Part 1:Pair skating,men
Couples
Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov
The Olympic champions are back after a year-long hiatus and have yet to lose a single start this season. In the Czech Republic, the couple made a lot of mistakes, so the main question is in what form they will approach this competition (if they are going to come at all). Although I have a suspicion (this is just my opinion) that Tanya and Maxim will still perform in Europe, but most likely not in the world.
Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov
Ksenia and Fedor missed the Chechen Republic, and we can only guess about their form. Nina Moser promised that the guys would try to execute the throw in four turns. I urge you not to judge them harshly if something suddenly goes wrong. After all, the guys replaced almost all the jumping elements this year, and it was not so easy to do. Some people have been trying to insert one element into the program for years.
Yuko Kawaguchi / Alexander Smirnov
A month ago, the Petersburgers literally snatched a ticket to the European championship from Tarasova / Morozov, and are going there in the rank of reigning champions. They have all the resources to fight for the highest places, it remains only to cleanly skate their complex programs.
Alena Savchenko / Bruno Masso (Germany)
During this season, the Germans have won category "B" tournaments in Warsaw and Tallinn, as well as won the national championship. They received very high scores everywhere, but these results should not be taken seriously (they usually do not regret mushrooms on the basis of mushrooms). Alena and Bruno will be able to get on the podium only in case of some serious mistakes of the Russians. I would like to say a few words about my partner. I wanted to review their performances in Warsaw and Tallinn. And you know what is most interesting: it was Bruno who was the stable link in the pair. But Alena sometimes tore off the elements. She was really lucky with a partner. First, as I said earlier, it is stable. Secondly, it is quite strong and strong - the jumps and twists are impressive in their height. They have the potential for ultra-si elements. Thirdly, I did not see any "woodiness", as some say. He jumps triples easily enough.
At the moment they are not our rivals (they are inferior both in technology and in components), but in a year or two everything may change. Remember the example of Tanya and Maxim. Maxim was only a prize-winner at the European Championship until 2010, while Tatiana did not even climb the European Championship podium (and even more so for the World Cup). As a result, the couple became champions of Europe, the world and the Olympic Games in one Olympic cycle. Although it is worth noting that Tanya and Maxim are rather an exception to the rule, they are a special couple.
Vanessa James / Morgan Sipre (France)
At the European Championships, this couple all the time walked next to the podium. Apparently they are tired of marking time, and they decided to approach the issue of complicating programs very seriously this season. The guys inserted "three-three" into an arbitrary cascade, and at the French championship they tried to perform a salchow throw in four turns. But what has remained unchanged is their instability:
In this case, the stable link is the partner. This is the second time Vanessa does a three-three clean in the competition, and Morgan breaks the element for the second time. The programs were delivered to them very good. In a short way, I Put A Spell On You, like in Ksenia and Fedor. The pair is definitely growing, but for now they will most likely only fight the Germans for fourth place.
Nicole Della Monica / Matteo Guarise (Italy)
Experienced Italians won the Italian championship for the first time, beating their rival friends Marchei / Hotarek. At the European Championships, the couple performs better and better every year (season 2012/13 - 9th place, 2013/14 - 8th, 2014/15 - 6th), but this year is unlikely to be serious progress. Objectively, they are weaker than even the Germans and the French.
Valentina Markei / Ondrej Hotarek (Italy)
One of the most charismatic couples. Their programs are always bright and effective. Although my feelings from the guys are always ambiguous: in some nuances they look more organic than other couples, in some, on the contrary, they look awkward. In Bratislava, it will be difficult for them to repeat last year's result (4th place). They can lose not only to the Germans and the French, but also to their more stable compatriots.
Marie Wartmann / Ruben Blummaert (Germany)
These guys have recently joined a pair, but now they are performing quite well. On beshki they were twice on the podium, and at the Grand Prix stage in China they took 6th place. They should get into the top ten at the European Championship.
More, by and large, there is no one to talk about. Only some kind of force majeure can prevent ours from taking the first three places. Well, or a lot of mistakes. As for the victory, all three of our pairs can win. Someone has a little more chances, someone a little less. Even if it happens that Zhenya Tarasova and Volodya Morozov have to replace someone, God forbid, this will not change the overall picture. This pair is also stronger than all our rivals.
Men
PoppySim Kovtun
The leader of our team finally performed five quads at the competition. Maxim admitted in an interview that it turns out to collect all the elements in training, but at important starts everything falls apart. Maybe there was a turning point in Kovtun's career in the Chechen Republic, and now he will gain stability?
Mikhail Kolyada
This guy won the hearts of a huge number of Russian fans. It will be interesting to see how well Misha performs in the second half of the season. Still, he never played at such major tournaments as the European and World Championships. By the way, one should not forget that at the World Cup (most likely it is he and Kovtun who will go there together), we will have to obtain quotas for the next year. This is also an additional responsibility.
