Egadze beats two brothers to lead figure skating's European championships

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Georgia's Nika Egadze competes during the Men's Short Program on day two of the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, Thursday, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

Estonia's Aleksandr Selevko competes during the Men's Short Program on day two of the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, Thursday, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP) — Georgia's Nika Egadze competes during the Men's Short Program on day two of the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, Thursday, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

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11:35 AM on Thursday, January 15

The Associated Press

SHEFFIELD, England (AP) — Georgian figure skater Nika Egadze edged ahead of two Estonian brothers to take the lead in the short program Thursday at the European Championships, a key Olympic warmup event.

Egadze scored 91.28 points for the lead after starting his program with a bang, following up a quadruple salchow-triple toeloop combination with a quad toeloop.

That was enough to beat last year's silver medalist Aleksandr Selevko on 88.71 and his younger brother Mihhail on 88.28. Defending champion Lukas Britschgi was sixth for Switzerland.

It's a strong championships so far for Georgia and Estonia, neither a traditional skating power.

Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava are in the lead of the pairs event ahead of their free skate later Thursday, while Estonia's Niina Petrokina leads the women's event ahead of Friday's free skate.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics