Alisa Efimova and Ruben Blommaert are seventh after the short program. For Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel, however, the start of the World Cup was disappointing.
After bronze in the European Championships in pairs, the duo Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel started the competition full of self-confidence at the World Championships in Saitama, Japan. After the short program, however, the German pair skating champions are only on the disappointing 15th place and thus far behind their expectations. “II currently have back problems, we even thought about canceling our start at short notice. But we want to end the season well after the positive results at the German Championships and the European Championship‘ Kunkel said.
Jefimowa/Blommaert off to a good start at the World Championships
For Alisa Efimova and Ruben Blommaert, on the other hand, things went much better. In their first season together, the couple wants to make a strong debut at the World Championships after fourth place at this year’s European Championships. After a solid short freestyle, they will go into the freestyle decision on Thursday (3:00 a.m.) in seventh place. “We had one mistake, but the rest of the program was fineSo Bloommaert.
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara from Japan took the lead in the intermediate classification. Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier from the USA as well as the Italian European champions Sara Conti and Niccolo Maci came closest to the local heroes