1972 European Figure Skating Championships

1972 European Championships
Type:	ISU Championship
Season:	1971-72
Location:	Gothenburg, Sweden
Champions
Men's singles: Ondrej Nepela
Ladies' singles: Beatrix Schuba
Pair skating: Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov
Ice dance: Angelika Buck / Erich Buck
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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,^[1] ladies' singles,^[2] pair skating,^[3] and ice dancing.^[4]

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 skating 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 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.^[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 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.^[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	CF	FS
1	Ondrej Nepela	Czechoslovakia	1	1
2	Sergei Chetverukhin	Soviet Union	2	3
3	Patrick Péra	France	3	4
4	Haig Oundjian	United Kingdom
5	John Curry	United Kingdom
6	Vladimir Kovalev	Soviet Union
7	Yuri Ovchinnikov	Soviet Union	7	2
8	Didier Gailhaguet	France
9	Daniel Höner	Switzerland
10	Zdeněk Pazdírek	Czechoslovakia
11	Bernd Wunderlich	East Germany
12		Austria
13	Stefano Bargauan	Italy
14	László Vajda	Hungary
15		West Germany
16		Austria
17		United Kingdom
18	Gheorghe Fazekas	Romania
19	Pekka Leskinen	Finland
20		Czechoslovakia
21	Thomas Öberg	Sweden
22		Yugoslavia
23		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		Poland
19	Hana Knapová	Czechoslovakia
20	Marie-Claude Bierre	France
21		East Germany
22		Austria
23	Marina Sanaya	Soviet Union
24		Switzerland
25		Yugoslavia
26		Italy
27		Norway
28		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	Annette Kansy / Axel Salzmann	East Germany
6	Irina Cherniaeva / Vasili Blagov	Soviet Union
7	/ 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	/ Reinhard Ketterer	West Germany
14	Karin Künzle / Christian Künzle	Switzerland
15	Ursula Nemec / Michael Nemec	Austria
16	/	France
17	/	Czechoslovakia
18	Jayne Torvill /	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	/	United Kingdom
9	Teresa Weyna / Piotr Bojanczyk	Poland
10	/	France
11	Krisztina Regőczy / András Sallay	Hungary
12	Matilde Ciccia / Lamberto Ceserani	Italy
13	/	West Germany
14	/	Poland
15	Brigitte Scheijbal / Walter Leschetizky	Austria
16	/	Switzerland
17	/	West Germany
18	/	Czechoslovakia
19	/	Denmark

References[]

External links[]

• results