2010 European Championships: Carolina Kostner wins gold

Every time I write Italy's Carolina Kostner off as too much of a headcase, she pulls out a win! This time, at the 2010 European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia -- Carolina (who won this event twice before) came in first in the short and long to win the gold medal. She didn't have a perfect free skate but it was good enough to beat Laura Lepisto of Finland, last year's European champion. A great day also for Georgia's Elena Gedevanishvili who took the bronze medal -- last year, Elena was 25th at Europeans so what a difference a year makes.

Susanna Poykio from Finland withdrew after placing 18th in the short. I read that she was suffering from back injuries, or it could be that she was 18th after the short. And is that Joelle Forte from the U.S. who is competing for Azerbaijan? Joelle was competing in the U.S. and training with coach Elaine Zayak -- Did someone kidnap her and force her to compete for another country?

Complete results for the ladies are below. (Note: SP=Short Program and FS=Free Skate)

FPl	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Carolina KOSTNER	ITA	173.46	1	1
2	Laura LEPISTÖ	FIN	166.37	3	3
3	Elene GEDEVANISHVILI	GEO	164.54	4	2
4	Kiira KORPI	FIN	163.68	2	5
5	Sarah MEIER	SUI	157.44	8	4
6	Julia SEBESTYEN	HUN	156.77	6	6
7	Alena LEONOVA	RUS	153.57	5	7
8	Valentina MARCHEI	ITA	149.46	7	8
9	Ksenia MAKAROVA	RUS	146.85	9	9
10	Elena GLEBOVA	EST	138.93	13	10
11	Viktoria HELGESSON	SWE	137.10	12	12
12	Tugba KARADEMIR	TUR	136.42	10	13
13	Oksana GOZEVA	RUS	135.39	14	11
14	Jenna MCCORKELL	GBR	128.06	11	17
15	Ivana REITMAYEROVA	SVK	125.31	15	14
16	Sarah HECKEN	GER	121.79	16	16
17	Sonia LAFUENTE	ESP	121.15	17	15
18	Natalia POPOVA	UKR	113.35	20	18
19	Teodora POSTIC	SLO	113.35	19	19
WD	Susanna PÖYKIÖ	FIN		18
21	Tamar KATZ	ISR	FNR	21
22	Katsiarina PAKHAMOVICH	BLR	FNR	22
23	Karly ROBERTSON	GBR	FNR	23
24	Shira WILLNER	GER	FNR	24
25	Miriam ZIEGLER	AUT	FNR	25
26	Mirna LIBRIC	CRO	FNR	26
27	Martina BOCEK	CZE	FNR	27
28	Manouk GIJSMAN	NED	FNR	28
29	Erle HARSTAD	NOR	FNR	29
30	Birce ATABEY	TUR	FNR	30
31	Katherine HADFORD	HUN	FNR	31
32	Karina JOHNSON	DEN	FNR	32
33	Isabelle PIEMAN	BEL	FNR	33
34	Fleur MAXWELL	LUX	FNR	34
35	Beatrice ROZINSKAITE	LTU	FNR	35
36	Clara PETERS	IRL	FNR	36
37	Sabina PAQUIER	ROU	FNR	37
38	Marina SEEH	SRB	FNR	38
39	Zanna PUGACA	LAT	FNR	39
40	Sonia RADEVA	BUL	FNR	40
41	Maria PAPASOTIRIOU	GRE	FNR	41
W/D	Joelle FORTE	AZE

FNR=Final Not Reached; W/D=Withdrawn

Comments

[Carolina Kostner Italy]

We interview Carolina, and hope she wins gold at the Olympics -

http://rizzosports.blogspot.com/2009/12/carolina-kostner-skating-for-gold.html