SportsLine wire reports
Jan. 27, 1999

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- The late withdrawal of defending champions Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze didn't end Russian hopes to sweep the European Figure Skating Championships for the third consecutive year.

Russian silver medalists Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov seized the opening and extended their country's 38-year European medal streak in the pairs' competition with a strong, synchronized free skate at the European Championships.

Poland's Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Suidek finished second, the first Polish pair since 1934 to win a medal at the Europeans. Sarah Abitbol and Stephane Bernadis of France placed third.

THE WINNING RUSSIAN TEAM wasn't as fast, or as polished as the Russians who had won the title before them. But skating to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, the pair nailed side-by-side triple toe loops in unison at the start of the program, then kept pace with a pair of throw triple moves that demonstrated their power. In each instance, Petrova completed the spins midair, allowing her to land softly.

Remarkably, the pair has only been together since June 15.

"To become a good couple, a great couple, we need minimum one year," Tikhonov said, acknowledging that it was the absence of Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze that provided them with the chance to win.

"For me, they are the best skaters in the world, and we are very sorry they didn't skate. We've been very lucky, and fortune smiled on us tonight."

THE DEFENDING CHAMPIONS AND Olympic silver medalists withdrew only two hours before the competition after Berezhnaya was diagnosed with the flu.

Leading after the short, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze were virtually assured a repeat title. And even after they withdrew, Petrova and Tikhonov, fifth after the short, were long shots to leapfrog the three remaining couples to the gold.

Germany's Peggy Schwarz and Mirko Mueller, however, handed them the opportunity by falling early in their program. Schwarz, who won a bronze at the 1988 Europeans in Prague with another partner, fell on the side-by-side double axels, stumbled during step, then collapsed on the death spiral.

Petrova and Tikhonov's victory puts the Russians on course to repeat their medal sweep for the third year running. Three Russian women led the qualifying round Wednesday, the Russian men are one, two and three going into Thursday's final, and Russian champions Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov topped the dance standings after the compulsory Ravensburger Waltz and Tango Romantica.

BUT THE FLU, WHICH HAS FORCED officials to close schools in and around Prague to keep the virus from spreading, may turn out to be the real wild card in these championships.

A British woman and Czech pair have already dropped out of competition, and talk of yet more competitors and judges suffering flu symptoms also circulated the stadium.

After the women's qualifying skate, Russia's Viktoria Volchkova said she had a fever as she left the ice, though she had skated strongly enough to finish second in her group, behind defending champion and teammate Maria Butyrskaya.

Tamara Moskvina, coach for Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, said Berezhnaya's flu came on without warning Tuesday morning. "We are used to competing at all cost," she said. "But we didn't think it appropriate to put her health at risk."

EARLIER WEDNESDAY, BUTYRSKAYA OPENED the women's qualifying round, having drawn the disdained first slot from a field of 35 skaters.

By 11 a.m., the Russian had completed an elegant long program in the qualifying round, hours before most elite skaters' circadian clocks are set to deliver championship performances.

"I didn't know where I was, if I was in a dream," Butyrskaya said.