Graz (Austria) (AFP)
The Russian Alena Kostornaia offered her first coronation of European figure skating champion, at sixteen, standing up to her young compatriots, authors of the first quadruple jumps in the history of continental competition, Saturday in Graz ( Austria).
Kostornaia won with a total of 240.81 points, ahead of Anna Shcherbakova (237.76) and Alexandra Trusova (225.34), both fifteen, who became, just before her passage on the ice, the first two to succeed in "quads" at the European Championships.
But Trusova, especially, and Shcherbakova, too, paid for their falls and unsuccessful jumps on some of their quadruple rotation attempts.
Kostornaia, who occupied the lead at the end of the short program on Friday, built her success on two Axel triples, another complex rotation of three and a half laps, and on her superior artistic qualities.
Russia has managed a full box: it pocketed the four gold medals distributed during the week, thanks to Dmitri Aliev on the men's side, Aleksandra Boikava and Dmitrii Kozlovskii in pairs, Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsapalov in dance, and now Kostornaia.
© 2020 AFP