2025 Europeans: Thoughts

[gsk8]

For those who want to a recap with quotes. Share your thoughts if you watched!

Germany's Hase and Volodin claim first European Pairs' title

2025 European Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin claimed their first European title in Tallinn,

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Niina Petrokina captures first European title on home ice

2025 European Figure Skating Championships: Women Niina Petrokina of Estonia gave the performance of her lifetime in the free skate, capturing her first

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Guignard and Fabbri snag third consecutive European title

2025 European Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy maintained their overnight lead to snag their third

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Lukas Britschgi soars to European title

2025 European Figure Skating Championships: Men Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland soared from eighth place to capture the European title on Saturday night in

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[moonvine]

Not sure I’ve ever seen a group of men men quite so hard.

 

[4everchan]

Not sure I’ve ever seen a group of men men quite so hard.

That sums it up.

 

[moonvine]

That sums it up.

Hey at least my doctor made it to the free.

 

[TontoK]

Mixed bag.

All of the winners deserved their gold medals, even if I might generally like other kinds of programs.

Overall, the event was messy and unsatisfying to watch. Or maybe it's just me; I haven't been in the best frame of mind to enjoy skating the past few days.

 

[Mathematician]

Never watch mens, not even Russian nevermind international, but some acquaintances convinced me to watch the last group and I enjoyed the tall Italian guy. Sad for Egadze.

 

[DancingCactus]

If I put aside all the sad skating related stuff that happened this week, I quite enjoyed the event.

As I mentioned in another thread, my hero is Shin Amano. Dodgy jumps were punished.

I'm not really invested in any of the women but the last 2 groups had some great performances in both short and free. Niina winning was of course a fairy tale moment. Kimmy has so much potential.

I don't really watch pairs, but I'm curious to see if the German press and public are going to acknowledge the existence of figure skating going forward.

Despite the men menning hard, there was a lot I enjoyed: The Selevko bros' shorts, Adam's short, all things Deniss, Matteo's beautiful skating, Memola's hair, Georgian Fed lady...

I'm bored of the Italians always winning in ID, but at the same time very happy the French got silver. They are unique and I love their cyberpunk FS. I would have dropped Lilah and Lewis off the podium because their programs feel stale at this point and the execution wasn't that good either. I wonder if they're going to switch it up for Olympic season or do another set of party programs.
The Finns were great and Olivia and Tim had the skate of the day. This is THE Dune program. I'm glad the judges agreed. Still salty about how the Taschlers always get shafted. No clue who thought Allison's dress was a good idea.

 

[TT_Fin]

Except so many roof skates this was the most exiting competition in many years in singles. You have to wait until the final scores to know how are the medalists, I like this. I do wish everybody went clean, of course. Finland loosing a spot in women was disappointing but not surprising, while earning third spot in ID was a small, but IMO not big, surprise.

Sweet Lukas is so modest saying there are better skaters than him - well he was the best one this time and that counts, the best of the day wins, not the ones who have scored more before. I am very happy for Niina too. Only thing I would complain is the same as some other, Deniss would have deserved to be 3rd in FS.

I decided to watch local TV this time as they broadcasted everything on their Internet channel, as they have used to do previous years in EC and WC. Listening to commentator who has been the highest level judge in all disciplines is interesting. There is a lot he can say immediately during program, especially urs. He is very impartial: if our local skater does not full rotate or makes small mistakes, he dares to say it too. Often fans disagree with judges, but Mika S. has no reason to say anything but the truth. Most of the time he agrees, but sometimes not. Mika also said in close cases the decision is made thinking about the benefit of the skaters, though fan do not want to believe it. He retired judging because of his own will.

 

[eppen]

I was pleased I had decided to stay at home instead of going to Tallinn.

Though it has to be said, the women's competition without any obvious frontrunners was quite exciting to the end (could have been nice to experience it live) and I am especially pleased that Niina Petrokina kept her cool and skated to the championship! She has been a favourite for a long time and I have been hoping her to get good performances that would lift her to where I think she deserves to be!

