2020 European Figure Skating Championship Odds: Russians are the Favorites

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Russia has been dominating the sport of figure skating for a very long time now, in almost every discipline. As usual, they are the favorites in the 2020 European Figure Skating Championship odds as well. But the tightest race is expected in the ladies’ event, where three young Russian skaters can fight for the gold. 

The 2020 European Figure Skating Championship is held between the 20th and 26th of January in Graz, Austria. Fans can support their favorites in four disciplines, the men’s singles, ladies’ singles, pairs and ice dance. Each category has its top favorite, but in the ladies’ singles, the three Russian skaters have very similar chances.  All of them are under 17, they still beat Olympic and World Champions this season. It is very impressive from the teenagers. 

2020 European Figure Skating Championship odds favorize Alena Kostornaya in the ladies event

Online sportsbooks in Russia can hardly make any difference between the three young Russian girls. Between them, 16-year-old Alena Kostornaya has the smallest odds. Alena won the Grand Prix final at the end of last year after winning the Grand Prix events in France and Japan. She was second in last year’s junior world championships. It looks like she will continue with similar successes in the adult category. Her unique jump in her programs is the triple Axel which has only been executed by very few female skaters yet.   

16-year-old Alena Kostornaya is the favorite
[David W. Carmichael [CC BY-SA]

Her odds are 2.7 to win, but her biggest rival, Alexandra Trusova is not much behind, with the odds of 3.0 at 1xBet. Trusova is the first female figure skater to land three quads in her program during a competition. Actually she was the first to land two quads as well at the age of only 13.  She is truly unbelievable, even if you’re not a fan of figure skating, you’ll be impressed by her talent. But even though she beat Kostornaya in the junior competitions, at the senior level it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe her time is now, especially if she can manage all her quad jumps without falls. 

But there can be a laughing third if the third Russian girl, Anna Scherbakova can repeat her result at the Russian Nationals. There she defeated her big rivals with a free program containing three quad jumps. She won Skate America and the Chinese Grand Prix and finished third in the Grand Prix final.  She had the same chance to win with the odds of 3.20. As it’s the first senior year for all three of them, we shall see which one of them can handle the pressure and expectations most. 

French pair is a top favorite in ice dance, Russians can win in pairs

The biggest favorite in the whole Championships is the pair of Gabrielle Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron in ice dance. Their odds are only 1.25 to win their sixth European Championship. It would take a miracle for anyone else to defeat them. 

6th time European Champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron
[David W. Carmichael – davecskatingphoto.com. [CC BY-SA]

Online gambling sites in Russia are expecting Russian victory in the pairs event. The younger pair of Alexandra Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky are the favorites. They have a small advantage ahead of two time European Champions Evgenia Tarasova-Vladimir Morozov pair. Again, any other than a Russian gold would be a huge surprise, with the odds of 15 and more for the other pairs’ victory.

Open race in the men’s singles

After the retirement of Spanish world-class Javier Fernandez, we can expect an open race in the men’s event. Though French skater Kevin Aymoz is the favorite in the 2020 European Figure Skating Championship odds on 1xBet, truly a further 4-5 skaters can win as well. Aymoz has reached his best result finishing third on the Grand Prix final a couple of weeks ago. But he was beaten in last year’s European Championship by Russian skater Aleksander Samarin, who finished second and Italian Matteo Rizzo who finished third just ahead of him. 

Samarin is a good skater, but he couldn’t reach the very top level yet and meet the Russian expectations. Rizzo is the first Italian to win a medal in a Grand Prix event, but he couldn’t qualify for the Grand Prix Final this season, which his opponents could do. We have to mention another Russian skater, Dmitri Aliev, who managed to win the Russian Championship this year and might be a new threat to all the others. His odds are 4.50 on 1xBet to take the win.