Kamila Valieva clinches European figure skating title despite not being at brilliant best

She may not have been at her very sparkling best, but there was simply no catching Kamila Valieva at the 2022 European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, on Saturday (15 January).

By her undoubtedly lofty standards, the world record score holder will have been disappointed at falling on her triple Axel. But two stunning quadruple jumps – a Salchow to open, and a flip in combination with a triple toe loop – were undoubted highlights of a routine that saw the 15-year-old hot favourite for Beijing 2022 Olympic gold comfortably win the European title.

Valieva's margin of victory over teammate Anna Shcherbakova, who put in a brilliant recovery skate after an underwhelming short program, was some 22 points – 259.06 to 237.42.

Alexandra Trusova completed a Russian sweep of the podium positions, despite herself falling twice during her free skate. Belgium's Loena Hendrickx, who had been second after the short program on Thursday, also fell twice and finished fourth.

"Today's performance, I can say that it's a work in progress skate, not everything worked out," Valieva admitted afterwards. "I couldn't switch off some of my emotions and that prevented me. I will try to skate calmly."

Earlier, world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov successfully defended their European title they earned in Austria in 2020. It means that all four titles in Tallinn were won by skaters representing Russia.

Women's: Valieva off-colour, Shcherbakova redemption, Trusova stutters

There is no doubting that on her day, Valieva is an utter force of nature.

It seemed that was going to be the case again today when she opened with a brilliant quadruple Salchow, one of only three jumping elements all day the judges awarded a Grade of Execution (GOE) score of over four points.

Her second jump, the triple Axel, went awry, but she appeared to recover well with the quad flip, triple toe combo that also earned over four points of GOE.

However, the 15-year-old did not look particularly comfortable on her final quad attempt, which was to have been a quad toe, Euler, triple Salchow combination. Valieva landed the quad but was unable to get the Euler off properly turning out of it.

That changed the planned jump combination into a jump sequence and rendered the subsequent triple Salchow invalid, costing her much of the base value for her routine, although she did ultimately receive a 168.61 free skate score that bested Shcherbakova by mere tenths, meaning the nearly-22-point difference came almost entirely from the short program.

Shcherbakova, meanwhile, put together the best free skate routine of her international career.

After the disappointment of finishing a surprising fourth in the short program, the world champion bounced back with a fantastic performance that opened with a solid quad flip and was followed by a Rippon triple flip, triple toe combination.

It appeared that Shcherbakova opted for a safer routine, leaving out the other quad – a Lutz – she has tried at times this season, but it paid off with a personal best 167.38 points in the segment.

The Russian teenager had her hands on her head, almost in relief, as she finished her routine.

"I was very upset with my short program but now I am happy with my free," Shcherbakova reflected. "I think I have a lot of positive emotions overall. In the end I am pleased with how the competition ended."

As for Trusova, five planned quads for her free skate became four, of which her opening quad flip was simply stunning with the judges awarding it a 4.71 GOE (of a maximum 5).

She followed that with another brilliant quad, a Salchow, and it looked like she might be on for a big score until she fell on both a quad toe and a quad Lutz later in the program, deciding not to perform her fifth planned quad ultimately.

She also went for the safer double Axel, having fallen on a triple attempt in the short program.

Her score was a season's best 159.23 for a total of 234.36 and the bronze medal.

"I am only satisfied with my quad Salchow," Trusova said. "I brought it back to the program and it worked out. I will keep working more."

It seems likely that the three skaters will all make the cut for the ROC team's Olympic squad when that is announced, likely at some point next week.

Ice dance: Sinitsina / Katsalapov reign over Europe in ice dance once more

In the absence of four-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France, who are sitting out all competitions until the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, Sinitsina and Katsalapov – who were admittedly not perfect on the day – clinched gold.

Leading fellow Russians Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin by around a point after Friday's rhythm dance, Sinitsina and Katsalapov delivered a measured skate sufficient to retain their crown from 2020.

Katsalapov struggled on his twizzles, the most obvious error in the program, but the quality in the team's skating stood out.

They received 130.07 points for a total of 217.96, and addressing the crowd before the victory ceremony, Katsalapov said: "Today is a special day, we are starting to prepare for the Olympic Games."

He added in the press conference: "Everything is really tough for us, but this is what makes the journey more interesting. This Championships before the Olympics is giving us huge motivation."

It seems likely that both them and Stepanova / Bukin will take two of the ROC team's three ice dance spots for Beijing 2022.

The second-placed duo were also impressive on the day, putting in a season's-best performance in the free dance which, added to their personal best rhythm dance, gave them a new overall personal best of 213.20.

Italy's Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri won bronze on 207.97, while the Ice Academy of Montreal-based Olivia Smart / Adrián Díaz and Lilah Fear / Lewis Gibson were fourth and fifth respectively for Spain and Great Britain.

Smart / Díaz win Spanish Olympic selection race

There was an intriguing subplot to the ice dance event at the European championships, serving as the last of three direct head-to-head competitions between the two Spanish teams Olivia Smart / Adrián Díaz and Sara Hurtado / Kirill Khaliavin for the country's single Olympic spot.

The two teams were almost inseparable at the first event, the Challenger Series Finlandia Trophy, where Smart and Díaz eked out a lead of mere tenths of a point.

But at last month's Spanish national championships, they pulled clear before adding to that lead over Hurtado and Khaliavin, the 2018 Olympic representatives for Spain, in the rhythm dance here in Tallinn.

Here in the free dance, Smart and Díaz – who had the comfort of a 10-point advantage – actually lost a point to a fall deduction, but were solid and never looked under pressure.

They received a personal best 118.87 points in the segment for a total of 196.86, also a new personal record, finishing fourth overall, with Hurtado and Khaliavin down in sixth.