Figure Skating | Finland's first time skater scored record points and admired the audience's clapping skills

Makar Suntsev skated his record score at the European Figure Skating Championships, which ensured him a further place in Friday's free program.

Suntsev from Kotka competed for the first time in the adult competition. It was visible at the beginning of the short program as excitement.

“Yes, it (tension) was visible. The first jump did not come down well. It had quality, but wasn't as light as it should have been. I tried to calm down and take all the pleasure out of skating,” 19-year-old Suntsev said.

Suntsev's combination jumps were successful, as were the difficult horizontal positions. As music, he had Ludwig van Beethoven Moon Sonatawhich is not the easiest figure skating music of all.

Audience went well with the program, however, with applause.

“The audience was amazingly involved. Already during the set of steps there was clapping. The music was not something that could easily be clapped to the rhythm”, praised Saitsev.

The performance produced 70.40 points. His previous record of 67.96 was skated by Suntsev at the Finlandia Trophy in October in Espoo.

The men's free program will be skated on Friday. The best 24 skaters from the short program made it to the free program, where eight skaters were eliminated from the continuation.

“If I get to the point, I'll take it easy and give feedback. You shouldn't waste too much energy on training anymore,” Suntsev said before the skating of the next groups and information about his advancement.

Suntsev's final ranking was not revealed until late on Wednesday, but he will finish 23rd if there are no big dips in the final groups.