From the German newspaper "Sueddeutsche Zeitung," February 4^th, 1995,
translated by Luise Wuetschner

With elan to the title, with caution on the pedestal, Ilia Kulik (17) is European Champion and together with Alexei Urmanov an outstanding representative of the Russian figure skating school.

Carefully he climbed the pedestal with his skates. A wary step on the first step, then another on the highest point. He looked down to his feet, which he carefully straightened. When he had the feeling he would stand worthy to fit the occasion, he looked up. After that, Ilia Kulik didn´t move his head. Only his eyes traveled excitedly back and forth, as the Russian boy may have feared that there was somebody coming soon to take him off of this unusual and wonderful place.

And there was somebody. But Olympic Champion Alexei Urmanov was content to congratulate the new European Champion and stand still on the lower step. Ilia would be "a worthy competitor," said the Europeans second place winner about his countryman, though from this you can hear that the opinion "worthy champion" Urmanov (21) wasn´t able to say.

Kulik is only 17 years old; last year he was Junior World Champion, and in Dortmund he won his debut at an international senior championship. He even led after the short program, and in the free program, he showed six triple jumps. He´s already training the quad toe loop, and he announced "I will show it" at the world championships in March.

But also between the athletic highlights of his programs, Kulik offers much. You can recognize in him the classical figure skating school of the former Soviet Union: The body stretches like a ballet dancer, the arms he moves despite his youth without fidgeting.

But at the first go, such a success? Before the competition, the thought of the title was "very small and far away," Ilia said. He said he wanted to prove ``that I can compete with the others. I succeeded in doing that." A smile spread out on his face. Kulik masters with skill the modesty to demonstrate self-confidence.

Urmanov, who not only in his opinion "skated the best free program of my life," got more applause and even a 6.0 in Dortmund. But the handicap of being only in 6th place after the short program prevented him from winning his first European title. Nevertheless, Urmanov is on the right way to present his success of being Olympic Champion in Lillehammer.

Also Kulik, who skated to Gershwin's "An American in Paris" in his free program, is representing this trend. Like Urmanov, he completely stands in the tradition of Soviet skaters. His skating technique is immaculate; he learned it at the sports army club in Moscow. The conditions there got rapidly worse, so it´s always surprising to see excellent junior skaters from the former USSR still reach the top of the world.

Sponsors? "Nyet," says Kulik's coach Viktor Kudriavtsev sadly. Money? "Nyet." The Ukrainian Olympic Champion Oksana Baiul eft amateur skating at the age of 17 and lives in the USA now -- rich. Could Ilia Kulik imagine such a progress, too? "That´s hard to tell, but properly I want to skate at the amateurs a long time. I want to participate at the Olympic Games -- and not only at the next ones."

by Detlef Hacke