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The Best Short Program Skaters In Europe

Historical data on winners of the short program at the European Figure Skating Championships

Compulsory connected program, original program, technical program... The short program has had many names since it was first introduced at the European Championships for pairs in Grenoble, France in 1964. The short program for singles was first contested at the Europeans nearly a decade later, in Cologne, West Germany in 1973. Today we'll take a quick look at the winners of the short program at Europeans each year... and some interesting takeaways. One note: a '*' denotes that a skater or couple also won the overall title that year.

Year

Men

Women

Pairs

1964

(not held)

(not held)

Marika Kilius and Hans-​Jürgen Bäumler*

1965

(not held)

(not held)

Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov*

1966

(not held)

(not held)

Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov*

1967

(not held)

(not held)

Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov*

1968

(not held)

(not held)

Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov*

1969

(not held)

(not held)

Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov

1970

(not held)

(not held)

Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov*

1971

(not held)

(not held)

Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov*

1972

(not held)

(not held)

Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov*

1973

Ondrej Nepela*

Christine Errath*

Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev*

1974

Jan Hoffmann*

Christine Errath*

Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev*

1975

Vladimir Kovalev*

Christine Errath*

Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev*

1976

John Curry*

Dianne de Leeuw*

Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev*

1977

Vladimir Kovalev

Anett Pötzsch*

Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev*

1978

Robin Cousins

Elena Vodorezova

Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev*

1979

Robin Cousins

Anett Pötzsch*

Marina Cherkasova and Sergei Shakrai*

1980

Jan Hoffmann

Dagmar Lurz

Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev*

1981

Norbert Schramm

Denise Biellmann*

Irina Vorobieva and Igor Livoski*

1982

Jozef Sabovčík

Katarina Witt

Irina Vorobieva and Igor Livoski

1983

Norbert Schramm*

Katarina Witt*

Sabine Baeß and Tassilo Thierbach*

1984

Alexandr Fadeev*

Katarina Witt*

Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev*

1985

Jozef Sabovčík*

Kira Ivanova

Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev*

1986

Jozef Sabovčík

Anna Kondrashova

Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev*

1987

Alexandr Fadeev*

Katarina Witt*

Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev

1988

Alexandr Fadeev*

Katarina Witt*

Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov*

1989

Alexandr Fadeev*

Claudia Leistner*

Larisa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov*

1990

Petr Barna

Natalia Lebedeva

Natalia Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev

1991

Viktor Petrenko*

Evelyn Grossmann

Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov

1992

Petr Barna*

Surya Bonaly*

Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov

1993

Dmitri Dmitrenko*

Surya Bonaly*

Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov

1994

Viktor Petrenko*

Surya Bonaly*

Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov*

1995

Ilia Kulik*

Olga Markova

Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný

1996

Viacheslav Zagorodniuk*

Surya Bonaly

Mandy Wötzel and Ingo Steuer

1997

Ilia Kulik

Irina Slutskaya*

Marina Eltsova and Andrei Bushkov*

1998

Alexei Yagudin*

Tanja Szewczenko

Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze*

1999

Alexei Urmanov

Maria Butyrskaya*

Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze

2000

Alexei Yagudin

Irina Slutskaya*

Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov*

2001

Evgeni Plushenko*

Irina Slutskaya*

Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze*

2002

Alexei Yagudin*

Maria Butyrskaya*

Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin*

2003

Evgeni Plushenko*

Elena Sokolova

Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov

2004

Evgeni Plushenko

Júlia Sebestyén*

Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin*

2005

Brian Joubert

Irina Slutskaya*

Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin*

2006

Evgeni Plushenko*

Irina Slutskaya*

Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin*

2007

Tomáš Verner

Sarah Meier

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy*

2008

Tomáš Verner*

Carolina Kostner*

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy*

2009

Brian Joubert*

Laura Lepistö*

Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov

2010

Evgeni Plushenko*

Carolina Kostner*

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy

2011

Florent Amodio*

Kiira Korpi

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy*

2012

Artur Gachinski

Carolina Kostner*

Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov*

2013

Florent Amodio

Adelina Sotnikova

Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov*

2014

Javier Fernández*

Adelina Sotnikova

Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov*

2015

Javier Fernández*

Elena Radionova

Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov

2016

Javier Fernández*

Evgenia Medvedeva*

Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov*

2017

Javier Fernández*

Evgenia Medvedeva*

Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov*

2018

Javier Fernández*

Alina Zagitova*

Vanessa James and Morgan Ciprès

2019

Mikhail Kolyada

Alina Zagitova

Vanessa James and Morgan Ciprès*

2020

Michal Březina

Alena Kostornaia*

Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii*

A few interesting things that stand out here! Only twice since the short programs for singles and pairs have both been around have all of the three of the winners of that phase of the competition not won the overall title: 1982 in Lyon and 1990 in Leningrad. 

Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, Olympic Gold Medallists in pairs figure skating
Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze

Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze are the only skaters ever to win the short program at the European Championships and withdraw prior to the free due to illness or injury. This happened in Prague in 1999.

In the women's event, three of the biggest short program 'upset' wins came from Russian skaters. Kira Ivanova and Anna Kondrashova bested Olympic Gold Medallist Katarina Witt in 1985 and 1986, while Olga Markova took top spot in 1995, ahead of the four-time and reigning European Champion Surya Bonaly.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.