Alexander Petrov
The great Mishin's pupil demonstrates enviable stability this season. He, like Kolyada, goes to the European Championship for the first time. From the athlete's camp, conflicting information comes to us about the inclusion of a quadruple jump in an arbitrary program: then yes, then no. If Petrov performs his programs without him, it will be very difficult to climb the podium. Only in case of mistakes of the opponents.
Javier Fernandens (Spain)
For three seasons in a row, the Spaniard has kept no one near the title of best skater in the Old World. It is unlikely that anything will change this year. The European Championship will be a little training for Javier before the world championship. This is where he needs to be at the peak of his form. In Bratislava, he can afford to ride carelessly and give the Russians the opportunity to get a little closer to him. But no one can beat him.
Michal Brzezina (Czech Republic)
The 2013 European Championship bronze medalist has always been an unstable skater. This season, he began to perform even more unstable. At the stages of the Grand Prix in Canada and Japan, our corsair took the modest 8th and 7th places, respectively. But, despite this, it was he who should become one of the main rivals of the Russians in the fight for medals (Fernandez does not count).
Florent Amodio (France)
European Champion 2011 in recent years has been just disgusting. Fans still admire the skill of his skating, his charisma. But, unfortunately, there is nothing more to admire. In part, this is due to a series of injuries that have long haunted Florent. He recently announced that he will retire after the European Championships. Most likely, the skater will set for himself the goal of simply skating for their own pleasure, for the audience. The organizers of the tournament are simply obliged to invite him to the demonstration. Even if he takes the last place.
Chafik Bessegier (France)
The 26-year-old Frenchman recently won the national championship for the first time. Chafik has a good jumping set: three quads in two programs (sheepskin coats only). The programs themselves are rather unusual. True, it loses to many components. At the European Championships, he did not rise above 9th place, but this year the French skater may well take a step forward.
Yorick Hendricks (Belgium)
The Belgian was able to win at least some tournament for the first time in three years. At the NRW Trophy, he beat not anyone, but Denis Ten himself. Sergey Voronov took the third place there. I would also like to tell you about his free program. He rides in it to the soundtrack from the movie "Titanic". Here you scolded PP Lena Radionova .... Just look now PP Hendrix:
Honestly, it was difficult for me to describe my emotions after watching)))
I don’t know about you, but I’d better go and revise Lena's free trial again))
It is worth noting that Yorick plays jumping elements quite well, although he still does not have a quadruple. At the European Championships, he twice hit the top ten. If he rolls cleanly, he can do it a third time.
Alexey Bychenko (Israel)
After last year's 4th place at the European Championship, Alexei began to feel very feverish. At the Grand Prix stages, he performed extremely unsuccessfully: 10th and 12th places. Already in 2016 he won a small tournament in Poland. Maybe this small success will affect the athlete and at the next starts he will rehabilitate himself in front of his fans?
Daniel Samokhin (Israel)
This year, ISU granted the young athlete the right to compete in the adult stage of the Grand Prix, but he decided to stay in juniors for a short while. At the stages of the Junior Grand Prix, he was second twice, and in the final he took fifth place.
Samokhin was able to qualify for the European Championship, and he is unlikely to get lost there. At least he is capable of entering the top ten. A man, by the way, at the age of 17 tries to perform several quads in one program. The main thing is not to pile up, as he did in Barcelona:
Ivan Rigini (Italy)
If I were asked to describe Ivan Rigini in three words, my answer would be: talent, charisma, instability. This season, he either performed unsuccessfully or withdrew from the competition. At the last European Championship he was eighth ... well, if he is in the top ten in Bratislava, it will be a good result for him.
Alexander Mayorov (Sweden)
“Russian” Swede this season can only boast of the second place in the tournament in Nice. By the way, he decided to leave last year's PC "Archangel". At the European Championships, he was only once in the top ten. Considering his recent performances, Alexander may not get into the top ten again.
If the Russians skate as best they can, then two medals from the European Championship will be taken away. To climb to the first place is extremely difficult and almost impossible. But in order to sink too low in the standings, you need to try very hard.
The European Figure Skating Championship has ended in Bratislava. The Russian national team became the undisputed winner of the medal standings, having won seven medals in four types of programs - two gold, one silver and four bronzes.
The second and third places in the medal standings were taken by the teams of Spain and France, each with one gold medal.
European Figure Skating Championship 2016, the results of the Russian national team:
Gold
Evgenia Medvedeva - women's single skating
Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov - couples
Silver
Elena Radionova - women's single skating
Bronze
Maxim Kovtun - men's single skating
Anna Pogorilaya - women's single skating
Evgeniya Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov - couples
Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitry Soloviev - dancing.
