1972 European Figure Skating Championships
Introduction The '''1972 European Figure Skating Championships''' was a senior-level international competition held at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden on January 11–15.Elite senior-level figure skaters from European ISU member nations competed for the title of European Champion in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.
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.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 in the CF and the FS too. Sergey Chetverukhin finished second in CF and 3rd in FS, who skated with powerful, and elegance but fell on a triple salchow attempt. Patrick Péra won the bronze medal with no triples at all after he finished 3rd in the CF and 4th in the FS.. Yuriy Ovchinnikov placed second in the free skating but was unable to move up to the podium after placing 7th in the CF.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 skating. 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 skating with a performance for which she received a 6.0 mark for artistic impression.In the pairs event, Irina Rodnina / Aleksey Ulanov also successfully defended their title in spite of some small mistakes. Lyudmila Smirnova / Andrey Suraykin 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 thrown double axels in their free skating, 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.The dance event was the only discipline in which the title changed hands, as Angelika and Erich Buck unseated the defending champions Lyudmila Pakhomova / Aleksandr 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.
Results ===Men=== Rank Name Places '''1''' Ondrej Nepela  '''2''' Sergey Chetverukhin  '''3''' Patrick Péra  4 Haig Oundjian  5 John Curry  6 Vladimir Kovalyov  7 Yuriy Ovchinnikov  8 Didier Gailhaguet  9 Daniel Höner  10 Zdeněk Pazdírek  11 Bernd Wunderlich  12 Josef Schneider  13 Stefano Bargauan  14 László Vajda  15 Harald Kuhn  16 Günther Hilgarth  17 Gordon Andison  18 György Fazekas  19 Pekka Leskinen  20 Peter Augustovič  21 Thomas Öberg  22 Zoran Matas  23 John Ferdinandsen  WD Günter Zöller  DNS===Ladies=== Rank Name Places '''1''' Beatrix Schuba  '''2''' Rita Trapanese  '''3''' Sonja Morgenstern  4 Zsuzsa Almássy  30 5 Christine Errath  6 Charlotte Walter  7 Jean Scott  8 Maria McLean  9 Dianne de Leeuw  10 Yelena Aleksandrova  11 Isabel de Navarre  12 Liana Drahová  13 Gerti Schanderl  14 Anita Johansson  15 Karin Iten  16 Cinzia Frosio  17 Sonja Balun  18 Urszula Zielińska  19 Hana Knapová  20 Marie-Claude Bierre  21 Steffi Knoll  22 Iris Ebenwaldner  23 Marina Sanaya  24 Donna Walter  25 Helena Gazvoda  26 Manuela Bertelè  27 Liv Egelund  28 Kirsten Frikke ===Pairs=== Rank Name Places '''1''' Irina Rodnina / Aleksey Ulanov  '''2''' Lyudmila Smirnova / Andrey Suraykin  '''3''' Manuela Groß / Uwe Kagelmann  4 Almut Lehmann / Herbert Wiesinger  5 Annette Kansy / Axel Salzmann  6 Irina Chernyayeva / Vasiliy Blagov  7 Marlies Radunsky / Rolf Österreich  8 Grażyna Osmańska / Adam Brodecki  9 Corinna Halke / Eberhard Rausch  10 Linda Connolly / Colin Taylforth  11 Florence Cahn / Jean-Roland Racle  12 Teresa Skrzek / Piotr Szczypa  13 Gabriele Cieplik / Reinhard Ketterer  14 Karin Künzle / Christian Künzle  15 Ursula Nemec / Michael Nemec  16 Pascale Kovelmann / Jean-Pierre Rondel  17 Miroslava Sáblíková / Pavel Komárek  18 Jayne Torvill / Michael Hutchinson ===Ice dance=== Rank Name Places '''1''' Angelika Buck / Erich Buck  '''2''' Lyudmila Pakhomova / Aleksandr Gorshkov  '''3''' Janet Sawbridge / Peter Dalby  4 Hilary Green / Glynn Watts  5 Tetyana Voytyuk / Vyacheslav Zhyhalyn  6 Yelena Zharkova / Gennadiy Karponosov  7 Diana Skotnická / Martin Skotnický  8 Rosalind Druce / David Barker  9 Teresa Weyna / Piotr Bojańczyk  10 Anne-Claude Wolfers / Roland Mars  11 Krisztina Regőczy / András Sallay  12 Matilde Ciccia / Lamberto Ceserani  13 Sylvia Fuchs / Michael Fuchs  14 Ewa Kołodziej / Tadeusz Góra  15 Brigitte Scheijbal / Walter Leschetizky  16 Silvia Bodmer / Beat Steib  17 Astrid Kopp / Axel Kopp  18 Světlana Marinovová / Miloš Buršík  19 Vivi Poulsen / Kurt Poulsen
References
External links *  results