Four days of competition, two ice rinks, 8 sets of awards, 145 athletes from 34 countries of the Old World, dozens of personal records and full house at Minsk-Arena. Yesterday Belarus bid farewell to the European Championship in figure skating. The Head of State Alexander Lukashenko also took part in closing of the forum. Our country took a similar start for the first time in history and coped with its debut perfectly well. 105,000 tickets were sold for the competitions. Almost half a thousand journalists covered the event, the stands were filled with flags. Enthusiastic and sincere reviews about the past forum and its atmosphere today are heard from social networks around the world. Indeed, despite the fact that the tournament is over, memories of it will long be stored in the memory of everyone who has touched the art of ice dancing. But the European Championship is not only a bright story, it is a step towards a new goal - the World Championship.
The closing of the European Championship turned out to be especially emotional. Demonstration performances, which do not envisage responsibility for the result, found a response from the grateful Minsk public. Belarus is a sign of quality in terms of organization.
The Belarusian Union of Skaters calculated that 105,000 tickets were sold for the competitions and 15,000 places were provided free of charge for representatives of schools, state enterprises and other categories of citizens. About 30,000 places were bought by foreign fans, including from non-European countries such as Japan or Chile.
More than 130,000 people watched a video on the European Championships on the YouTube channel of the television news agency.
The European Championship united the fans of not only of our continent. Broadcasts from the Belarusian ice were seen in 20 countries of the world, including in distant Brazil and Japan, the USA and China. More than four hundred media representatives covered the continental tournament. Belarus saw the whole world! And this picture did not leave anyone indifferent!
Traditional gala performance.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko comes out on the ice and thanks each athlete for the presented ocean of emotions. By the way, the Head of State presented the skaters with sweet gifts: Belarusian chocolate, which has no sugar.
The European Championships in Minsk these days eclipsed both the Australian Open and the Biathlon World Cup stage, the President emphasizes in his speech, not without a smile noting how we will miss these amazing figure skaters.
Such moments remain in memory forever. Russians Nikita Katsalapov and Victoria Sinitsyna, and Belarusians Anna Kublicova and Yury Gulitsky did not miss an opportunity to take a photo with Alexander Lukashenko.












