Guignard and Fabbri snag third consecutive European title

2025 European Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance

Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy maintained their overnight lead to snag their third consecutive European title on Saturday. France’s Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud maintained second place overall for the silver, while Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson pocketed the bronze.

Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri

The 2024 World bronze medalists placed first in the rhythm dance with a solid performance to “Land of 1000 Dances,” “For Once in My Life” and “You Make Me Feel (Mightly Real).”  Fabbri only received a level three on the twizzles, but they still had positive grades of execution (GOE), as did the level-three midline and pattern steps. The rotational lift was a level four, and they earned 84.23 points.

“Overall, we are pretty pleased with our performance,” said Fabbri. “We enjoyed skating today, and that’s the most important thing. At the beginning, I maybe felt a little bit stiff in the legs, which is why the twizzles didn’t go to plan. But after that, I felt pretty good, and we are happy with what we did today.”

The two-time and defending European champions placed first (127.89) in the free dance with their creative routine to selections by the Robotboys. Racking up high GOEs in every element, the team showed three level-four lifts and dance spin. The twizzles were graded a level four and three, and they placed first overall with a total score of 212.12.

“We always feel the pressure,” said Fabbri. “Europeans is not an easy competition, the level was really high. We are very happy with our skates here and that we were able to win our third European title.”

The team shared that using their former exhibition program as a Free dance wasn’t easy.

“At the beginning of the season we tried to move too much like robots, which didn’t suit too well with the requirements of a free dance,” Fabbri noted. “It was a big challenge for us. But we start to feel more and more comfortable with this program. There is much more to improve though.”

The couple will be taking a holiday in Iceland before preparing for the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships.

Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud

The 2024 Grand Prix de France champions gave a technically strong rhythm dance to “Rasputin” by Boney M., placing second with a new personal best of 82.75 points. The twizzles and stationary lift were graded a level four, while the pattern steps were a level two. The level-three midline steps racked up many high GOEs.

“We’ve improved a lot and worked hard, step by step, and it shows in our performance,” said Brissaud.

“We were hoping for a good score because we felt that we delivered a solid performance,” added Lopareva. “We’re glad that the judges seemed to like it.”

The two-time national champions displayed confidence in their difficult and innovative free dance to music by BFRND. The lifts, twizzles and dance spin were awarded a level four, and they placed a close fourth with 124.01 points—a new personal best. With a total score of 206.76, they were able to maintain second place overall for their first European medal.

“It’s a surprise to finish second,” said Brissaud. “We wanted to come for a medal, but we didn’t at all expect the silver. We will work on the levels that we missed today, and as we seem to be on the right track, we will continue working as before going into Worlds.”

Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson

Skating to “Le Freak” and “Superstition” in the rhythm dance, the two-time European silver medalists picked up a level two on the pattern steps and a level three on the midlines steps. However, while the twizzles were graded a level four, the GOES fairly low. On the other hand, the level-four rotational lift scored +4 GOEs across the board, and they placed third (81.57) going into the free dance.

“The crowd was amazing!” said Fear. “We felt a lot of good energy and we are proud of most of our performance. There were little mistakes, so that leaves us with mixed feelings, but overall, we are happy with our performance, and we enjoyed it. It’s close, and we are ready for attack. Today’s result makes us hungry for tomorrow, and we are here to fight for gold. We will do that tomorrow.”

“If Ice Dance has taught us anything this year, it’s that anything is possible,” Gibson chimed in.

The 2024-25 Grand Prix Final bronze medalists gave an inspiring free dance to music by Beyoncé, displaying level-four twizzles, lifts and spin throughout. They placed second in this segment with 124.45 points, but with a total score of 206.02, maintained third overall for the bronze.

“Right now, I feel nothing but pride for ourselves,” said Fear. “We left this skate with the feeling that we had given our all, and that’s all we can do.”

“We can just do our job and everything else is out of our control,” added her partner, Gibson.

Gibson opined that although this might be their lowest placement of the season, it didn’t “feel like” it as he felt it was one their best skates.

