After the short program, the Olympic champion became sixth and withdrew from the European Championships

Two serious mistakes - a fall from a triple Axel and an uncertain exit from a triple Lutz - prevented Evgeni Plushenko from not only winning the short program at the European Figure Skating Championships in Zagreb on Thursday, but even being among the winners. Having received 74.82 points for her performance, he took sixth place and became the second of the three Russians performing here. Less than an hour after the competition, Evgeni Plushenko officially refused further participation in the championship.

Even on the eve of yesterday's start, there were vague rumors that Evgeni Plushenko was allegedly not in the best shape, still experiencing the consequences of a month and a half ago operation on his back, and that it was possible that at the last moment he could still withdraw from the championship. His coach Alexey Mishin was also dark, avoiding answering direct questions. However, Plushenko indirectly confirmed Plushenko’s intention to still start the arrival of his wife Yana Rudkovskaya in Zagreb. She didn’t leave her son, who is not even a month old, at home for an ordinary walk? Evgeni Plushenko started, but failed the short program. Already at the stadium, he decided not to take risks and therefore excluded the four-turn sheepskin coat from the rental. But he couldn’t even cope with the triple Axel, in addition making a mistake on the exit with the triple Lutz. However, he smiled and joked. "It's OK. Although I don’t understand what happened. He probably hurried to the axel. The preparation was so difficult that I wanted to get over it quickly,” said the Olympic champion. “But for me it’s unforgivable not to jump the Axel.” After all, the last time I fell from it was in a competition in 2004. And we removed the quad so as not to injure the back. But apparently I didn’t have time to change my mind. In addition, I was infuriated by the guards who did not allow me to warm up where I was doing it. And when they started touching me, I got really worked up and, while tying my shoes, I “torn” the skin on my hands.”

At that moment, Evgeni Plushenko clearly had no intention of filming. “We will move on. I'm an athlete. I want to show and prove it,” he said. And apparently the result demoralized him. After all, the Russian was the first in a series of his main rivals here and, when he said all this, he had no idea how crushing his defeat would be. Commenting on his student’s refusal to compete further, Professor Alexei Mishin said: “It is impossible to compete with pain and with rivals.”

The best performance in the short program was demonstrated by Frenchman Florent Amodio (89.82). Second and third places were taken by Spaniard Javier Fernandez (88.80) and Frenchman Briand Joubert (83.93). Sergei Voronov (78.38) is fifth, debutant Maxim Kovtun (74.46) is seventh.

Valeria Mironova, Zagreb

Five beat Evgeni Plushenko