Photo: Yulia KOMAROVA / Russian Figure Skating Federation
Maxim Trankov, who won the European Championship for the fourth time together with Tatyana Volosozhar, commented on the finished championship to the media service of the Russian Figure Skating Federation.
- We had a difficult start to the day: early training. Also, there was no way to go back to the hotel. It was difficult to ride. I don’t know why, since 2014, the organizers prefer such a crazy competition schedule for greenhouses. And this is taking into account the fact that we perform the most complex elements. Girls have a particularly hard time. But in fact, all greenhouses are unhappy with this schedule.
It is impossible to skate and dominate with world records all the time. But you can just win.
Now I know that many will say: "There weren't those, there weren't these." But we did the bare minimum to win this championship. We have experience that allows you to skate not to the fullest, but to turn on at the right moment.
We know how we ride in training. We know how to approach training. The only thing that is letting us down now is health. Everything else is in order, - said Maxim.
The women's competition ended as expected:. Having won gold, Evgenia Medvedeva also demonstrated good vocals by singing the Russian anthem.
Medvedeva could only lose to herself
Our young stars, the oldest of whom is 17, and the youngest - 16, are very different and reacted differently to their skates and results. Elena Radionova, who was the first in the strongest warm-up, changed her costume for the European Championship. A student of Inna Goncharenko is skating to the soundtrack to "Titanic". So they came up with the outfit of the VIP-passenger of the legendary liner for Elena. The mood was also matched, although the vice-champion of Europe-2015 fulfilled everything planned and repeated last year's result. “Apparently, the rivals became stronger, since they failed to win,” the two-time European vice-champion summed up her performance in Bratislava with a sad voice.
Perhaps she used the plural in vain. Only Evgeny Medvedev is stronger this season. The student Eteri Tutberidze was sincerely happy about both the victory and the highest scores received despite falling from a double axel. Although Evgenia could only lose to herself. She has a gorgeous program with an amazingly complex set of elements, which, by the way, was rejected by Yulia Lipnitskaya last season. The director Ilya Averbukh, however, did not grieve for a long time. A new star has grown up in Tutberidze's group, willingly picking up the baton.
After the “donut” for an element that was not counted in the short program, Anna Pogorilaya could probably only count on a “bronze”. She won it. Despite two falls, the skater who repeated last year's achievement was satisfied with her rental. “I was still a child in Stockholm,” Anna admitted honestly. - Now I have matured and I perceive everything differently. I understand that it is not always possible to skate cleanly, and you need to be ready for this. "
Latvian figure skater Angelina Kučvalska, who took 4th place, was more than ten points behind. The distance between Russian and other European skaters is enormous. To qualify for the national team at the end of the Russian championship is much more difficult than becoming a medalist of the European championship.
Russian hegemony is not needed
At last year's European Championships in Stockholm, Russian figure skaters took the entire podium in the competition of sports pairs. They have serious competitors in Bratislava. Contrary to expectations, Alena Savchenko, five-time world champion and two-time bronze medalist of the Olympics, who won these titles together with the Robin Sholkovs, did not leave the big sport after Sochi-2014. The Ukrainian maiden, who has been playing for Germany for a long time, is simply obsessed with the idea of becoming an Olympic champion.
To achieve this goal, she paired up with the Frenchman Bruno Massu. It took more than a year to get him permission to skate for Germany. Savchenko's fans even collected 30 thousand euros on social networks to “buy out a partner”. As it turned out, they did not try in vain.
In Bratislava, the new German couple immediately announced their claim to the podium. Although, according to the two-time Olympic champion Maxim Trankov, the new duet is being promoted so that there is no absolute hegemony of Russian couples in Europe. Trankov himself, together with Tatyana Volosozhar, did not show his best performance in the short program. As the skaters noted, they lost three or four points due to mistakes in the performance of well-developed elements.
The reason Trankov called ... the composition of the Russian national team. Due to injuries of Yuko Kawaguchi and Fyodor Klimov, tickets to Bratislava were hurriedly issued to our team's substitute, for pairs Evgeny Tarasov - Vladimir Morozov and Christina Astakhova - Alexey Rogonov.
When you know that in case of failure you will be backed up by the same experienced and skilled teammates, you ride in a completely different way, '' Trankov admitted. - And the stunt doubles even look at you differently, taking away some of the energy. It is very difficult to be the leader of the backup team.
It remains to be hoped that the two-time Olympic champions will nevertheless cope with such a difficult role.
Bratislava
results
Women. Final position: 1. Medvedev - 215.45; 2. Radionova - 209.99; 3. Pogorilaya (all - Russia) - 187.05; 4. Kuchvala (Latvia) - 176.99
Sports couples. Short program. 1. Volosozhar / Trankov (Russia) - 79.77; 2. Savchenko / Mass (Germany) - 75.54; 3. Tarasova / Morozov - 70.17 ... 7. Astakhova / Rogonov (both pairs - Russia) - 60.63.