I don't follow pairs much usually, but was struck by Minerva Fabienne Hase's brilliance at the GPF and was very happy to see them on top of the podium.

Ice dance leaves me really cold these days, but for a change I watched a bit of it. Still cold, but Smart/Dieck's Dune was excellent. Would have wanted to see Turkkila/Versluis on the podium (national bias maybe speaking here?) since I think for some reason Fear/Gibson really awful in whatever they do. (I think they deserve a fair bit of sheer hate just for what they did to Stevie Wonder's Superstition in the music cut for the rhythm dance.)

Men were not particularly great. I was very delighted by Shin Amano's relentless examination of edge and rotation problems: only 4 men out of 24 in the free had neither (last year 8/24 had the occasional rotation/edge call, 10/24 in 2023). I only wish all tech specialists would be as good as he is... This was also a reminder that the lack of/low rates of rotation calls in many a men's competition in the past could be just because only the most egregious cases have been considered (because men don't underrotate, right?).

It was surprising to see Samoilov get 3 good jumps in a row in the short and give even a bit of attention to the other bits outside big jumps in his free. Egadze is marginally better than Kvitelashvili, but seeing him trying to do L'Enfer after Andrew Torgashev's rather definitive choreo and interpretation left me with feelings of shame for him. Luckily, both skated to their usual level in the free and dropped out of podium positions.

Lukas Britschgi is perhaps not the most talented skater either technically or in presentation, but what he does, he does with excellent quality and consistency (well, some problems this season). Plus his team keeps finding him music & themes he can commit to and look good doing them. The steps in his short are one of my faves this season! he skated lights out in the free and got the deserved win!

Adam's injury situation considered it was great he managed to do what he did. I am pleased with a medal though it is a pity his winning streak et Euros was cut - he would have been a worthy follower to match Javi's 7 consecutive wins.

ADD: And it is a pity Valtter Virtanen popped the 4T in the free (he said he landed one in the warm-up and it excited him a bit too much so that focus on the free went away). At 37 and a half, he would have been the oldest skater to try a quad in a major championship - Bychenko is at the moment the oldest to try at 34 years in 2022 Olys. Bychenko gets also the oldest to land a good quad internationally at 33 years in the fall 2021. (Nobunari Oda is the oldest with a good quad in any kind of competition since he got one at the JPN Nats in December at 37.)

I was a little surprised to see all fourth position skaters to get invited to the gala but not Turkkila and Versluis - they were replaced by Davis/Smolkin and one just wonders what kind of politics played part in that decision...

E

 

[eppen]

I decided to watch local TV this time as they broadcasted everything on their Internet channel, as they have used to do previous years in EC and WC. Listening to commentator who has been the highest level judge in all disciplines is interesting. There is a lot he can say immediately during program, especially urs. He is very impartial: if our local skater does not full rotate or makes small mistakes, he dares to say it too. Often fans disagree with judges, but Mika S. has no reason to say anything but the truth. Most of the time he agrees, but sometimes not. Mika also said in close cases the decision is made thinking about the benefit of the skaters, though fan do not want to believe it. He retired judging because of his own will.

I live abroad and can't get to watch most of Areena since I don't have an address in Finland anymore, which is a bummer since I would be often curious to hear what Mika Saarelainen says... Especially now that he can say whatever he wants not being a judge anymore. (Gotta take a few moments to review these if they're still up when I come to Finland the next time.)

It is annoying that the ISU streams have now always a commentator since I would often prefer not to hear the sillinesses they have to say. Chris Howarth is quite dreadful in his mannerisms but at least he kept referring to the judging process so that you could follow what was happening before the final score was revealed. There was some minor competition in the fall that showed the element list and progression of reviews in the stream which I thought was a brill service. That could explain the judging process to the casual viewer more than just explaining it verbally by the commentators (which is easy to miss in a long competition broadcast).

