1972 European Figure Skating Championships

1972 European Championships
Type:	ISU Championship
Season:	1971-1972
Location:	Gothenburg
Champions
Men's singles: Ondrej Nepela
Ladies' singles: Beatrix Schuba
Pair skating: Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov
Ice dancing: Angelika Buck / Erich Buck
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The 1972 European Figure Skating Championships were the European Figure Skating Championships of the 1971-1972 season. Elite senior-level figure skaters from European ISU member nations competed for the title of European Champion. Skaters competed in the disciplines of ladies' singles,^[1] men's singles,^[2] pair skating,^[3] and ice dancing.^[4]

In 1972, the European Championships were held at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden, from January 11–15.

Overview

The 1970 European bronze medalist, Günter Zöller, arrived in Gothenburg with the East German team but withdrew before the start of the event after going to the West German embassy to defect.^[5][6]

In the men's event, the top three after the compulsory figures held their placements for the medals. Ondrej Nepela completed triple salchow and toe loop jumps and finished first ahead of Sergei Chetverukhin, who skated with power, flow, and elegance but fell on a triple salchow attempt. Patrick Péra won the bronze medal with no triples at all. Yuri Ovchinnikov placed second in the free skate but was unable to move up to the podium after placing seventh in figures.^[7]

The ladies' title was again won by defending champion Beatrix Schuba, who built up such an overwhelming lead in the compulsory figures that she won by a huge margin despite placing 5th in the free skate. Afterwards a German newspaper mocked her as the "Champion Without a Double Axel". Rita Trapanese took the silver medal, while Sonja Morgenstern moved up to bronze medal position after winning the free skate with a performance for which she received a 6.0 mark for artistic impression.^[7]

In the pairs event, Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov also successfully defended their title in spite of some small mistakes. Liudmila Smirnova / Andrei Suraikin won the silver with a performance that was considered more artistic, if less difficult, than that of the winners. The third-place team, Manuela Groß / Uwe Kagelmann, included two throw double axels in their free skate, which at that time was one of the most difficult elements attempted by pair skaters, and unusual enough to draw comment. As Gross was only 14 years old at this time while her partner Kagelmann was a tall grown man of 21, they were one of the first of what later became known as "one-and-a-half" or "flea-and-gorilla" pair teams.^[7][8]

The dance event was the only discipline in which the title changed hands, as Angelika and Erich Buck unseated the defending champions Lyudmila Pakhomova / Alexander Gorshkov. The bronze medal went to the veteran British competitor Janet Sawbridge, now skating with Peter Dalby. It was Sawbridge's sixth medal at the European championships, achieved with three different partners.^[7]

Results

Men

Rank	Name	Nation
1	Ondrej Nepela	Czechoslovakia
2	Sergei Chetverukhin	Soviet Union
3	Patrick Péra	France
4	Haig Oundjian	United Kingdom
5	John Curry	United Kingdom
6	Vladimir Kovalev	Soviet Union
7	Yuri Ovchinnikov	Soviet Union
8	Didier Gailhaguet	France
9	Daniel Höner	Switzerland
10	Zdeněk Pazdírek	Czechoslovakia
11	Bernd Wunderlich	East Germany
12	Josef Schneider	Austria
13	Stefano Bargauan	Italy
14	László Vajda	Hungary
15	Harald Kuhn	West Germany
16	Günther Hilgarth	Austria
17	Gordon Andison	United Kingdom
18	Gheorghe Fazekas	Romania
19	Pekka Leskinen	Finland
20	Peter Augustovic	Czechoslovakia
21	Thomas Öberg	Sweden
22	Zoran Matas	Yugoslavia
23	John Ferdinandsen	Denmark
WD	Günter Zöller	East Germany

Ladies

Rank	Name	Nation
1	Beatrix Schuba	Austria
2	Rita Trapanese	Italy
3	Sonja Morgenstern	East Germany
4	Zsuzsa Almássy	Hungary
5	Christine Errath	East Germany
6	Charlotte Walter	Switzerland
7	Jean Scott	United Kingdom
8	Maria McLean	United Kingdom
9	Dianne de Leeuw	Netherlands
10	Elena Alexandrova	Soviet Union
11	Isabel de Navarre	West Germany
12	Liana Drahová	Czechoslovakia
13	Gerti Schanderl	West Germany
14	Anita Johansson	Sweden
15	Karin Iten	Switzerland
16	Cinzia Frosio	Italy
17	Sonja Balun	Austria
18	Urszula Zielińska	Poland
19	Hana Knapova	Czechoslovakia
20	Marie-Claude Bierre	France
21	Steffi Knoll	East Germany
22	Iris Ebenwaldner	Austria
23	Marina Sanaya	Soviet Union
24	Donna Walter	Switzerland
25	Helena Gazvoda	Yugoslavia
26	Manuele Bertele	Italy
27	Liv Egelund	Norway
28	Kirsten Frikke	Denmark

Pairs

Rank	Name	Nation
1	Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov	Soviet Union
2	Liudmila Smirnova / Andrei Suraikin	Soviet Union
3	Manuela Groß / Uwe Kagelmann	East Germany
4	Almut Lehmann / Herbert Wiesinger	West Germany
5	Annett Kansy / Axel Salzmann	East Germany
6	Irina Cherniaeva / Vasili Blagov	Soviet Union
7	Marlies Radunsky / Rolf Österreich	East Germany
8	Grażyna Osmańska / Adam Brodecki	Poland
9	Corinna Halke / Eberhard Rausch	West Germany
10	Linda Connolly / Colin Taylforth	United Kingdom
11	Florence Cahn / Jean-Roland Racle	France
12	Teresa Skrzek / Piotr Sczypa	Poland
13	Gabriele Cieplik / Reinhard Ketterer	West Germany
14	Karin Künzle / Christian Künzle	Switzerland
15	Ursula Nemec / Michael Nemec	Austria
16	Pascale Kovelmann / Jean-Pierre Rondel	France
17	Miroslava Sablikova / Pavel Komarek	Czechoslovakia
18	Jayne Torvill / Michael Hutchinson	United Kingdom

Ice dancing

Rank	Name	Nation
1	Angelika Buck / Erich Buck	West Germany
2	Liudmila Pakhomova / Alexander Gorshkov	Soviet Union
3	Janet Sawbridge / Peter Dalby	United Kingdom
4	Hilary Green / Glyn Watts	United Kingdom
5	Tatiana Voitiuk / Viacheslav Zhigalin	Soviet Union
6	Elena Zharkova / Gennadi Karponosov	Soviet Union
7	Diana Skotnická / Martin Skotnický	Czechoslovakia
8	Rosalind Druce / David Barker	United Kingdom
9	Teresa Weyna / Piotr Bojanczyk	Poland
10	Anne-Claude Wolfers / Roland Mars	France
11	Krisztina Regőczy / András Sallay	Hungary
12	Matilde Ciccia / Lamberto Ceserani	Italy
13	Sylvia Fuchs / Michael Fuchs	West Germany
14	Ewa Kolodziej / Tadeusz Góra	Poland
15	Brigitte Scheijbal / Walter Leschetizky	Austria
16	Sylvia Bodmer / Beat Steib	Switzerland
17	Astrid Kopp / Axel Kopp	West Germany
18	Svetlana Marinovova / Milos Bursik	Czechoslovakia
19	Vivi Poulsen / Kurt Poulsen	Denmark

References

• results