Hello everyone!
The European Championship is coming to an end, it remains to wait for the dancing couples, while in other events there are already results.
By tradition, let's start with girls) 
To be honest, there was no intrigue here, since it was obvious that Russian girls could take the podium. Zhenya Medvedeva's gold, Lena Radionova's silver, Anya Pogorila's bronze.
I believe that Lena should have been the first in KP, but the judges kept the marks (as I understand it :)
We watch and enjoy!
Florent Amodio announced the end of his amateur career and decided to do so at the European Championships ... As a result, he took fourth place, having given out excellent skates in free dance ...
Javier Fernandez became a four-time European champion. But the silver result of Alexei Bychenko was a pleasant surprise. Considering that after the CP, Maxim Kovtun was the second after Fernandez ... But the Russian did not cope with the nerves in the PP ... True, it is worth saying thanks to Max that at least he went to jumps, and did not start, as usual, for butterflies)
Mikhail Kolyada is in 5th place 
And Sasha Petrov on the 8th 
Sports dances have also pleased us with golden results! A pair of Volosozhar-Trankov become four-time European champions in a fight with a silver pair Savchenko-Massot. Another Russian pair Tarasova / Morozov lost to the Germans. 
The free program of Alena Savchenko and Bruno Massot does not open due to copyright restrictions :(
The third Russian pair Astakhova / Rogonov became the seventh at the Old World Championship. 
So far, the results of a short dance among dancing couples are known, and the alignment is as follows: 1st place is taken by Italians Cappellini / Lannot, the second place among the 2015 world champions - the French Papadikis / Sizeron, the third place went to our compatriots Bobrova / Soloviev.
Since I had not expressed my personal opinion before, I will express myself in the dances) I think that Papadikis / Sizeron should win, and they were held back in CT. I liked their short dance very much. Sensual, light and piercing. Incredible, I fell in love. Although last year did not support everyone's enthusiasm for this pair.
I would have awarded the Italians with silver. But Bobrova and Solovyov, I would not give the bronze, for me, so the same Sinitsina / Katsalapov and Stepanova / Bukin look much more advantageous ...
As soon as the final results of the dancing couples appear, I will certainly inform about it!
Thank you all for your attention!)
Updated 30/01/16 20:01:
As promised, I am adding to the post)
First place (and deservedly so) for the French Papadikis / Sizeron!
UNREAL! I have no other words. I hope they will confirm their title of world champions and maybe become an OCH.
That's, really, why, why ours can't do that? The very same Stepanova / Bukin beat them at the junior level, and at the adult they were a little blown away ...
Second place (rightly) for the Italians Capellini / Lannot
Bobrova / Soloviev retained third place ... Not a masterpiece, IMHO :(
The European Figure Skating Championship ended on Saturday in Bratislava. Russian figure skaters won seven medals - two gold, silver and four bronzes.
Maxim Kovtun - bronze medalist of the championship
The first Russian medalist of the European Championship was Maxim Kovtun. A year earlier, in Stockholm, Kovtun won the silver medal, this time the Russian figure skater was awarded a bronze medal. After the rental of the short program, Maxim took second place, but an unsuccessful performance in the free program, where he showed the sixth result, threw the Russian citizen to the third line. The best figure skater in Europe was the world champion Spaniard Javier Fernandez.
Women's single skating for Russia
The single skating competition among women has ended triumphantly for Russia. The entire pedestal of the European Championship was taken by Russian figure skaters. Evgenia Medvedeva, Elena Radionova and Anna Pogorilaya, having passed a difficult selection at home, as expected, became the best in Europe. They simply had no competitors. But the Russian team also includes Olympic champions Adelina Sotnikova and Yulia Lipnitskaya, as well as world champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.
Sixteen-year-old Evgenia Medveva, who became the European champion, spends her first season at the adult level, and in her piggy bank is not only the gold of the continental championship, but also victories in the Russian championship and the Grand Prix final.
Volosozhar and Trankov are on top again
The Olympic champions before the start of the championship were the undisputed favorites, especially since two other Russian pairs - Yuko Kawaguchi / Alexander Smirnov and the winners of the Grand Prix final Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov - knocked out due to injuries.
According to the skaters themselves, they could have skated both the short and free programs better, but even that was enough to win. and ahead of the German pair Alena Savchenko and Bruno Massot on the sum of the two programs by more than 20 points. The third place was taken by the Russian couple Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov.
Bobrova and Soloviev - the third in ice dancing
In ice dancing, the best Russian couple became the champions of Russia and. The Russians have already become the best in Europe, twice were second, but this time - bronze. 2015 World and European Champions French Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Sizeron were able to defend their title. Italians Cappellini and Lanotte won silver medals.
The Russians Victoria Sinitsina and stopped one step away from the podium - the fourth place, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin - the fifth.