Crystal Skate

The men's final promises to be a repeat performance of last season's Europeans if we're to judge it merely by the top three men after the short programme - the same top three men as in Bratislava. Will Javier Fernandez, Maxim Kovtun and Alexei Bychenko all manage to keep their medals from last season? I'll start with Moris Kvitelashvili , who has three quads in his routine, but steps out of the Toeloop one. He also steps out of the Loop, and struggles to match his transitions to the pace of the music. That being said, he's got an amazing jumping technique. His score: 161.35 . Overall: 238.20 . I always look forward to Chafik Besseghier 's routines because he's able to express a wide range of genres. It's epic music today and no mistakes, although he has to save a couple of jumps. Some of his spins are not that great - a bit of travelling, a bit of bent knee. He gets 151.40  points. Overall: 227.59 . The host's Michal Brezina doesn't manag...

The men were the last to present their short programmes in Ostrava. Much like in the ladies' event, the surprises were not at the top, but just a couple of places below. Javier Fernandez  proved once more than he can get himself out of every kind of awkward landing, after he saved an incredibly low quad Toeloop, and still jumped a perfect triple after. The Spanish seem to have an extensive repertoire of hand movements in their traditional dances, and Javier must have made use of all of them in the transitions of Malaguena . His score: 104.25 . Javier Fernandez's transitions were the best of the day I knew it was odd that Maxim Kovtun  wasn't Russia's front-runner, and he proved me right today. He finally ended a programme without a flaw this season. His low spins are not some of the best out there, but he had an awesome variation on the flying camel spin. The comedy of Hazmat Modine's Bahamut  came out in the gestures. He earned 94.53  points. Alexei Byche...