Why do you watch European Championships?

[TT_Fin]

Now I definitely want to see Janna Jyrkinen! If she can really be that good then it's not bad for other Finnish girls at all because more entries in major competitions will be secured because of her good results *sighs at the entry that Latvia could not fill this EC*

Interesting news about GB women, too. But for this I guess we need to wait for WC...

Janna had the highest technical content at FS at Espoo GP from all the skaters. Her teammate Iida Karhunen is one year younger and is now leading the EYOF after girl's SP. They both have got so high FS TES in several competitions that those would be enough in men at worlds and if not SP, at least close. They have the same coach very similar contents and also jumping style is close to each other.

This year I am watching because it I can go and watch live most of the competition. I definitely will watch every performance when I get there which is quite soon after I send this post.

 

[surimi]

I watch EC for the same reason I watch 4CC: I enjoy watching the variety of skaters from various countries, of various levels. That's even more interesting than the GP for me. I enjoy watching smaller events for the same reason, too, but there's often not enough time to catch up with everything. Unless one picks only certain skaters, which is not my cup of tea, I enjoy full streams.
That said, channels and copyrights are certainly not making it easy to watch skating, even archived skating. I tried the free VPN that comes with Opera, and perhaps I'm doing something wrong, but I'm geoblocked again. I guess I'm stuck with my country's channel and their cuts.

 

[DancingCactus]

I don't know, I've come to realise there is a certain level of skating that just does nothing for me. During the GP series or the WC there usually are skaters in the earlier groups who you don't see often yet who might still bring something interesting to the table.
These Europeans I've watched men and women and I was mostly bored until the last two groups. With the women maybe even until the last.

 

[labgoat]

I like and admire many of the European skaters and like to do my homework on them before Worlds.

 

[ladyjane]

Surimi is so right: I enjoy watching the variety of skaters from various countries, of various levels. My point exactly. And, in my view, 4CC only gets skipped in Olympic years because it's so close (in time), not because skaters feel it's beneath them. Come on. it might not have the history of Europeans, it's a prestigious event. Always. And.. whoever takes part. I am going to (re)watch!!!!!

 

[Anna K.]

Janna had the highest technical content at FS at Espoo GP from all the skaters. Her teammate Iida Karhunen is one year younger and is now leading the EYOF after girl's SP. They both have got so high FS TES in several competitions that those would be enough in men at worlds and if not SP, at least close. They have the same coach very similar contents and also jumping style is close to each other.

This year I am watching because it I can go and watch live most of the competition. I definitely will watch every performance when I get there which is quite soon after I send this post.

Congratulations with home EC!
Judging from live streams, it should be great to watch in the arena. The place wasn't crowded but the atmosphere felt great and the skaters definitely got the support they needed

Janna is so young. She might be one of the very last so young athletes on the senior stage, actually. It will be interesting to watch her development in comparison with her teammate's who will only be eligible for her senior debut 3 years later according to the new rules. But I must say that this young lady definitely has the nerves to withstand pressure. It was a solid debut and 2 spots for Finnish girls for the next year is a realistic target.

And it looks like there could be 3 Swiss girls in the next EC. Fingers crossed that they get that third spot because there are girls waiting for it in the reserves (Sorina Joos and Alexia Paganini).
Which is by the way yet another reason to watch EC: just to be up to date with how the European figure skating geography is changing

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I watch to see how outrageous the scoring gets.

I mean, Russia is absent this year though. So the judges aren't being compelled to take their PCS-enhancing drugs.

Europe has a lot of fun, quirky skaters which we don't really get to see on the international stage because often people are trying to make "judge-friendly" programs and are afraid to take risks in their program selections. That's a big reason I tune into Europeans... they seem more tapped into the "artistic" side of figure skating and several of them (even lesser-known/less-technically-superb skaters and teams) go for concepts not just content.

 

[Ares]

Well, I am from Europe!