The Best Short Program Skaters In Europe

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

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.

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