Unfortunately there's nothing very memorable to say about the gala at my home rink in Mannheim. Laurent Tobel showed Carmen and his new program which is actually not very interesting. Andrejs Vlashenko showed two new programs: One to Andrea Bocelli and one to "I got a girl" by Lou Bega. "I need a girl" is a great and funny program. It shows a new side of Andrejs which suits him very well. It seems like it's a good idea that he has changed coaches. His jumps were very consistent at the gala. We'll see how he'll do in a competition (except the 1st place at Finlandia Trophy). He had to do an encore. Kati Winkler & René Lohse performed their new original dance as well as their new free dance which is pretty cool. They are using Safri Duo's "Crazy Benny" as well a short part of "Played-A-Live" for it. Eva-Maria Fitze & Rico Rex' long program is very well done but it was an off day for Eva. She didn't really land a single jump (just one fall though). But I really like their long program. There were two small girls from the Mannheim figure skating club: Larissa Vetter and Sarah Hecken. They were really good!!! They did all their jumps very well, have a great charisma and presentation on the ice (very saucy) and good movements. Personally they were my highlights of the show. :) Their programs included (except a great choreography) great stepsequences; fast and better than some top lady skaters. I just hope it'll stay like that and the process of growing up won't prevent them of becoming two very great skaters.
Please don't use the pictures without my written permission!
Claudia Leistner, European Champion and silver at World Championchips
Nicole Nönnig & Matthias Bleyer
Eva-Maria Fitze & Rico Rex
Miriam Steinel & Vladimir Tsvetkov