Figure Skating Championship: Ziegler / Kiefer dream of medal

Ziegler / Kiefer successively worked their way up in the result lists; at Austria’s first World Cup top ten place in 21 years, they were already among Europe’s top five in Saitama in March 2019. This position now needs to be underpinned, and maybe a little more is possible. “We see ourselves in the top five, top six in Europe when we perform. Anything beyond that would be great for us. But that is not in our hands, ”said the 29-year-old from Salzburg in an ORF interview for Sport am Sonntag.

25-year-old Ziegler from Burgenland commented on a possible medal: “I think this is the first time this year that we can say that it is not completely unrealistic. The chance is not a big one, because it is not just up to us, but also to the day’s condition, the daily performance of others, the judges. It is crazy for us to be able to say that there is a chance at all. Until day X arrives, we won’t be able to answer this question. “

Back to the short program of Olympia 2018

19 couples have named, the short program starts on Wednesday (7.15 p.m.). This part of the program did not go as desired internationally for the two local heroes this season, which is why in the second half of November they returned to fourth place at the Moscow Grand Prix for their short program of the 2018 Olympic Games. “We recently worked on the transitions again,” explained Kiefer.

With the new “old” program, things are now going better again. “We feel very comfortable. It was a program that was very convenient for us and that we enjoyed very much. Training is already going better than the old one. At the Austrian championship in December we managed to do better than the other one, ”said Kiefer.

“I prefer the freestyle this season”

Even if the short program works better again, Ziegler prefers the free program. “I prefer the free program this season. It just runs almost by itself. I really like the music. And I think the free program is also less stressful because there are more elements. And if an error happens, it is not as bad as in the short program. It’s just a little more relaxed for me. “

There was a shock of a training incident about two weeks ago. “Miriam was over-rotated during a litter and injured her ankle,” said the Salzburg native about his 25-year-old partner. The training had to be rescheduled for about a week, and the burden has increased again for a week and a half. In order to catch up on what was missed, the media appointments needed at home were concentrated on last Friday as far as possible.

Life and training in Berlin

Kiefer / Ziegler live and train in Berlin. “It is definitely one of the top addresses in Europe. Especially for our discipline, pair running, ”said Kiefer. Before the two, there had been no pair skating duo in Austria for a long time. “That’s why there are no trainers, no infrastructure.” The fact that you can train with other couples in Berlin, “gives you a very special training dynamic that we simply don’t have here”.

Ziegler also emphasized the advantages of training in Germany: “We have ice times when only couples can go up. We train in an old GDR sports complex, where we simply have strength rooms available when we need them. There are three ice rinks and there are also physical therapists on site. We can always train on ice for a whole year. That is a big advantage over Austria, ”said the Burgenlander.

Home European Championship something “special and unique”

The home European championship is particularly important for Ziegler. “I’ve been to three Olympics. I have never had the opportunity to run in front of so many spectators in Austria. That’s why it’s something very, very special and unique for me, ”said the 25-year-old, who has been running with Kiefer since 2013 and has been to two Olympic Games with him. “We try to take everything that is positive from this EM because it is something unique. And not to put ourselves under pressure. “

The title is vacant due to the absence of the 2019 winners Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres (FRA). The first medal candidates are the Russians Yevgenia Tarasova / Wladimir Morosow and Aleksandra Boikowa / Dmitri Koslowskij. “They are very high up, the third Russian couple (Darja Pawljutschenko / Denis Chodikin, note) can go up and down,” says Kiefer. Then follow Ziegler / Kiefer Nicole Della Monica / Matteo Guarise (ITA) and Minerva-Fabienne Hase / Nola Seegert (GER).

Zandron and Mikutina make EM debut for Austria

Maurizio Zandron and Olga Mikutina make their European Championship debut for Austria in Graz-Premstätten. However, Zandron was already on an EM stage in 2017, for Italy it was enough to place 19th. For the 27-year-old, as for Ziegler / Kiefer, the short program starts on Wednesday, at 11.30 a.m. Ukrainian-born Mikutina, who is only 16 years old, will only start her first part of the program on Friday (10.30 a.m.).

Zandron and Mikutina secured the European Championship starting position in an association-internal elimination, whereby the 17-year-old Viennese Luc Maierhofer had to pass from the competition in December due to an injury at the last decisive state championships. 16-year-old Upper Austria Stefanie Pesendorfer was the loser in the women’s category. In ice dancing, red-white-red has no duo that can be selected for international title fights.

Defending champion at the start only in ice dance

From an international point of view, the main question is who will succeed Javier Fernandez. The Spaniard won the last seven European Championship competitions, but then announced his retirement. Alexander Samarin (RUS) and Matteo Rizzo (ITA), who were ranked next in Minsk 2019, are the first successor candidates, plus Kevin Aymoz (FRA) and Dmitri Alijew (RUS). 35 active have called for the men’s competition.