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Two-time European Champions Charlène Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA) danced to the lead in an interesting Rhythm Dance as the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2025 continued Friday in Tallinn (EST). 

The reigning champions got off to a good start in the Rhythm Dance and have a good chance of defending their title one more time. France’s Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud surprisingly edged two-time ISU European silver medalists Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson of Great Britain for second place. 

The theme of the Rhythm Dance this season is “Social Dances of the 50s, 60s and 70s” and the Ice Dancers chose a wide variety of music and styles. 

Favorites Guignard/Fabbri skated last out of the 29 Ice Dance couples and entertained the crowd at Tondiraba Ice Hall with their dance to “Land of 1000 Dances”, “For Once In My Life” and “You Make Me Feel Mighty Real”. The two-time World medalists picked up a level four for the lift and her part of the twizzles and a level three for their step sequences to score 84.23 points.

Charlène Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA) began their pursuit of a third European Ice Dance title in style with a lively and entertaining Rhythm Dance © ISU

“We felt very well today and performance overall was very good. It was not perfect unfortunately, because I did not do the perfect set of twizzles,” Fabbri explained.

“The first element was a bit too stiff so it was not perfect and we lost a couple of points on that.”

He reflected on the possibility of defending their title. 

“It is a different feeling this time. When we won our first title in Helsinki, everyone was expecting us to win as it was our time. We felt it and it was a lot of stress. 

“A year after it was a bit different, less stress on the other side, but once you have a title, you don't want to let it go, so the stress was there. 

“So this year we know what defending the title means and we are mentally more prepared for that. It is not easy.” 

Guignard agreed: “We felt good on the ice and we were ready and confident here since first practice,”. “So many years of skating together, we did so many Europeans! Time definitely helps us.” 

Lopareva/Brissaud opted for disco with “Night Flight to Venus” and “Rasputin” and completed level-four twizzles and level-four stationary lift while the partial step sequence was rated a level two. The ISU Grand Prix de France Champions achieved a personal best of 82.75 points. 

Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud (FRA) achieved a personal best with their disco-themed program to take  © ISU

“We worked to be able to reach the podium, we were thinking about the third place, so now we have reached even the second place after the rhythm dance, so we are very happy,” Lopareva noted. 

“After that we will focus on tomorrow, because the competition is not over yet. So tomorrow we will do everything we were working on and we will see how we are going to finish the competition.”

Brissaud enjoyed competing at Tallinn’s Tondiraba Ice Hall. 

“We have been here already, so we had this experience, the audience is really top, it supports everybody, and exactly this is great. It is enough to give something to the audience and you get 10 times more from them, so it is really great to perform under such conditions,” he said. 

Fear/Gibson’s program to “Le Freak” and “Superstition” was highlighted by fast footwork and a whirling rotational lift. However, the ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalists lost some points on the execution of their twizzles and on the partial step sequence that garnered a level two. Fear/Gibson earned 81.57 points.

Two-time silver medalists Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR) sit in bronze medal position but say they will have an eye on the gold medal tomorrow © ISU

“It was really fun to perform again after a month of no competitions. I think we’ve missed that electricity and the feeling of pressure,” Fear commented. 

“We are really excited by this opportunity. We did ourselves proud. There are definitely areas we could have been better but that’s what sport is. 

“We’re excited for what to bring tomorrow. We absolutely have come for gold and I think we know it’s possible for us. We are willing and we are hungry for it and we are going to do all what we can to do ourselves proud and perform in the way we are capable of,” she added. 

The 2023 ISU European bronze medalists Juulia Turkkila/Matthias Versluis (FIN) captured the attention of the crowd with their upbeat dance and remain close to the podium in fourth place with a personal best of 81.26 points. The 2024 ISU European bronze medalists Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU) came fifth on 78.67 points followed by Loicia Demougeot/Theo Le Mercier (FRA/76.14 points). 

Elizabeth Tkachenko/Alexei Kiliakov (ISR) withdrew before the event as Kiliakov suffered an injury in practice in Tallinn. 

What and when 

The schedule of the ISU European Championships 2025 is as follows:

Wednesday, January 29: Pairs and Women’s Short Programs
 Thursday, January 30: Men’s Short Program and Pairs Free Skating
 Friday, January 31: Rhythm Dance & Women’s Free Skating  
 Saturday, February 1: Free Dance & Men’s Free Skating
 Sunday, February 2: Exhibition Gala

For more information, full entry lists and results, visit the ISU event page of the ISU European Championships 2025 and the official event website of the Championships. Check out the Facts & Figures for extra information. Follow the discussion on social media using #EuroFigure and #FigureSkating.

Where to watch the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2025:

The ISU European Figure Skating Championships will be live streamed on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. Geo-restrictions will apply in markets where TV rights are in place. You will find the full list in the Where to Watch news here.

Subscribe to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive alerts when the live streams start and when new videos are posted. 

Stay connected with the ISU: 

ISU website:                 ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2025 

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