Spaniard Javier Fernandez boosted his Olympic medal hopes as he defended his men's crown at the European figure skating championships in Budapest on Saturday as Russia faced a dilemma over who to choose for their men's team in Sochi.
The 22-year-old from Madrid landed three quadruple jumps in the free skating final to take the gold by a 14.56-point margin on Russia's Sergei Voronov with another Russian Konstantin Menshov taking the bronze medal.
There is now a battle for Russia's sole men's berth in Sochi as national champion Maxim Kovtum slumped to fifth after an error-strewn free skate.
"I had a couple of mistakes that I have to fix for the Olympics. I think with a little bit more I will have a chance," said Fernandez.
He scored 175.55 points for his free skate to the "Peter Gunn" soundtrack and "Harlem Nocturne" for an overall total of 267.11.
"I don't want to expect anything. I just want to go there (Sochi), try my best and hope I can fight to be on the podium," he added.
On the podium for the first time at 26 years, Voronov scored 167.04 for his Tango-themed programme for 252.55 overall, with Menshov achieving 165.12 and 237.24 overall.
Russian champion Kovtum slumped to fifth after an error-strewn performance.
The 18-year-old Kovtum had been battling 2006 Olympic champion Yevgeny Plushenko for the berth in Sochi after stunning the former three-time world champion to win the national title last month.
Plushenko is not competing in Europeans with the Russian skating federation due to make a decision next week.
Fernandez was a surprise winner of the men's title last year in Zagreb becoming the first Spanish figure skater to medal at an ISU championship and he went on to take bronze at the worlds.
Fifteen-year-old Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia became the youngest woman ever to win the European title on Friday night, with Italy's Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte winning ice dancing gold earlier in the week.
The competition concludes with Sunday's pairs final.
World and European champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia have a 7.22-point lead on Germany's former pairs title-holders Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy going into free skating final.
Two Russian pairs of Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov; and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov, the national champions, are third and fourth respectively.
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