Oh, and here in Tallinn, I really hated the moving camera arm in the left side of the rink. Weird shots and angles, spins against audience background so that it was sometimes difficult to see what the skater was doing etc.

E

 

[ladyjane]

Well, although at the start of the competitions I was very negatively distracted and sombre (my eyes kept welling up) by the awful news from across the pond, it turned out to be quite a nice championship.

The men obviously were menning (when do they not), but I was enthusiastic about Lucas' FS, hoped he might even get on the podium with that Skate, and the result was even better. Good to see Nikolaj having a good skate again. And Dennis? I was really excited about his skate. He is always wonderful to watch, but this was exquisite. Although Matteo was not at his best, I am not really worried. He's done enough to show the surgery has really worked, and he is prone to improve further. Adam did good as well. The Selevko brothers were back in their menning ways. A pity it happened in both their FS (particularly Alexandr). The first half of the FS was nice too, although Valtter seemed tired, which I had never seen before). All-on-all an exciting men's event

I love pairs, and always will. Good to see Minerva Fabienne and Nikita not falling apart in the FS like last year. Enjoyable skates both in the Short and the Free. The Georgians were the menning ones here. What a FS. If they had done that in the SP, I guess they could have been the champions instead. Pleased for Sara and Niccolo who also had nice skates. Ioulia's smile is back with a vengeance. Good skates for her and Michal. Anastasiia and Luke had the best Championship ever. An excellent SP, a good FS. The Hungarians are 4th again. Felt a bit sorry for them, but the Georgian explosion led them to need a clean FS. It was not to be. I felt sorry for Daria and Michel as well, who did not skate their best. These things happen, but I hope they'll do better at Worlds.

Even ID was exciting. Not to the degree of the men's when you never know what you get, but still. I am happy for Charlene and Marco, they skated well but their programme will never be my cup of tea (which I don't drink, but that's not the point). Standouts were Olivia and Tim's Dune FD and Juulia and Mattias' tango FD. They might not have been the best skated, they did move me the most. I was pleased for Evgenia and Geoffrey who have been knocking on the door for quite a while, and they finally madee it through. Loved the Czech (both couples) in the RD and the FD. I remember Phebes dress in the SP so well, so reflective of the 60s vibe. She and James also skated well. Yuka and Yuho made me smile once again.

I might watch some of the Women's later, but as all know, that is my least favourite discipline.

 

[lariko]

I too found the competition unfortunately overshadowed by the tragic news from the States. Because of that, i watched the old recordings of Naumov's parents, and well, they overshadowed the current pair skaters.

Overall, for me, it had a couple of big dissapointments, like Tkachenko and Kilyakov withdrawing due to injury, Kudryavtzeva/Karankevych not qualifying, Mrazkovs not performing to their potential, Samoilov bombing the free, Gutmann and Grassl being out of top 5...

There were some bright moments, with all the gold medalists being awesome, Memola and Vasiliejvs delivering, L/B achieving silver, but I guess, for me this kind of personal stories are just not enough. The competition below the podium was messy, even in the last group, with not just technical average going down, but also...I am sorry, despite all the encouragement for the other component of skating, and mature mastery, I didn't see anything notable there. It's the same aging skaters skating just as they always did, with no next generation bursting forth.

I mean, maybe if I wasn't in a gloomy mood, I would have liked it more...as it stands, I expect the junior nationals next week to be much more to my liking.

 

[brblja]

I’m gonna join everyone’s raving about the judging on the men’s side. Can someone please clone Mr. Amano, so we can have this level of tech calls each time? I also loved sitting across the judges instead of behind them as I usually do, because he gets adorably intense during replays/judging time.

