Segatori/Sudol Vice World Champions Standard

"This wasn't a good day for the German federation", said national sports director Michael Eichert in the Lithuanian capitol Vilnius. Amongst the 73 competing couples on the World Championships Standard, the German, European and World champions Simone Segatori/Annette Sudol aimed for the victory and to defend their recent world champion title, which they had won last year in Vienna. After all, they had won all other competitions before.
The German vice champions Anton Skuratov and Alena Uehlin aimed for a better place than last year's tenth place. They at least scored a small success by reaching place nine, but the bitter surprise came in the final.
The Russians Zharkov/Kulikova already won the first place in English Waltz. When even Slow Foxtrott, the generally acknowledged specialty dance of Simone and Annette, got taken by the Russians, the emotions changed from disappointment and incomprehension to perplexity. In the final quickstep, Segatori/Sudol showed a pure basic dance, which the judges  rewarded with a third place.

1. Dmitry Zharkov/Olga Kulikova, Russia
2. Simone Segatori/Annette Sudol, Germany
3. Evaldas Sodelka/Ieva Zukauskaite, Lithuania
4. Francesco Galuppo/Debora Pacini, Italy
5. Vaidotas Lacitis/Veronika Golodneva, Lithuania
6. Alexey Glukhov/Anastasia Glazunova, Russia
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9. Anton Skuratov/Alena Uehlin, Germany