'SUPER-SKATER' Javier Fernández has made history once again by winning his seventh European championships this weekend in Minsk, Belarus, in what he had already announced would be his last.
Olympic bronze medallist and twice-world champion figure skater, for whom tributes poured in at the European final, announced his retirement from the sport after the 2019 season, but his ultimate goal had been to level with the legendary Karl Schäfer, who netted his first title at this level in 1929.
The Austrian national was, until Javier Fernández, the only figure skater to have won seven European championships – and his record has remained unbroken since 1936, making 'Super-Javi' the first to do so since either World War II or the Civil War.
Fernández scooped up the gold after netting 179.75 points, just less than two ahead of Alexander Samarin's 177.87 and with a comfortable gap between himself and Mikhail Kolyada's 140.38, knocking the two Russians into second and third place.
Congratulations flooded in within minutes – Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) chairman Alejandro Blanco tweeted: “Javier has become famous for fighting like nobody else to be the best in the world and, as well as achieving this aim twice, has made history on every level...your seventh European title is a triumphant finale to your spectacular career and a source of pride for all of Spain.”
The COE itself tweeted: “It's the end of an era.
“How proud we've been to have been represented by a champion of your level, who's left an indelible stamp on the history of Spanish sport. Thank you for everything.”
SPAIN'S last-minute win against England in the 2024 UEFA Euros comes on the 60th anniversary of the country's first-ever title in the much-followed competition – and has broken numerous records, too.
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