I did not expect Lukas Britschgi to win, but it was very well deserved - not only was he near-flawless, but watching him over several seasons he has shown such growth in performance/skating skills. Egadze’s free skate PCS were a travesty (75?? Really?!) and had no reasonable justification, especially compared to earlier competitors who have shown better skills/performance but got 10 points lower. Adam seemed really disappointed, but so close after an injury (and tbh looking like it wasn’t fully healed, it was a great effort. Tho I’m worried what that Swiss exo tour will do to his ankle.

On the ladies side, Léa Serna also looked disappointed when she was leaving the ice after the free, but actually had a pretty good effort! Great redemption after the free. And I don’t envy the French Fed having now choose 1 woman for the Worlds. And I’m happy that after some pretty questionable judging/refereeing in the short, things were better in the free.

Skating aside, the event organization was pretty great! I’m definitely coming back next year for the Junior Worlds!

 

[throw_triple_flip]

I thought this was a really entertaining European championships. Better than last year. Niina winning the title at home was like something out of a fairytale. She really deserved it. We all know how good she is and she finally managed to put it all together

The men's free was messy but that made for unpredictable and exciting viewing. Lukas Britschgi was phenomenal.
Though with better spin levels Nikolaj Memola could have won. He's been having issues with them all season though.Really enjoyed the change of programs from him, and Rizzo as well. I also wonder if Deniss Vasiljevs might've had a shot at a podium finish if he'd played it safe an not attempted a quad in the short.

It was interesting to hear Chris Howarth questioning the similarity of the composition component scores between Lev Vinokur and Fedir Kulish. It's clear to me that component judging is not good enough- maybe expecting judges to mark GOE and components at the same time is too much. Maybe seperate panels is the way to go.

The ice dance was really interesting, the obvious favourites won, but they weren't so far ahead that they could afford to make mistakes. Plausibly, any one of the four top teams could've won. That straight line lift in Guignard and Fabbri's free still looks scary and could've easily gone wrong. Perhaps they're being just a bit too ambitious with it.
And maybe Finnish team should've been on the podium ahead of the British team?

Great standard in the Pairs. I think the Germans will be a tough team to beat this Worlds. Also good to see the Georgians overcome a poor short and skate a free that well. I hope them doing both junior and senior worlds isn't a mistake- it seemed too much for them to do both last year.

I'm from the UK and it was nice for team GB to have a pretty decent showing. The younger ice dance team were phenomenal, Kristen Spours made the top ten (her inconsistency made me worry a bit), an ice dance medal (even if it wasn't the one they were hoping for), Edward Appleby making the free... Vaipan Law and Digby making the top group and finishing fifth was a standout moment of the entire event.

 

[skatesofgold]

The men's event was rough yesterday, but I just finished watching the women's event this morning and enjoyed it.

 

[DancingCactus]

Euros is definitely stronger in dance and Pairst than 4CC this season. So many innovative dance teams from so many different countries. In 4CC ID we have Canada, US and maybe the young Chinese team. Some top pair skaters, but only two teams that can on paper place higher than the top teams from Europe I think?

 

[RatedPG]

Euros is definitely stronger in dance and Pairst than 4CC this season. So many innovative dance teams from so many different countries. In 4CC ID we have Canada, US and maybe the young Chinese team. Some top pair skaters, but only two teams that can on paper place higher than the top teams from Europe I think?

I think 4CC is a bit stronger.

I think ID podium spots will be better at 4CC due to strength of USA and CAN. After the top five spots, I agree that Europe is stronger.

For Pairs, I think USA, CAN, JPN are a bit stronger at 4CC than Europeans for top 6 placements. The Canadians and Japanese pair teams are reigning worlds gold and silver medalists. Also, the winners of US Nationals are probably my faves and Trentt/Lia look poised to have better skates than GEO/HUN teams for 3rd/4th.

 

[Skating91]

I disagree, although in a rather uninformed way.

I haven't kept up intently with the Russians, but from what I've seen, their men, in particular... not the titans you seem to think they'd be.

