Siao Him Fa may be the favourite to win the men’s event as the defending champion, but this will be the Frenchman’s first test since the Cup of China Grand Prix in November. The 23-year-old, who turns 24 during the continental championships, withdrew from December’s Grand Prix Final citing injury and also did not compete at the French national championships.
Fellow Frenchman Kévin Aymoz, who won the national title in Siao Him Fa’s absence for the first time since 2021/22, owns the season’s top score by a European (282.88) and having regained his confidence this season will hope to challenge Siao Him Fa. Italy’s Daniel Grassl, a European silver medallist in 2022, makes his first appearance at the Championships in two seasons, and is joined in the Italian team by three-time medallist Matteo Rizzo. Other previous European medallists competing include Latvia’s Deniss Vasiljevs and Switzerland’s Lukas Britschgi.
With defending champion Loena Hendrickx having withdrawn from the Europeans due to ongoing fitness and injury concerns, the women’s event looks to be pretty open. Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova is a one-time European champion, having won gold in 2023, but struggled with eighth-place finishes at both her Grand Prix assignments this season.
The best score this season registered by a European skater belongs to Lara Naki Gutmann (198.49), a result which helped the Italian win her first Grand Prix medal with bronze at the Finlandia Trophy. Could she be well placed for a first career ISU Championships medal? Kimmy Repond of Switzerland and Hendrickx’s Belgian teammate Nina Pinzarrone, each of whom own a European bronze medal, will also hope to be in the podium mix.
Pairs also figures to be competitive, with five of the season’s top eight scores having been registered by European teams, led by Grand Prix Final champions and world bronze medallists Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nikita Volodin of Germany. Even in the absence of the injured Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise, there are two strong Italian teams who will be aiming for a medal – Sara Conti / Niccolò Macii and Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini. Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, runners-up last year to Beccari and Guarise, will also be in the mix, with Hungary’s Maria Pavlova / Alexei Sviatchenko another challenger team.
Each of the top 11 ice dance teams from last season’s European Championships will be back this year in Tallinn, with defending champions Guignard / Fabbri leading the way. Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, winners of both their Grand Prix assignments this season, will be looking for a first British triumph since Torvill and Dean in 1994 after coming second at each of the last two European Championships. Behind them, the race for bronze appears to be tight, with the best scores of Evgeniia Lopareva / Geoffrey Brissaud of France, Georgia’s Diana Davis / Gleb Smolkin, Finnish duo Juulia Turkkila / Matthias Versluis, Olivia Smart / Tim Dieck representing Spain, and Lithuania’s Allison Reed / Saulius Ambrulevicius this season all within around six points of each other.