Russia shines in European Figure Skating Championships

Russia's 15-year-old Kamila Valieva became the women's champion here on Saturday at the International Skating Union (ISU) European Figure Skating Championships, reported Xinhua.

In the women's free program, Valieva scored 168.61 points and accumulated 259.06 points in total to take the title, after earning 90.45 points in the women's short program on Thursday.

Valieva's teammate and the 2021 World Champion, Anna Anna Shcherbakova, moved up from fourth in the women's short program to claim the silver with 168.37 points in the free program and 237.42 points in total. Russia's Alexandra Trusova earned the bronze with 159.23 points in the free program and 234.36 points in total.

Earlier on Saturday, Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia retained their European Ice Dance title after a performance of 130.07 points in the free dance and 217.96 points in total.

Russia's Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin earned the silver medal with 126.75 points in the free dance and 213.20 points in total, while Italy's Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri collected the bronze with 124.26 points in the free dance and 207.97 points in total.

Katsalapov said, "This competition before the Olympics is a huge motivation for us."

Fabbri said, "It's a very important test before the Olympics Games and we proved we can skate well even in the difficult situations."

The championships, starting on January 12, end on Sunday with an exhibition gala.