TALLINN, 15 Jan. Russians Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov won gold medals in ice dancing at the European Figure Skating Championships, which takes place in Tallinn. The leading athletes after rhythm dance scored 130.07 points in the free dance and won with a score of 217.96 points. The silver medalists were the Russians Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin (213.20), the third place was taken by the Italians Charlene Gignard and Marco Fabbri (207.97). The Russians Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin (186.61) were in seventh place. 2018, four-time world champions, world record holders in all types of programs, the French Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron refused to participate in the European Championship. Sinitsina and Katsalapov became European champions for the second time in a row: they also won gold in 2020 in Graz, Austria. In addition, the couple won the 2021 World Championship in Stockholm. This season, the duo twice became the first in the stages of the Grand Prix series. Figure skaters withdrew from the Russian championship due to Katsalapov's injury. The composition of the Russian national figure skating team for the Olympic Games in Beijing, which will be held from February 4 to 20, will be announced after the end of the European Championship. Three dance duets will travel from Russia to China.
