The European Figure Skating Championships are taking place in Kaunas. Today women performed in the short program – according to its results, Belgian figure skater Luna Hendricks took first place by a landslide. Sports tells how, with a rather average performance with an error in the cascade, Hendrix managed to bring her main rival Anastasia Gubanova, representing Georgia, almost six points.
The Belgian is a well-known and experienced young lady with a name, face and her own style. It manifests itself both in costumes, which are emphatically sexual, and in programs that are not very filled with deep meaning, but are invariably danceable. Luna is generally cool, and when she managed to beat our girls in the “pre-February times”, this caused delight and euphoria among many fans and specialists. Quite justified.
Russian athletes were suspended from international competitions, and in front of the moon, it seemed, the autobahn lay straight to the gold of international competitions. No traffic lights, speed bumps or speed limits. But she has not yet taken full advantage of these opportunities. In two years neither the World Championship nor the European Championship were taken. And even the Grand Prix final in the 2022/23 season Hendrix gave to Kaori Sakamoto.
Before this European Championship, the Belgian was positioned as the main favorite. It was her photo that was included in the preview of the tournament on social networks, although the current winner is Anastasia Gubanova. And only after the scandal they published an additional Russian woman. There is a feeling that Hendrix as the winner of the European Championship is very interesting to the organizers. She is in no way compromised by connections with Russia, in addition to the fact that she really performs high-level elements and has good skating skills.
Luna relies on the stability of the elements and what is commonly called mature women's skating. She is pleasant to look at, she knows how to attract the audience with her plasticity and smile, and she moves well. The program to Madonna's music is built on exactly this principle. But at the European Championships, the figure skater did not perform well – until she completed all the jumps, she was very tense. All landings are uncertain, the cascade is under-rotated. Until the dance, which involved flirting with the judges, Luna was not involved in the program in any way. Of all the main rivals, the Belgian was the penultimate one, which means that the referees had options to calculate the final layouts. The figure skater was sincerely surprised by the score of almost 75 points. The coaches, it seems, did too.
Yes, perhaps, she should have won the short program, but with a much smaller margin than what actually happened.
Nothing new happened for figure skating – we have seen it many times something similar involving a wide variety of skaters in a variety of tournaments. Luna was given a comfortable start before her free program. Considering her advantage in component scores over Anastasia Gubanova and compatriot Nina Pinzarrone, this gives the right to make a couple of mistakes in the free program and remain first.
It’s a shame, considering that Hendricks is a really strong skater, capable of winning without the support of judges . Especially when there is such a contact fight for medals at the championship.
The free program will take place on Saturday, January 13.
The author’s opinion may not coincide with the position of the editors
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