Anita Östlund, Landvetter figure skating club, broke through at the European Championships as a 16-year-old but has had a tough time in the major championships since then. With the gold medal today, she gives herself a greater chance to go to the European Championships in Graz, Austria on January 20-26, where the selection will take place on Wednesday.
She secured the gold medal by winning by a large margin in the decisive free program. With 103.50 points, she had a big margin down to second Emelie Ling, 92.72, who combed home the bronze with a fifth place in the short program. The silver went to Josefin Taljegård who was third in both programs.
On the men's side, there was a display from Nikolaj Majorov, Luleå figure skating club, who won fairly easily with two almost flawless rides. His 140.50 points in the free program crushed everyone else, where Ilya Solomin was closest, with 104.67.
- I am really pleased that I achieved my goal of going beyond the 200-point limit by 15 points. I am very pleased with the short program. I haven't done so well in recent competitions so I took in now and it went really well.
- I do not see that I can not go because it is still a first place and quite high points. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be one of those going.