And the new Latin champions of the World DanceSport Federation are crowned! Armen Tsaturyan and Svetlana Gudyno have taken their well-deserved placement as the World Latin Champions of 2018! The last time that Russia took this World title was in 2010, when Alexey Silde and partner Anna Firstova won their second Latin title in a row. Then, Croatia won in 2011 (Zoran Plohl and Tatsiana Lahvinovich Galchun), Italy for three years in a row from 2012 to 2014 (Aniello Langella and Khrystyna Moshenska) and then Moldova for three years from 2015 to 2017 (Gabriele Goffredo and Anna Matus). Now Russia has come back to take the world-lead once again.

It was quite clear who the winners were in the eyes and hearts of the audience members from the very first moments of the competition. Each time that Armen and Svetlana would step onto the floor, the crowd would go wild, roaring with all of its excitement! From this perspective, they were already crowned even before they stepped onto that pedestal. Everyone knew what this partnership had gone through to finally reach this moment in their careers and lives.

Overall, it was a very interesting night in Ostrava, Czech Republic. From the very first heat, all of the couples were on fire! Honestly, I do not know what was more intense, watching the fight of the quarter-final about who was to make it into the semi, or watching the top 6 couples of the final battling for the final placements!

And then it came down to the final 6…

What a thrilling first dance the Rumba turned out to be! Each couple performed it solo on the floor and earned their first scoring of the final. Armen and Svetlana earned a 38.667 out of 40.000 points and took the lead out of the couples that had danced so far. Then, it was time for the presentation of Marius-Andrei Balan and Khrystyna Moshenska, representing Germany, and extremely hungry to take home the winning title of World Champions. They reeled in a 38.583 as they were the final couple to dance their solo Rumba. This was a 0.084 difference between first and second place! The fire was evident in their eyes as they saw a chance and possibility to be able to conquer in the following dance.

The Samba was next and was to be danced as a group, followed by the Cha-Cha and the Jive. This second dance turned out to be even more jaw-dropping in score placement. A 38.418 was awarded for Russia and a 38.366 for Germany in second, a 0.052 difference this time! However, dance after dance, these little differences are still differences. These differences add up, and in the end, the champions are the ones who have scored the most points. Armen Tsaturyan and Svetlana took their lead as the Champions, and it was evident in the final solo presentation of the Paso Doble that this was their title for the taking.

The Victors

There was definitely an aura about the Champions last night that differentiated them from their competitors. Did anyone notice? They were exceptionally calm on the floor. They did not bring out their utmost fierceness and competitiveness like some of the other couples throughout the rounds taking place during the day. Actually, they were rather calm and aware of themselves and their belief that this day and night was what they had been working for their entire dance careers. Now, it was just time to enjoy and break free, which is exactly why such a strength exuberated from them as they entered the floor for each dance.

The most anticipated event of the year has now come to a close, sadly, but evidently. Everyone will now be preparing for the WDSF World Latin Championship of 2019, in a destination soon to be unveiled. We will be anticipating whether or not Armen and Svetlana will take part in this battle once again to fight for their second world title, or transition into the Professional Division. This, we will have to wait and see.