Katarina Witt is shocked by the performance of German figure skaters at the European Championships

Berlin – When finally German champion Nicole Schott stumbles through her European Championship freestyle, Katarina Witt tears the thread of patience in front of a home TV screen in Berlin. “You can’t really forgive these mistakes, he’s been around long enough,” criticized the double Olympic champion on ARD.

13th place for the 25-year-old sports soldier from Essen was completed at German figure skaters’ mess-up dress rehearsals for the Olympics in Beijing. Rather than gain confidence for the Winter Games, athletes from the German Skating Union (DEU) left Tallinn with more than a restless feeling.

Paul Fentz. big question mark for

Paul Fantz had a stomach ache and is especially great. The four-time German champion from Berlin should expect mercy on Tuesday regarding China and subsequent nominations for the Olympic team competition. However, a disappointing 16th place has hardly given any reason for it, as the 29-year-old had already missed out on a place in the individual event last year.

“So far we have not received any signal from the German Olympic Sports Confederation. Hopefully there aren’t too many other examples. If this happens, it will not be easy,” said vice president Reinhard Ketterer, who is responsible for competitive sports at the DEU.

Hase/Seegert . Missed Dress Rehearsal for

After all: In the men’s competition, only a little light blinks at the end of the DEU tunnel. Nikita Starostin, ten years younger than Fantz, passed her national rival and finished 13th. However, Russians born in St. Petersburg and training in Dortmund still have no German passport – and only a rudimentary knowledge of the German language. Therefore, Ketterer refrained from enthusiasm: “Nikita has to solve her language problem and she still has a lot to prove on the ice. However, in the medium term, I can certainly see her as a steady top ten runner. As I see

At the moment, none of the Olympic runners already nominated for Beijing should be satisfied with their performance at the European Championships. Even eighth place felt like a defeat for Berlin duo of Minerva Hase and Nolan Siegert. However, the DEU did not want to classify this modest performance as a failed dress rehearsal. “It certainly wasn’t a setback,” concluded sporting director Claudia Pfeiffer.

DEU sports director Pfeiffer hopes for Olympic inspiration

We now know the level of performance and have experienced that despite stable training before European Championship performances in all disciplines, “competitions can be bad”. “It should motivate athletes,” Pfeiffer said. In Beijing, DEU skaters are likely to circle ahead when figure skating stars from China, Japan, the US and Canada intervene in the medal fight.

Even Haase/Siegert would find it difficult to get into the top ten at the Olympics – especially since the expected advertising failed for it at the European Championships. Olympic pair skating champion in Pyeongchang 2018 Aljona Savchenko was less harsh on both: “It’s better to make mistakes now rather than at the Olympics.”