Anastasia Gubanova, an athlete who was born in Russia but represents Georgia, became the new European champion in figure skating, defeating the favorite of the competition, Loena Hendrik of Belgium.

Anastasia GubanovaPhoto: Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia

In the absence of the Russian women, Gunanova won the European championship

Anastasia Gubanova won the European Figure Skating Championships in Espoo, Finland.

Despite the problem with the triple somersault, Gubanova, who was already leading the rating after the short program, won the free program, approaching the total of 200 points (199.91), writes Agerpres.

She beat last year’s world vice-champion Loena Hendrik, who was the main favorite to succeed Russian Kamila Valieva, by 6 points. But Hendrick, who made mistakes in Thursday’s short program, fell twice in Saturday’s competition.

Third place was taken by 16-year-old Swiss Kimmy Repond, who compiled an impeccable program (192.51 points).

In 2022, three places on the podium were monopolized by Russian skaters, but they were excluded from this edition due to the war in Ukraine.