| ISU European Figure Skating Championships | |
| Status: | Active |
| Genre: | Sporting event |
| Date: | January |
| Frequency: | Annual |
| Location: | Various |
| Organised: | ISU |
The European Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European champion. Medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. The event is sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) and 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 continuously since 1891, with only five interruptions, and have been sanctioned by the ISU since 1893. Women were allowed to compete for the first time in 1930, which is also the first time 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.
Although they have not been held continuously, the European Championships are figure skating's oldest championship.[1] The first European Championships were held in 1891 in Hamburg, Germany, and featured one segment, compulsory figures.[2] [3] The event was sponsored by the Austrian and German skating federations after they combined to become one federation.[4] All of the medalists were from Germany; Oskar Uhlig won the first gold medal, Anon Schmitson came in second place, and Franz Zilly was third.[3]
The 1893 European Championships were the first time the event was held under the jurisdiction of the International Skating Union (ISU), which was formed in the summer of 1892. The championships were sponsored by the Berlin Skating Club and organized by the German/Austrian federation.[5] Figure skating historian James Hines called the 1893 European Championships "clearly a success from a skating standpoint",[5] 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".[5] The Berlin Skating Club declared Henning Grenander the winner, but the ISU declared Eduard Engelmann the winner. The problem was never resolved, but in 1895, the ISU declared the 1893 results invalid. 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".[5] There were no European Championships for two years, which Hines speculated was because of the small number of contestants in 1894 and 1895, although the competition returned in 1898.[1] Hines also reported that the European Championships were cancelled in 1902 and 1903 "for lack of ice".[3] By the beginning of World War I, twenty European Championships had been held.[7] 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. All members of the ISU, not just skaters from Europe, were allowed to compete at the Europeans Championships until 1948, although before World War II, three non-Europeans competed in the European Championships.[10] [11] After Barbara Ann Scott from Canada and Dick Button from the United States won the 1948 European Championships, whilst the best European single skaters Eva Pawlik of Austria and Hans Gerschwiler of Switzerland were awarded the silver medals, the competition was restricted to European skaters.[12] [13] Ice dance was added in 1954.[14] Competitions were held in outdoor rinks until 1967, when the ISU ruled that both the European and World Championships be held in covered ice rinks.[7]
Only those competitors who are "members of a European ISU Member"[15] are eligible to compete in the European Championships. Each ISU member country can send at least one competitor per discipline and a maximum of three competitors per discipline, if they earn the minimum total element scores, which is determined and published each season by the ISU, during the current or during the immediately previous season.[16] Skaters who earn the minimum elements score/points during the Olympic season or during the immediately previous season, as established for the European and Four Continents championships, are eligible to compete in the Olympics.[17]
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 July 1 of the previous year.[18] At the ISU Congress held in Phuket, Thailand, 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 will increase to 17 years old during the 2024–25 season.[19]
The number of additional competitors eligible to compete from ISU member countries is determined by the accumulation of points "equal to the sum of placements of their Competitors who were entered in this preceding season's Championships".[20] Single skaters who do not qualify for the free skating program after being entered in the short program receive 18 points towards the entry quota. Pairs teams and ice dancers who enter the short program or rhythm dance but do not qualify for the free skate or free dance receive the number of points equal to their placement in the short program and rhythm dance (however if this placement is lower than 18, only 18 points will be awarded). Skaters who move forward to the free skate or free dance, but do not place higher than 16th place, are awarded 16 points. Skaters who withdraw from the competition and were not able to complete the free skate or free dance, but who were in the top 10 in the short program or rhythm dance, are not considered for the entry quota. If an ISU member country sends three competitors to a competition, only the two best-scoring skaters and teams will count for points.[20] Each member country of the ISU, for each discipline, can enter one substitute per entry "only if their ISU Members have withdrawn the name of their Competitors initially entered for the concerned discipline at least one hour before the first draw".[21]
| Number of entries this year | Points required to earn three entries the next year | Points required to earn two entries the next year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | Placement in the top two | Placement in the top ten | |
| Two | Total placements equal to or less than 13 | Total placements equal to or less than 28 | |
| Three | Top two placements equal to or less than 13 | Top two placements equal to or less than 28 |
See main article: European Figure Skating Championships cumulative medal count.