Like a Saturday night fever. 13 Senior teams took part in the 2017 French Cup Free Event. For the competitors, the goal was to improved their rankings. Russia and Finland dominated the competition.

No doubt that Team Paradise lived up to public expectations. On Saturday evening, the Russian team skated a classical program in gray and pink dresses with a lot of grace and speed. But their free program (126.48 points) wasn’t the best skate of the day. With their very original costumes, Rockettes showed an impressive free program 129.28 points. The team skated “Valkyria”, which is a program about the respect for powerful women all over the world. Despite the Finnish’s great score, Team Paradise kept their gold medal and Rockettes moved up one place and finished in the 2nd position.

This was one of the beautiful surprises of the evening: Team Unique has new dresses! The team from Helsinki showed for the first time some dark blue costumes for the free program. With one fall in the block, the Finnish skaters earned a total of 124.72 points and took the bronze medal.

With grace and precision, NEXXICE Senior presented an emotional free program to the French audience. One skater, the Swiss Nadine Banholzer, was wearing a different dress and played a unique role in this program. The Canadians did 120.76 points and stayed at the 4th place.

Crystallettes, who skated to the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, had two falls in the intersection. Their free program (107.40 points) took them to the 5th place. At the 6th position: Revolutions from Finland with a score of 101.86 points, which means more than 20 points more than they did at their last international competition. The team maintained its position after the free program.

Zoulous skated an upbeat program in front of their public. The French team earned for their punchy performance a total of 93.48 points.

In dark costumes, Team Boomerang received 92.08 points for the free and move up to the 8th position. Representing the USA, Miami University presented « Danse baccanale » from Samson and Dalila. This program brought them 90.80 points.

After that, the rankings didn’t change for the rest of the category. Jingu Ice Messengers skated to Titanic theme this year. Their free program tells the story of the famous boat that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912. The Japanese team received 85.82 points for their « nautical » performance.

Cool Dreams Senior presented a clean and rocky program even if the team had an injury during the official training on Saturday morning. The Swiss, who had to reorganize the program at the last minute, earned 62.34 points. With 1 mark deduction, Skating Graces from Germany did exactly the same total 62.34 points but finished at the 12th position. Dressed in black and white costumes, Team Ice United from Netherlands earned 57.68 points for the free program.

This French Cup (23rd edition) ended on a high note with a great participation and a very high skating level.