Buckland and Coomes on track for Worlds after Bavarian Open glory
BySportsbeat
Updated 22/02/2016 at 19:00 GMT
Nicholas Buckland and Penny Coomes admitted they couldn't have asked for a better final preparation for next month's World Figure Skating Championships after clinching gold and a personal best at the Bavarian Open.
Bronze medallists Penny Coomes and Nicholas Buckland of Britain celebrate during the Ice Dance medals ceremony at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Budapest (Reuters)
Image credit: Reuters
The competition in Oberstdorf, Germany saw skaters from all over Europe take to the ice but it was the British duo who cruised to victory in the senior ice dance competition with a score of 165.68 points.
That saw them beat Armenian pair Tina Garabedian and Simon Proulx Senecal by a mammoth 25.52 points while another British team – Carter Marie Jones and Richard Sharpe – took bronze on 133.72.
The World Championships take place in Boston from March 28 to April 3 and Buckland and Coomes feel as if they are in good shape following their final appearance before the event.
"We both feel extremely proud to be part of such a big GB team that achieved both medals and personal bests this weekend," they said.
"The two programmes we performed went very well and we feel this competition has set us up perfectly in the build-up to the World Championships in six weeks time."
Another Team GB skater, Josh Brown, took silver in the junior men's competition as he continues to gear up for next month's Junior World Championships although the 16-year-old missed out on gold by just 0.02 points.
But it was the performance of Olympic duo Buckland and Coomes that had National Ice Skating Association high performance manager Robin Cousins particularly positive about the future.
"This was another chance for Nick and Penny to get the new Short Dance out in front of judges in their final competition before the World Championships," said Cousins.
"Gaining over 100 points on their established Free Dance will also give them confidence for the coming weeks' training and they will be ready to take on the best in the world in Boston in a few weeks."
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