On the evening of January 16th in Sheffield, England, the second day for women at the 2026 European Figure Skating Championships took place. The competition, which was once quite prestigious, is going through tougher times. In the women’s event, there were an unacceptably small number of clean performances in the short program. Extremely few. Perhaps only one in total. This secured first place for Nina Petrykina from Estonia. Yes, as is usual at competitions of this caliber—whoever fell the least, won. Quite a “falling championship.”
It must be said that the standard of the tournament was criticized quite deservedly. For instance, a day before the women’s free skate, two-time Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko shared his frustration.
“Extremely disappointed with the standard of women’s figure skating in Europe. It’s as if we’ve all been in a lethargic slumber since 1985… The conclusion is simple: without our athletes, women’s figure skating in Europe as a whole is completely deteriorating.” In Plushenko’s view, while Russia discusses ultra-difficult elements, European events show a decline.
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