Vova Kasilov/Yulia Dreier from Dance Unlimited Zurich celebrated an impressive return at the national standard championships in Wettingen. In a thrilling duel with the defending champions Davide Corrodi/Maja Kucharczyk, they narrowly retained the upper hand, as they did in 2017, 2021 and 2022 - for Yulia it was already her eighth gold medal. The more than 400 spectators in the packed hall were treated to first-class dancing that evening.
Kasilov/Dreier flew across the dance floor with remarkable ease, appeared completely relaxed and showed a lot of joy in the spectacular final - which amazed many an expert as to whether their chances had previously been in the dark. "Behind us lie difficult times with many tears, pain and sacrifices," said Kasilov, looking back. He missed the World Championships due to a foot injury and the team had already undergone a major shake-up beforehand. "The trust in our new coach Giordano Vanone has borne fruit for the first time," said Dreier with great satisfaction. The Italian coach has made the right adjustments to get them back to their best level. It will be interesting to see whether this development will soon lead to top international results.
"It was incredibly atmospheric in this hall," said the Swiss champions, praising both the organisers and the dance-loving audience. To mark the 40th anniversary of the Tanzcentrum Baden, the SM was held together with the Happy Dancers Baden as part of a ball. "The spectators really supported us, the atmosphere was right - my migraine was blown away," Dreier revealed afterwards, revealing a health handicap. The always close race with the Zug pairing of Corrodi/Kucharczyk was decided this time in the Slowflox, where the eventual champions were able to take a decisive 3:1 lead. In the final Quickstep, the defending champions were able to close the gap again, but it was no longer enough. "The sporting competition with Davide and Maja is another point that keeps pushing us on," says Kasilov.
Behind them, the only thing left for the competition was the battle for bronze. And the TTZ pairing of Mikhail Pikulin/Yaroslava Chelombitho snatched this last podium place just as narrowly ahead of David Büchel/Flavia Büchel.
DUZ wins 6 titles
The big winner of this year's Standard SM was Dance Unlimited Zurich. In addition to Kasilov/Dreier, Marc Soldatenkov/Sofja Novikova (students), Mihail Novikov/Taisiia Vasileva (juniors), Vladyslav Vladyslav Davydiuk / Yelyzaveta Driemina (youth), Jürg Briner/Katharina Egli (seniors III) and Kurt Rechsteiner/Heide-Maria Schäfer (seniors IV) also won the coveted gold medals for the Zurich club.
As "exceptions to the rule", Felix Locher/Silvia Nater from TTZ (Seniors I) and Beat Künzi/Barbara Kaufmann from Tanzsport Bern (Seniors II) were crowned Swiss champions.
Text: Martin Zinser / Pictures: Reini Egli
