Men's Short in Warsaw

By Helga Dobor and Titanilla Bod

Photos © Caroline Pare

32 men appeared at the start of the short program at the European Championships in Warsaw, ready to show their stuff. AS reporters Helga Dobor & Titanilla Bod met with some of the skaters after their performance to get their comments.

Alper Ucar, Turkey

I tried to do my best. Actually I think I skated good - I like my work, and I would like to perform
much better at Worlds in Japan. I like my program and I like my coach too, so we'll work more for the Worlds.

Why did you come to skate in Hungary?
Alper: Actually it was two years ago when we went to Slovenia for a summer-camp. I met Andras Szaraz there, and we worked together. I like his style, his technique so much, I think we worked well there. Then I said to him that I wanted to work with him and he accepted me, it's such a honour for me. He said I had to move to Budapest, so I did, and I love Budapest so much! But you know, the history of Turkey and Hungary wasn't so friendly (we all smile)

And have you learnt some Hungarian words?
- Persze, persze - laughs. (ed.: of course, of course - Hungarian)

Igor Matsipura

It's ok, it doesn't matter. I made some little mistakes and it was a little bit slow, I could have
done better.

What do you think of the competition?
I try to be in the top twenty, probably better.

What do you think about representing Slovakia?
It's a pleasure to represent Slovakia.

Why did you choose this country?
I like this country, it's really beautiful.

How much time do you spend there?
Four weeks, a month and a half, not more than two months.

What's your favorite place there?
I like Nitra and Bratislava

Jamal Othman:

I'm very content with the short program of course. It was almost without fault and for me it gives me lots of confidence to skate the program in front of this audience. Now I'm the
number one Swiss man this time, but it's very difficult to say what I expect from the competition, because everything is about the free program. We will see tomorrow.

Moris Pfeifhofer:
I'm here for good experience and I did in my short what I planned to do, and it's excellent for me. Are you satisfied now? (smile)
Yes, I have a new personal best, and I didn't expect that, because at Juniors the components are lower than here, so that's unusual, so I'm very happy with that.

It is your first European Championships, how do you like it?
It's great. The whole Championship is great, and every morning when I wake up it's like: I'm here - and totally awakened, it's great. (tells this with stars in his eyes)

Kristoffer Berntsson:

What did you think of your short program?
I'm happy with my performance today. This was a very tough week for me, and the practices were hard.

What do you expect from the long program?
I want to have a really good performance and I know I can do it.

Brian Joubert

How do you feel about your performance?
I’m not satisfied with my program. I made a mistake in the combination and I lost many
points. But despite the mistake I stayed focused and the rest of the programme was very clean.
It’s hard for me because I like to fight against skaters such as Plushenko and Stephane
Lambiel. But I have to stay focused on my job.

So actually you regret Lambiel is not here?
Yes! (laughs)

What happened in the combination jump?
I wasn’t “strong in the body”, that’s why I made this mistake.

Only three skaters planned to attempt a quad in the short program. What do you think about it?
I think it’s not good for the men’s skating. In 2002 everybody did quads, now nobody.

Will you try the three quads in your free program?
Yes, now I would like to land the three quads.

We'll all hold our breath while watching the finale tonight!