2017 WDSF GrandSlam Standard Stuttgart

That the Standard seems to be the GrandSlam of choice for the majority of the Stuttgart audience can easily be explained. On eight out of nine occasions since 2008, the winners were German couples. And local Stuttgart couples at that! Only Emanuel Valeri – Tania Kehlet, DEN created a brief interregnum – in 2013 – between the five-time Stuttgart Champions Benedetto Ferruggia – Claudia Koehler, GER, and their successors, the three-time Champions Simone Segatori – Annette Sudol, GER.

The GrandSlam Standard Stuttgart has always been a German stronghold, to the extent that sometimes a few of the other couples have chosen to stay away – in the past as well as in the present. Even though there were again some previous finalists missing from the starting lists, the top three of the world ranking were present and ready to dance the final at the Beethoven Hall on Saturday night.

Dmitry Zharkov – Olga Kulikova, RUS, have won everything there is to win this year and kept on top of their game ever since their last defeat, in Shanghai, CHN, in the 2016 GrandSlam Final last December. Over the past two years they have claimed two World and two European titles, they most recently celebrated their first victory in the GrandSlam Hong Kong, but they have never won in Stuttgart … For Simone and Annette, who were first in the last three GrandSlams in Stuttgart, it would be very important to return to their winning ways in front of a home crowd and ahead of the 2017 World Standard in September.

The fight between the two couples will probably be as tight as ever, threatening to eclipse the great dancing put in by the third: Evaldas Sodeika – Ieva Zukauskaite, LTU. But let’s not worry about them: their confidence is growing with every time they take the floor in a GrandSlam final.

A 6-camera production with full graphics plus interviews with the protagonists! The programme is made up of four parts: the full-length semi-final (1 · no commentary), interviews with some of the finalists (2), the full-length final (3 · no commentary), the interviews with the medallist couples (4).

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Produced by the WDSF Communications team in collaboration with the German DanceSport Federation - DTV and the German Open Championships - GOC.
Music by Casa musica: casa-musica.de