Brian Joubert did what no other man has done in European, world or Olympic figure skating since 1998.
He beat a Russian.
PHOTO: AFP
The 19-year-old Joubert upset Evgeni Plushenko to capture the European men's title on Thursday with a clean routine, while Plushenko made three major mistakes.
Since 1998, either Ilya Kulik, Alexei Yagudin or Plushenko had won every European, world and Olympic title.
Joubert became the first Frenchman in 40 years to win the European men's title, and he had help from Yagudin. Yagudin was beside Joubert when he won the French championship in December.
"It was a big surprise," Joubert said. "Very big. At this moment I haven't realized what is happened to me. It will be tomorrow I will realize that.
"It's wonderful to recapture the title for France after 40 years. Too bad the Olympic Games don't take place in Hungary."
The last French champion, Alain Calmat, won successive titles from 1962 to 1964, and was present to see Joubert's victory.
"It was an emotional moment. It's like a rebirth. I am very proud of the French Federation," said Calmat, a former French sports minister. "I am glad that it is Brian Joubert. He is very smart and a beautiful skater. He is very fresh and clean in his head."
Joubert, who won bronze and silver medals the previous two years, completed two quads and six triples in his program to The Matrix soundtrack. He scored from 5.7 to 5.9 for technical merit, and 5.5 to 5.8 for presentation.
"I tried to be Neo from the Matrix movie and that's hard," Joubert said. "I try to look like Neo, and I took five or six moves out of the movie."
Joubert knew he put pressure on Plushenko with his clean routine, skating before the Russian.
"It was very difficult for him because I did a very good program. So there was a lot of pressure."
Plushenko was seeking his fourth European title but had an off night. Although he started brilliantly with a quad-triple-double, he sprawled on a first attempt at a triple axel, and popped the second one to only a single.
"After I did the combination I just wanted to do two triple axels," Plushenko said.
He missed his first two tries but came back later in the program to improvise a triple axel-triple toe loop-double loop. But it wasn't enough.
He also fell attempting a triple flip.
He still had marks of 5.4 to 5.8 for technique and up to 5.9 for presentation.
"I feel fine, I am ready for losing -- this is just sport," Plushenko said.
"I don't know what happened, maybe it was psychological," he added. "I still look forward to going to the world championships. I will skate better.
"Things like this happen. It is not the end of life. I am already a three-time European and two-time world champion. I have many titles."
Joubert said the reason for him winning was simple: "I did two quads."
Russia's Ilya Klimkin came third for his first medal in major European competition.
The women start their competition Friday, with Russia's Elena Sokolova holding strong hopes of taking over the European throne from the absent Irina Slutskaya.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
RSS