Slutskaya, Plushenko,
Totmianina & Marinin
win European Gold

Irina Slutskaya/Photo by Alberto Romella

Evgeni Plushenko/Photo by Andrew Medichini	Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim Marinin/Photo by Max Pinca

January 29, 2005

Russians Irina Slutskaya, Evgeni Plushenko and pairs Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin won Gold Medals at the European Championships in Turin, Italy.

Slutskaya made a triumphant comeback with her victory.

It was Irina’s sixth European championship and ties her with two all-time greats: Sonja Henie and Katarina Witt.

Irina’s free skate, performed in a dress, lacked some luster when she took a big lead by winning the short a day earlier. Irina did only three triples, fell once and appeared tentative. She couldn’t explain the performance. "You know, that's sport," Slutskaya said. "I'm not a robot."

Julia Sebestyen of Hungary finished fourth, after placing second in the short program, and Elena Sokolova of Russia moved up to fourth after finishing fifth in the short program.

It was Plushenko’s fourth European championship and Totmianina and Marinin’s fourth straight.

Totmianina and Marinin set a personal scoring record in the short program and their overall marks are a career high with the new scoring system.

Plushenko has swept the Grand Prix Final, Russian Nationals and European Championships this season. His next major competition is the World Championships in March. He has skated more than he would have liked this season. “I am tired this year because I have had a lot of competitions. For 10 years I have skated in a lot of competitions,” he said.

Totmianina and Marinin overcame a concussion suffered at Skate America three months ago when Totmianina fell on a lift. They didn’t have any problems in the short or free skate.

It’s the best feeling. We are very happy to be here and for me it is wonderful skating again at a high level after the accident”, Totmianina said.