European Championships

Plushenko settles for Silver

February 5, 2004

Evgeni Plushenko

Evgeni Plushenko, the defending World Champion, was upset in the European championships at Budapest, Hungary.

Plushenko was first after the short program and appeared headed for his fourth European championship. However Plushenko had a rare off night to open the door for France’s Brian Joubert to get the victory.

Plushenko, who skated after Joubert, began his program with a brilliant quad-triple-double toe loop. But he fell on his first 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 changed his program to successfully land a triple axel-triple toe loop-double loop. But his earlier miscues kept his technical marks down to 5.4-5.8. He earned 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. I still look forward to going to the world championships. I will skate better.”

Plushenko earned the lead after the short by landing a quad and performing an upbeat tango routine that pleased the crowd. He earned a 6.0 for his interpretation of the Tango and Flamenco.

Plushenko has been nursing a torn meniscus in one knee and the other has been inflamed in the past.

“I didn’t do a quad-triple (toeloop) combination (in the short), only a quad-double combination. It wasn’t the best but it was OK,” Plushenko said. “I’m in good shape although my knees hurt. I don’t know how I saved this jump,” he said, referring to his quadruple toe loop. “I didn’t expect that (problem).”