After a disappointing freestyle performance, Dortmund's Nikita Starostin only came 15th at the European Figure Skating Championships in Espoo, Finland.

The 20-year-old Russian and 13th place at the European Championships in 2022 could hardly master a jump without making any mistakes or without a fall and only scored 197.97 points.

The talented runner finished the short program in tenth place.

The Frenchman Adam Siao Him Fa clearly won the European title with 267.77 points.

Second was Matteo Rizzo from Italy with 259.92 points.

Surprisingly, the Swiss Lukas Britschgi (248.01) secured the bronze medal.

German duo hopes for top ten

Two-time German ice dance champions Jennifer Janse van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan made a strong start to their debut at the European Championships.

In the rhythm dance, the people of Oberstdorf finished ninth with 67.90 points.

This gives them the chance to finish in the top ten in the final standings in the freestyle on Saturday (5:30 p.m.), which would give them two German starting places for the next season.

The Italians, Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri, who were third at the European Championships, took the lead with 85.53 points.

Like Belarus, Russia, Europe's number one figure skating nation, is not at the start.

Both countries have been excluded from the European Championship because of the war of aggression against Ukraine.