Of course, none of the men did well across both programs, so if they could have stood up, most anyone could have been in the mix.

Dikidzhi at the Russian Championships had a BV 9 points higher in the short program and 10 points higher in the free skate then the winner of Europeans. This is Britschgi having the skate of this life too. Semenenko had a BV in the free skate 6 points higher, Lutfullin 8 points higher, Ignatov 6 points higher, Kondratiuk 8 points higher, you get the picture.

6 of the top 8 finishers in the free skate at the Russian championships had 4 quads, two had 3 quads, lot of them doing the quad in a 4-3 combo which very few skaters at Europeans can do let only cleanly. All 18 competitors at the Russian championships have quads.

Only three skaters at Europeans had three quads, no-one 4 quads, many don't even have a quad at all (9/24 in the free skate).

 

[cailuj365]

It was hard to watch figure skating this week. Took me until Saturday for the men's FS to get interested again in what was going on for this competition.

I'm gonna go against the grain and say that I do not like technical callers like Shin Amano. I'm totally in favor of the trend toward stricter calls, because let's be real, many of them were blatantly ignored in the last few years, but to me, we are bordering on parody with the < and q's this season. Who's skating here, the skater or Shin? I hate when I see gorgeous, difficult combos like Deniss' 4S+3T in the FS, a visually beautiful combo that immediately earned +2.4 GOE in real-time and the arena erupted with excitement, get knocked down here by all the underrotation calls and end up with a -2.11 GOE, scoring less than a 3S+3T. Someone rewatch Deniss' first two jumps in the LP. How does his first 4S get a < and the second 4S (visibly underrotated and it affected his landing) only get a q? If anything, it should be the opposite. Nevermind the q he got on the 3T, which I also disagreed with. What is the point of Deniss working so hard to get 4S in the program? I want to celebrate his achievement, yet looking at these scores, it's just deflating, literally. I know Deniss no longer really skates for the scores, but congrats on your -2.1 GOE, I guess? So no, I don't think Shin Amano is a hero. I was appalled at people cheering at him getting up close to the monitors to rewatch slow-mo replays. This is how we want to watch figure skating now? I don't.

OK, rant over, and I'm totally OK if I'm the only one who feels this way but I just wanted it posted.

I was really happy for Lukas and Nikolaj, especially Lukas, who has had such a struggle this whole season. At his best, he is such a solid and interesting skater, both technically and artistically. He's like a European Torgashev for me.

I find Nikolaj to be very elegant. He's definitely becoming my favorite of the Italian men. Difficult decision for the Italian fed, but I'd send Memola and Grassl to Worlds. Let's chalk up Grassl's poor performance here to exhaustion after having also skated at Winter Universiade, where he did beat Kagiyama in the FS. I'm also really glad to see Adam feel well enough to start to compete though he is obviously not at 100%. I really like the choreographic changes to his SP.

I like Hase/Volodin a lot, but the more I see them this season, the less I like the programs. They are champions for their consistency and mental strength though, which counts for a lot in my book.
I want to give Ghilardi and Ambrosini a 0 on all of their SBS jumps. It physically pains me to watch these elements. Just don't even try.

Great for Petrokina to win in her home country. Well deserved.

I don't watch ice dance.

 

[Skating91]

I too, haven't followed Russian skaters for a while... There's one thing I know though, is that traditionally, they have had generous calls in their own nationals.

I'd be interested to have Shin Amano look at their quad rotation and Lutz edges. I'd also love an international panel to judge them on PCS.

Some Russian skaters, aliev and gumenik to name only two have been wonderful to watch but many like semenko and kondratiuk aren't. I heard the top quadster is not a great skater other than jumps.

Lukas may only have the quad toe but his skating skills and spins are really good. To me, he's a complete skater

That's why I mentioned BV and number or quads attempted, rather than just overall scores. Any skater with 2 quads vs someone with 4 quads and consistently lands them is at a distinct disadvantage every time they skate.