“Yeah, it’s still one of our best scores this season,” said Fear. “We do aim for higher, and we will work on it.”

Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis

Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis of Finland placed a close fourth in the rhythm dance with a new personal best of 81.26 points. Their entertaining routine was highlighted by their level four lift, however, Versluis only received a level two on the twizzles.

“I’m still shaking from the adrenaline and the emotions, and I’m a little bit overwhelmed,” admitted Turkkila. “So, I don’t really know what happened right now, but I’m obviously feeling very, very happy.”

“Coming off the ice, we already knew we had given everything and skated the program very well, probably the best that we could have,” added her partner. “The scores are not something we have in mind right away after we come off the ice, but of course, it’s very nice to have hit that 80-barrier. We’ve been coming close to it, but it feels, of course, very great to have for the first time scored over 80.”

The 2023 European bronze medalists gave an expressive Argentinian tango routine to “Bewitched” and “Obcy Astronom” which earned the second highest component scores of the field. The lifts were graded a level four, but they both lost a level on the twizzles, which were a level three. However, the rotational-stationary lift, in particular, received very high GOEs across the board of +4 and +5. They picked up a new personal best in both the free dance and total score, placing third in this segment and fourth overall (124.43/205.69).

“It was a bit hard today,” admitted Versluis. “We were quite nervous, but we gave our all and we are happy with what we showed.”

“We will keep working and keep improving to get even better,” added Turkkila. “It’s still meaningful to have the small medal for the tango, which shows that the tango was appreciated by the public and the judges. And we are very happy with the two personal bests we achieved here.”

Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck

Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck of Spain put out an entertaining rhythm dance to music by Janis Joplin, Big Brother and The Doors, placing seventh with a new personal best of 76.13 points.

“We’ve been feeling great!” said Dieck. “The skate was great, and everything else is out of our hands. Actually, it was our first Europeans together, and funny enough, our last Europeans was exactly here three years ago with different partners. It was fun to come back here.”

“Preparation has been a little iffy this time, because after Christmas and Nationals, we both were a little bit sick,” Smart revealed. “Unfortunately, not at the same time. So, we had a little bit more alone skating time than we wished for. But the time that we used, we used it efficiently. And the last couple of weeks, we’ve been having good training together. So, we feel good.”

During practice on Wednesday, there was a collision with Smart and Dieck and the Israeli team of Elizabeth Tkachenko and Alexei Kiliakov. Dieck hit his head on the ice, while Kiliakov was cut on the leg with a blade, and Tkachenko and Kiliakov withdrew from the event.

“We were going backwards, and coaches were shouting, but we couldn’t hear because the music was too loud,” Dieck explained. “It’s unfortunate that they had to withdraw, but luckily, we heard from them that he’s going to be okay. We wish them all the best and will support them the best way possible going forward. We hope to see them back soon.”

The 2024 Skate America bronze medalists delivered a riveting free dance to music from the Dune soundtrack which was highlighted by level-four twizzles, lifts and dance spin. They scored a new personal best of 122.85 for fifth place in this segment and moved up to two spots to fifth overall (198.98).

“Today felt really good,” said Dieck. “The audience was incredible. Like, they were so into it. At the quiet parts of the music, you could have heard a pin drop, I think. It felt amazing out there. I’m also very pleased with my levels. I got to level three on both steps, and yeah, there is no limit.”

His partner agreed, adding, “It feels great that this free dance keeps growing. We don’t plan to do any changes on it because it is good as it is. Going into Worlds, we’ll probably adjust the rhythm dance a little bit, but the free dance we feel very confident with, so never change the running system.”

When asked if they regret that this is not their Olympic free dance, Smart responded: “”Well, it is important to build momentum going into an Olympic season. So, it’s equally important that the program before the Olympic season is good. And we already have some ideas in mind for the Olympic free dance.”

Lithuanians Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius placed sixth overall (196.66) followed by Finland’s Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen (193.94) and Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin of Georgia (190.15).

Related Info:

• Official Results
• Competition Threads

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