Medvedeva successfully defends European title

Reigning World Champion Medvedeva held a comfortable lead after the short program coming into Friday's free skate.

And the 17-year-old remained untouchable, skating an almost perfect routine to score 150.79 from the judges.

That was over 12 points clear of her nearest challenger Caroline Kostner, of Italy, on 138.12 while fellow Russian Anna Pogorilaya was the third highest scorer with 137.00.

It meant Medvedeva eased to the title with a total of 229.71 while Pogorilaya was able to hold onto second spot with 211.39, denying third-placed Kostner silver by 1.07 points.

Earlier in the day, the men's singles got underway with the short program and it was four-time reigning European champion Javier Fernandez who set the pace.

The Spaniard reeled off a quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, a quadruple Salchow, triple Axel and received a level four for his spins and footwork to post a new personal best of 104.25 points.

Russia's Maxim Kovtun was next, nearly ten points further back on 94.53, while Israel's Alexei Bychenko lies third after scoring 86.68.

The European Championships concludes on Saturday with the men's free skate and the ice dance free dance.

Sportsbeat 2017