The final group of the ladies free skate in Bern was beginning to look like a complete let down. One after another the skaters came out and and tumbled to the ice on their jumps. It seemed no-one really wanted a European gold medal!
Then came 26 year old
Sarah Meier, with all the support and pressure of the home crowd and skating last knowing the door was open. She skated a mature and classy performance with 5 triples and bags of style. This was to be her last competition, and now she can leave the sport with pride.
Silver to
Carolina Kostner, Bronze to
Kiira Korpi. Neither will feel they really deserve their medals. The judges are still very kind to Kostner on the second mark. She in fact was first on the free skate (how!) with a programme components score of 62.10. I know she skates very fast, but her choreography and interpretation are not so much higher than the rest of the field!
A special mention to 7th place
Ira Vannut of Belgium, a face for the future of European skating. Also to
Alena Leonova who came back with a vengeance in the free. She and
Ksenia Makarova will both be thinking of what could have been - a medal would have been in their reach if they could have skated 2 clean programmes.
Anyway, sorry, rant over. Congratulations to Sarah Meier on the crowning moment of her career.
