TheEuropean Figure Skating Championships are an annualfigure skating competition sanctioned by theInternational Skating Union (ISU). They are figure skating's oldest competition. The first European Championships were held in 1891 inHamburg, Germany, and featured only one segment –compulsory figures – with seven competitors. They have only been interrupted five times since 1891. Women were allowed to compete for the first time in 1930, which was also whenpair skating was added to the competition.Ice dance was added in 1954. Only eligible skaters from ISU member countries in Europe are allowed to compete, while skaters from countries outside of Europe instead compete at theFour Continents Figure Skating Championships.
Medals are awarded inmen's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance.Ulrich Salchow of Sweden holds the record for winning the most European Championship titles in men's singles (with nine), whileIrina Slutskaya of Russia holds the record in women's singles (with seven).Irina Rodnina andAlexander Zaitsev of the Soviet Union hold the record in pair skating (with seven), although Rodnina won an additional four titles with a previous partner.Lyudmila Pakhomova andAleksandr Gorshkov of the Soviet Union hold the record in ice dance (with six), althoughGuillaume Cizeron of France also won six titles in ice dance, but not with the same partner.
Although they have not been held continuously, the European Championships are the oldest championship competition infigure skating. The first European Championships were held in1891 inHamburg, Germany, and featured only one segment:compulsory figures.[1] The event was sponsored by the skating federations of Austria and Germany after they had combined to become one federation.[2] All of the medalists were from Germany:Oskar Uhlig won the first gold medal,A. Schmitson finished in second place, andFranz Zilly was third.[1]
The1893 European Championships were the first to be held under the jurisdiction of theInternational Skating Union (ISU), which had formed in the summer of 1892. The championships were sponsored by the Berlin Skating Club and organized by the German/Austrian federation.[1] Figure skating historian James Hines called the 1893 European Championships "clearly a success from a skating standpoint",[1] but it also marked figure skating's "first major controversy", due to "different interpretations of the scoring rules, which could result in a tie depending upon one's interpretation of them".[1] The Berlin Skating Club had declaredHenning Grenander the winner, but the ISU declaredEduard Engelmann Jr. of Austria the winner.[1] According to Hines, the discrepancy in scoring was due to the interpretation of the scoring rules, resulting in a possible tie.[3] The problem was never resolved, but in 1895, the ISU declared the 1893 results invalid and rules were established that made sure that discrepancies due to differences in scoring interpretations could not occur again.[1][3] ISU historian Benjamin T. Wright said that the controversy "nearly led to the demise" of the newly formed ISU.[1]
The next two European Championships,1894 and1895, "experienced a marked decrease in participation, perhaps a result of the scoring debacle".[1] There were no European Championships for two years, which Hines speculated was due to the small number of contestants in 1894 and 1895, although the competition returned in1898.[1] Hines also reported that the European Championships were cancelled in 1902 and 1903 "for lack of ice".[4] By the beginning ofWorld War I, twenty European Championships had been held.[4] There were three more interruptions of the European Championships: between 1915 and 1922 due to World War I, between 1940 and 1946 due toWorld War II,[4] and in2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[5]
Only men competed at the European Championships until 1930, whenwomen's singles andpair skating were added.[1] Members of all ISU nations, not just those from Europe, were allowed to compete at the Europeans Championships until 1948.[1] AfterBarbara Ann Scott of Canada andDick Button of the United States won the1948 European Championships, whileEva Pawlik of Austria andHans Gerschwiler of Switzerland were awarded the silver medals, the competition was restricted to European skaters.[6][7][1]Ice dance was added in 1954.[4] Competitions were held in outdoor rinks until 1967, when the ISU ruled that both the European andWorld Championships had to be held in covered ice rinks.[4]
Only competitors who are "members of a European ISU Member" are eligible to compete in the European Championships.[9] Each ISU member country can submit at least one competitor per discipline, with a maximum of three competitors per discipline if they have earned the minimum total element scores, which is determined and published each season by the ISU, during the current or immediately previous season.[9]
Age restrictions have changed throughout the history of the European Championships. Until the2023–24 figure skating season, skaters had to be at least 15 years old before 1 July of the previous year.[10] At theISU Congress held in June 2022, members of theISU Council accepted a proposal to gradually increase the minimum age limit for senior competition to 17 beginning with the 2024–25 season. To avoid forcing skaters who had already competed in the senior category to return to juniors, the age limit remained unchanged during the 2022–23 season, before increasing to 16 during the 2023–24 season, and then to 17 during the 2024–25 season.[11]
^abThe 1903 European Championships were first reassigned toStockholm, Sweden, before they were ultimately cancelled due to a small number of entrants.[12]
^abcdeHines, James R. (2011).Historical Dictionary of Figure Skating. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. pp. xxii–xxiv, 6, 83, 96.ISBN978-0-8108-6859-5.
Russia †[a]
Soviet Union †
Austria
France
Great Britain
East Germany †
Czechoslovakia †
Italy
West Germany †
Sweden
Hungary
Spain
Netherlands
Norway
Switzerland
Ukraine
Georgia
Finland
CIS †[b]
Belgium
Estonia
Canada †[c]
United States †[c]
Poland
Bulgaria
Israel
Yugoslavia †
Lithuania
Latvia
