2000 European Championships

February 06-13, 2000, Vienna/AUT

Kati Winkler/Rene Lohse finish 5th at Europeans

Kati Winkler/Rene Lohse celebrated their best finish at a European Championships Friday night (11 February) in Vienna, Austria. They came in 5th. Their original Free Dance "Time goes Millennium", set to a mix of modern music, deligthed the crowd at the Stadthalle. There was just a little problem, when they exited a spin too late and had to catch up with the music. However, only those who know the program well realized this mistake. "Rene suddenly couldn't see anything, and we didn't exit the spin correctly", explained Kati. "Fortunatly, I saw the panel of judges (for orientation) and could stop him. We are very happy with our fifth place finish."

The team also skated for the first time in the last group. "It was new to us to skate in the last group with the top couples. The competition is almost over, and we haven't skated yet. But it was fun!"

Winkler/Lohse 5th after the Original Dance

Kati Winkler/Rene Lohse were 5th in the Original Dance and managed to fend off the Israelian couple Chait/Sakhnovski. Skating last, the Germans delivered a nice Latin Combination that featured good step sequences but lacked energy a bit. When they finished, Rene believed they would be beaten by the Israelis, but this was not the case. Three judges had Kati and Rene 5th, but three opted for 6th place and two even put them 7th. "We are very satisfied. Latin American Dancing suits us. It's the most fun for us. Our goal is at some point to win a medal." Rene added: "We worked with ballroom dancers. It helped us a lot to get the right feeling for the rhythms. This will be our first time in the last group for the free dance. It's very exciting!" They drew to skate first in the last group.

Winkler/Lohse in 5th after compulsories

Kati Winkler/Rene Lohse sit in 5th after the compulsories at the European Championship in Vienna, Austria (February 6 to 13). They are tied with Galit Chait/Sergei Sakhnovski from Israel. Winkler/Lohse placed 6th in the Yankee Polka in spite of a high quality dance, but they were 5th in the Argentine Tango. Both dances looked very good. "We felt more on and fresh in the Polka, but the Tango was maybe technically better. We can't really tell, because we didn't watch ourselves. The panel of judges was worse for us in the first dance", said Rene. "I felt better in the Polka, but we got better marks for the second dance", Kati explained. The team will skate last in the Original Dance (Latin Combination) on Thursday.

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