone in the room after drawing the number no one wants: Switzerland’s Stephane Walker will open the free skate. And he doesn’t seem thrilled at all.

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A particular question during the press conference – concerning Javier Fernández’s victories at the Europeans so far: the first one, the hardest one… – will give the Spaniard the chance to joyously dig into his memories. “This is my 10th European, by the way. It took me 4 years to win it. No, wait, 6 years! My math is not so well”. He laughs heartily, and so are we, while he continues: “You do the math, I’ll do the skating!”. As for the hardest one, “I will say the first one, and also repeat the first time. That was hard, and also I was a bit nervous because I had expectations… The second one was harder, I think. But it’s not an easy competition altogether”.

And because we are really doing the math here, the competition in Ostrava was, in fact, Javier’s 11th Europeans: he first took part in it in 2007, in Warsaw, Poland, not very far from where we are, and finished the short program on the 28th place. Him not advancing to the free skate might be one of the reasons he wanted to forget about it. Javier was 15 back then – and that year, the continental crown went to Brian Joubert.

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And here’s another question that puts all skaters at the table – Javier Fernández, Maxim Kovtun, Alexei Bychenko – into difficulty: their memories of each other, if any. They listen, and then suddenly burst into laughing. That’s a tricky question, all of us in the room agree. Javier starts, looking at Maxim: “I still remember Maxim from when he didn’t have any tattoos. We skated together in Russia, so we had a lot of fun together”. Maxim takes the story even further – and he does that while laughing heartily: “Well, I had just moved from my small town to Moscow to skate in Nikolai Morozov’s group, and there was Javi, I didn’t really know him until then. So I met him and got to know him and his skating, and they put us in one room right away, and I didn’t speak a word of English. And I always wanted to ask him something, and he didn’t understand, but I was trying to say it altogether. With time, it got better and I learned something, and, actually, he spoke better Russian than I spoke English”.

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…and suddenly a ball appears in the press conference room – and Javier shows off his (other) skills; after all, he comes from Spain, a country that loves (or should we say adores?) football.

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The two Javiers of Spain, Raya and Fernández, share a picture and a smile. And you can find the proper version of this picture on Javier Raya’s instagram account…

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Georgia’s Moris Kvitelashvili is definitely a skater to watch the following years, with wonderful acting qualities. Have you seen his free skate in Ostrava? He seemed to thoroughly enjoy his debut at the Europeans. And we’ll clearly enjoy his presence more than we might have, had he decided to stay in Russia. He’ll tell the story himself to the journalists in the mixed zone: “My parents are from Georgia, but [they] emigrated to Russia in 1993 and I was born in Moscow. The competition inside Russia is very strong and it is tough to get through. I suggested that I could skate for Georgia and we decided it with my coaches at the end of December 2015. I contacted the Georgian Federation and they welcomed me warmly”. And then, after the free skate: „Now I have the opportunity to compete more, and do not feel pressure to be selected. It was hard emotionally to handle the internal competition in the Russian team”.

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Mikhail Kolyada going for the quadruple Lutz in his free skate in Ostrava – now that is something that he can be proud of. No European skater has yet landed a clean one in competition, so props to him for trying. In the press conference later on, Russia’s national champion will explain: “To be honest, it is a big risk to do the quad Lutz in the program when it is not so consistent in practice. But I think you have to risk it, and if you don’t try it in competition, it won’t work”.

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Jorik Hendrickx finished the 6th Europeans of his career on the 4th place – a remarkable feat and his best ranking so far. And he did that without having yet a quadruple jump in his arsenal – so that says a lot about his skating skills, abilities, natural talent. And the truth is Jorik produced two wonderful programs in Ostrava… and he is also working on his quads at home. „I am really happy that I could demonstrate good skating in both short and free programs. This is my maximum of what I can show now as I am not doing a quad yet in competition. I am working really hard on quad toe and Sal, but it is not there yet. It is still very risky to put it into competition context”, he said in the mixed zone.
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Javier Fernández is a cat – I might have told that myself at the end of his Elvis Presley free skate in Ostravar Arena. And a true character, since he carried on with the routine, and pulled it through, despite one of his worst falls in competition, as he later described it. The music might have helped him too: it is clearly addictive, making the entire program addictive, and giving the Spaniard resources of energy even when you’d think he had none left.

In the end, you could just adapt that line from Elvis’ song „Trouble”, to make it suitable for the five-time-in-a-row king of Europe: „If you’re looking for… the champion, you came to the right place”. And the champion stayed humble after the skate: „It was definitely not the best free skate of the season. It is hard to chase your season bests and records all the time even if we want it. I did not think I would fall that hard. After you fall, it takes a second until you set up your mind back and you go on with the other elements. I am just a normal skater, not a machine”. And then: “Yesterday I said I want to do a personal best. I didn’t do that, but I still fought from the beginning to the end even after the fall. […] I’m saving it for Worlds, I guess. I’ll keep training hard to deliver a better performance”.

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In the end, it was Maxim Kovtun who delivered a great skate to “Iron Sky” by Paolo Nutini, posting a personal best in the process, 172.27 points, and winning his third consecutive medal at the Europeans. But was this silver any different from the medals before? Well, yes, Maxim will tell that himself. The whole competition was different from the previous ones: “I enjoyed skating both programs – that happened to me for the first time in my career”.

He’ll thoroughly explain it in the press conference later on: “I am really happy for today because I feel I broke the barrier between the two programs. Many times before I did one program good and the second one was so bad, and I didn’t know why. But we worked on the ice, and I also started to work with a mental coach. And something inside now, I think, improved. My coach is also happy about it, so today is a good day”.

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And now let us show you some other joyful remainders of the day – the day Javier Fernández won his fifth European title. In a row. That’s a detail you’re not allowed to forget.

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There’s joy and there’s relief in the press conference room once the competition is over – and we’ll end our recap with that. With them. The medalists of the 2017 Europeans: Javier Fernández: gold, Maxim Kovtun: silver, Mikhail Kolyada: bronze.

…and there’s a grateful Javier Fernández for not having sustained a worse injury, though his fall on the quad Salchow was pretty hard. He’ll say: “I thought I was landing the jump, but then my skate just stopped in the ice. And I was kinda of half twisted: half of my body was looking one way, and my other half the other way. And I just hit hard this [right] side of my hip and my rib. It is skating, it’s sports: sometimes you fall and hurt yourself, sometimes you fall and you don’t. I think it was one of my worst falls in a competition. But, I don’t know, I’am still in one piece, so… I say Thank you for that”.

And then there’s this: a funny yet relevant pose for the photographers in the room. Old guys with old pains… only the youngest one has no pain, and laughs heartily. No better way to end the day.

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And if you’re somehow wondering why we published the #Eurostories under this particular hat, „Colours of the Europeans”, you might want to know that the city of Ostrava is proudly hosting every year a festival called exactly like that, Colours of Ostrava – the biggest international music festival in Czech Republic. In 2017, Colours will be held from July 19 to 22, with guests like Norah Jones, Nouvelle Vague, Jamiroquai.

FURTHER READING

Colours of the Europeans: red. Carolina Kostner’s comeback: the heart, the joy, the journey

Colours of the Europeans: two doves in Ostravar Arena

Colours of the Europeans: the light, the glam, the silence

A happy boy in Budapest: Javier Fernandez

2015 Europeans: with every year, Javier Fernandez gives Spain more reasons to celebrate

Javier Fernández: “Being World champion doesn’t really change anything in me”

The Big Moments of the Worlds in Boston – and the little (but relevant) stories among them