The European Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU). Medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. The event is the sport's oldest competition. The first European Championships were held in 1891 in Hamburg, Germany, and featured one segment – compulsory figures – with seven competitors. They have been held since 1891 with only five interruptions. Women were allowed to compete for the first time in 1930, which was also when pair 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 in the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.
Ulrich Salchow of Sweden holds the record for the most European championships won in men's singles (with nine),[1] while Irina Slutskaya of Russia holds the record for the most championships won in women's singles (with seven).[2]Irina Rodnina of the Soviet Union holds the record for the most championships won in pair skating (with eleven); four while partnered with Alexei Ulanov and another seven with Alexander Zaitsev.[3]Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov of the Soviet Union hold the record for the most championships won in ice dance (with six).[4]
Although they have not been held continuously, the European Championships are the oldest championship competition in figure skating.[6] The first European Championships were held in 1891 in Hamburg, Germany, and featured only one segment: compulsory figures.[6] The event was sponsored by the Austrian and German skating federations after they had combined to become one federation.[7] All of the medalists were from Germany: Oskar Uhlig won the first gold medal, A. Schmitson finished in second place, and Franz Zilly was third.[6]
The 1893 European Championships were the first time that the event was held under the jurisdiction of the International Skating Union, which was formed in the summer of 1892.[6] The championships were sponsored by the Berlin Skating Club and organized by the German/Austrian federation.[6] Figure skating historian James Hines called the 1893 European Championships "clearly a success from a skating standpoint",[6] 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".[6] The Berlin Skating Club had declared Henning Grenander the winner, but the ISU had declared Eduard Engelmann the winner.[6] The problem was never resolved, but in 1895, the ISU declared the 1893 results invalid.[6] ISU historian Benjamin T. Wright said that the controversy "nearly led to the demise" of the newly formed ISU.[6]
The next two European Championships, 1894 and 1895, "experienced a marked decrease in participation, perhaps a result of the scoring debacle".[6] 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 in 1898.[6] Hines also reported that the European Championships were cancelled in 1902 and 1903 "for lack of ice".[8] By the beginning of World War I, twenty European Championships had been held.[8] There were three more interruptions of the European Championships: between 1915 and 1922 due to World War I, between 1940 and 1946 due to World War II, and in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8][9]
Only men competed at the European Championships until 1930, when women's singles and pair skating were added.[6] All members of the ISU, not just skaters from Europe, were allowed to compete at the Europeans Championships until 1948.[6] After Barbara Ann Scott of Canada and Dick Button of the United States won the 1948 European Championships, while Eva Pawlik of Austria and Hans Gerschwiler of Switzerland were awarded the silver medals, the competition was restricted to European skaters.[10][11][6]Ice dance was added in 1954.[8] Competitions were held in outdoor rinks until 1967, when the ISU ruled that both the European and World Championships had to be held in covered ice rinks.[8]
Qualifying
Only those competitors who are "members of a European ISU Member" are eligible to compete in the European Championships.[12] Each ISU member country can send 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.[12]
Age restrictions have changed throughout the history of the European Championships. Until the 2023–24 figure skating season, skaters had to be at least 15 years old before 1 July of the previous year.[13] At the ISU Congress held in June 2022, members of the ISU Council accepted a proposal to gradually increase the minimum age limit for senior competition to 17 years old beginning from 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 years old during the 2023–24 season, and then to 17 years old during the 2024–25 season.[14]
1 2 The 1903 European Championships were first reassigned to Stockholm, Sweden, before they were ultimately cancelled due to a small number of entrants.
Hines, James R. (2015). Figure Skating in the Formative Years: Singles, Pairs, and the Expanding Role of Women. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN978-0-252-03906-5.
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