A generous Italian squad, made of no less than 14 skaters, is heading to Minsk, Belarus, to this year’s edition of the Europeans in an attempt to bring back medals: three dance teams, two pairs, two ladies and two men.
The highest chances to do so belong to the Grand Prix Final bronze medalists Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri – with their tango full of character and beautiful free dance to music from „La La Land”, plus their technical mastery, they’re ready to take Minsk-Arena by storm.
16 year-old Daniel Grassl will be making one of the most expected debuts in the men’s event, and we already know Matteo Rizzo, the revelation of 2018 Europeans, is capable of wonderful things.
Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise have had a great first half of the season – two silver medals in the GP circuit and an overall 5th place at the Grand Prix Final in Vancouver – and they’ll definitely fight for a medal in the pairs event.
Missing from Minsk is La Regina Carolina Kostner – but two young ladies are waiting to make their first appearance at the Europeans, and follow into Carolina’s footsteps.
Let’s meet them all, shall we?
Ladies and gentlemen, Italy’s representatives at 2019 European Figure Skating Championships.
ICE DANCE
Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri (2019 Italian national champions)
Jasmine Tessari and Francesco Fioretti (2nd at Italian Nationals)
Carolina Moscheni and Andrea Fabbri (3rd at Italian Nationals)
Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri
RD: Miedo a la Libertad by Tanghetto, La Chanson des vieux amants performed by Kantango,
Tanos by Lino Cannavacciuvolo
FD: La La Land medley
Jasmine Tessari and Francesco Fioretti
RD: Tango to Evora, Poeta en el Mar by Vicente Amigo
FD: Hymne à l’amour performed by Patricia Kaas
Carolina Moscheni and Andrea Fabbri
RD: Vuelvo al sur by Juan Caceres, Epoca by Gotan Project, Assassin’s Tango by John Powell
FD: Charms, Dance For Me Wallis (from „W.E.” soundtrack) by Abel Korzeniowski, Bound to You by Christina Aguilera
MEN
Daniel Grassl (2019 Italian national champion)
Matteo Rizzo (2nd at Italian Nationals)
Daniel Grassl
SP: Rain, In Your Black Eyes by Ezio Bosso
FS: Dance Pieces by Philip Glass
Matteo Rizzo
SP: Volare performed by Luca Longobardi
FS: Rolling Stones medley (first half of the season), Queen medley (starting with Europeans)
PAIRS
Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise (2019 Italian national champions)
Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (2nd at Italian Nationals)
Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise
SP: Never Tear Us Apart by Joe Cocker
FS: Tristan and Isolde by Maxime Rodriguez
Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini
SP: El Tango de Roxanne performed by The Police
FS: Bonnie and Clyde (musical soundtrack)
LADIES
With the gold and silver medalists at Italian Nationals still in juniors (Alessia Tornaghi and Lucrezia Beccari), two other Italian ladies will travel to Minsk, for this year’s edition of the Europeans: Lara Naki Gutmann (3rd at Italian Nationals) and Lucrezia Gennaro (5th at Italian Nationals)
Lara Naki Gutmann
SP: Mary Poppins (from Saving Mr. Banks soundtrack) by Thomas Newman
FS: The Storm by Havasi
Lucrezia Gennaro
SP: Fifty Shades of Grey by Beyonce
FS: Dracula by Wojcjech Kilar (photos below)
[All photos were taken by Alberto Ponti at Italian Nationals in Trento, in December 2018]
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