Reigning figure skating European champion Adang Xiao Yingfa (FRA), 22, won the 2024 International Ice Skating Union (ISU) Figure Skating European Championships after executing a banned backflip and receiving a major technical score deduction.
Xiao Yingfa scored 97.03 technical elements (TES), 88.01 artistic elements (PCS) and three demerits for a total of 182.04 points in the men’s single free skate at the event in Kaunas, Lithuania, on Wednesday (Feb. 13).
He added a short program score of 94.13 points for a final total of 276.17 points to win by a comfortable margin over Aleksandro Selevko (256.99 points-Estonia).
Xiao Yingfa has won the European Championships for the second consecutive year.
More than the outcome of the competition, Xiao Yingfa’s backflip attempt was the center of attention.
Xiao Yingfa performed a backflip in which she spun backwards in the air and landed on her feet.
He completed the trick cleanly, and the crowd erupted in cheers.
Xiao Yingfa received a two-point deduction for the trick, but it didn’t stop him from winning.
Backflips are banned for safety reasons.
The ISU banned it a long time ago due to injury concerns, and even if you manage to pull it off, you’ll be penalized.
However, the backflip is more than just a “banned skill”.
Some figure skaters consider it a symbol of resistance.
Afro-French female singles athlete Shirya Bonali, 50, was unable to reach the top of the international scene in the 1990s, despite performing overwhelmingly difficult skills such as a four-rotation jump. 먹튀검증
At every competition she competed in, she was pushed aside by white or Asian athletes.
Bonali believed that the color of his skin kept him from reaching the top of the world.
She claimed to have been discriminated against throughout her career because she was black, and retired after performing a spectacular backflip in the women’s single freeskating event at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
Many media outlets at the time characterized Bonali’s backflip as an act of defiance against racism.
Xiao Yingfa is a French athlete of Chinese descent.
He didn’t attach any serious significance to his backflip.
“I knew I would be penalized for doing a backflip, but I wanted to do it for the betterment of the figure world,” he told ISU after the competition, adding, “Actually, it’s not as dangerous as it sounds.
“I also wanted to perform for the crowd,” she said, “it’s like the French style (to be free).”
