Fernandez ends glittering career with seventh European crown

Spain's veteran skating star Javier Fernandez crowned a remarkable career on Saturday as he claimed a seventh consecutive European title after winning the men's free skating.

The 27-year-old received 179.75 points for his routine to "Man of La Mancha" by Mitch Leigh and collect 271.59 points overall.

With that win the 2018 Olympic bronze medallist and two-time world champion, who announced his decision to hang up his skates after the European championships in Minsk, equalled the record of Russia's skating icon Yevgeny Plushenko.

"It was really difficult to compete after such a long break since the Olympics," Fernandez told the packed 15,000-seat Minsk arena. "It was quite complicated.

"And knowing that it is my final career competition, it was really hard to win here."

Russia's Alexander Samarin, who was third after the short programme, finished in second, just 1.75 pts behind Fernandez with a solid presentation of his free routine to "The Greatest Showman" soundtrack.

Italy's Matteo Rizzo was third on 247.08 points.

The Ice dance event rounds off Saturday's action with the free dance later.