Building on Conti and Macii’s success, Italian teammates Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini won the first silver medal for an Italian Pair at the event. Germany’s Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel claimed bronze.
Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek won the lone bronze medal for Italian Pair Skating at the ISU European Championships 10 years ago in 2013. Horatek now coaches the new silver and bronze medalists from Espoo.
Performing to “Cinema Paradiso”, Conti and Macii entered their own paradise with a strong performance that featured a triple toe-single Axel-single Axel, triple Salchow, throw triple loop and Salchow, as well as a level-four reverse lasso lift. Only the triple twist was somewhat shaky.
The duo achieved a new personal best with 124.68 points and ranked second in the Free Skating. They totalled 195.13 points to remain in first place. The pair, who are a couple on and off the ice, were on cloud nine and shared a kiss when posing for the photographers, to the delight of the audience.
“It means for us a lot, we really like to skate for our country and to represent it. This is the second time we make history for our country. We are always proud of it,” Macii said.
“Of course, it’s an achievement and it was a dream to have a medal of any colour at the European championships. I think gold is something that goes beyond our imagination.”
Conti agreed. “The pressure is so high, but to skate with this support from the public is incredible for us. We are super happy,” she said.
“It was so difficult to skate after we finished first in the Short program, the pressure was so big. But now we are so happy!”
Ghilardi and Ambrosini stood in fifth place following a faulty Short Program, but they came back strong in their entertaining Free Skating to “The Barber of Seville.”
The ISU Grand Prix Espoo Champions produced a triple twist, throw triple loop and Lutz as well as three level-four lifts. Only the double Axel-double Axel-single Axel sequence was wobbly.
The ISU Grand Prix Finalists earned a personal best of 127.48 points and won the Free Skating segment. With 186.96 points overall, they climbed to second place.
“We enjoyed tonight, the program was like we skated with our hearts. We enjoyed the public that was here in Finland. We appreciate everything,” Ambrosini said.
Hocke and Kunkel put out a solid skate to “Without You” that was highlighted by a triple twist, a throw triple flip and difficult lifts, but Hocke went down on the side-by-side triple Salchow.
The German champions collected 117.18 points and slipped from second to third at 184.26 points.
“We always forget that we are still pretty new with our team. We changed a lot and it's still kind of the beginning,” Hocke said.
“Of course, I'm a little sad about not showing our best at the Europeans, but there were really good things to take away and some things that we need to just work on.”
Alisa Efimova and Ruben Blommaert (Germany) dropped from third to fourth at 173.66 points after some errors. Maria Pavlova and Alexander Sviatchenko (Hungary) moved up from sixth to fifth place at 172.98 points.
The ISU European Championships continue until Monday, January 30. Catch all the action LIVE on SBS On Demand.
Watch the ISU European Championships on SBS
Friday, January 27
ISU European Figure Skating Championships - Espoo, Day 3, Ice Dance
10:00pm-1:55am AEDT
LIVE on SBS On Demand
Saturday, January 28
ISU European Figure Skating Championships - Espoo, Day 3, Men
2:55am-7:20am AEDT
LIVE on SBS On Demand
ISU European Figure Skating Championships - Espoo, Day 4, Women
9:49pm-1:56am AEDT
LIVE on SBS On Demand
Sunday, January 29
ISU European Figure Skating Championships - Espoo, Day 4, Ice Dance
3:25am-6:50am AEDT
LIVE on SBS On Demand
Monday, January 30
ISU European Figure Skating Championships - Espoo, Day 5, Exhibition
12:25pm-3:10am AEDT
LIVE on SBS On Demand
Saturday, February 4
ISU European Figure Skating Championships - Extended highlights, Espoo, Part 1
3:00pm-4:30pm AEDT on SBS
Sunday, February 5
ISU European Figure Skating Championships - Extended highlights, Espoo, Part 2
3:00pm-4:30pm AEDT on SBS
