European figure skating championships carry on, overshadowed by deadly mid-air collision in US

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The European figure skating championships carried on Thursday, even as the skating world mourned athletes who died when an American Airlines jet collided with an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C.

The competition paused for a moment of silence before the free skate in the pairs event and a message of condolence delivered on behalf of International Skating Union President Jae Youl Kim, who was traveling to the competition Thursday.

“Today, the world of figure skating is heartbroken,” ISU representative Gyorgy Elek told the crowd on Kim’s behalf.

“We share our deepest, most sincere condolences with the families and friends of all those who lost their lives in this terrible crash. To lose so many members of our community in this way brings sadness beyond words.”

Despite the circumstances, there were still plenty of cheers from the crowd as Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin won their first European title in pairs skating.

They extended their lead from Wednesday’s short program despite an early mistake by Hase on a jump combination, finishing on a score of 212.89 points to win by 5.59 from Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii.

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia, silver medalists last year, recovered from ninth in the short program to finish third overall.

Last year’s European champions Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise of Italy weren’t defending their title because of a season-ending foot injury for Beccari.

Earlier, the second day of the competition began with the men’s short program Thursday afternoon, even as news continued to develop about the skaters, parents and coaches on board the American Airlines flight.

France’s Adam Siao Him Fa took the lead as he aims for a third European title in a row. He landed a quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, a quad salchow and a triple axel on his way to a score of 93.12 points.

On his Instagram page, Siao reposted a message of condolences from the French skating federation.

Nika Egadze of Georgia was second on 91.94 and Vladimir Samoilov of Poland is third on 85.98.

The men’s free skate is Saturday.

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