Europe Has a Championship Too

The European Championships have been well under way in Helsinki, Finland this week as well. The big news so far is that there isn't really any big news. Although Mukhortova were able to grab the short program lead on a great performance and errors by others, Germany's World Champions Savchenko and Skolkowy came back to win the pairs event, with Russia's Kawaguchi and Smirnov and Mukhortova and Trankov snagging the next two spots. The men's short program has also been skated, and I'm going to have to youtube Brian Joubert's personal record breaking performance (apparently - the article I read didn't say whether it was a European's record or what) to take first place. Defending Champion Tomas Verner from the Czech Republic is in second, with Italy's Samuel Contesti in third. In the Ice Dance cateogry, Russia's Khokhlova and Novitski lead Italy's Faiella and Scali and Great Britain's Kerr and Kerr after the compulsory dance.