Spain's Fernandez leads men's European Figure Skating championship

Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Javier Fernandez of Spain led the men's field as the European Figure Skating Championships got underway Wednesday in Moscow.

Fernandez suffered a few poor performances in the beginning of his season, leading to an absence from the Grand Prix Final, but showed consistency in Wednesday's short program.

One of the world's top skaters, Fernandez is a two-time world champion who has won the European Championships the past five years in a row.

His short program, set to a medley of music from classic Charlie Chaplin films, contains two quadruple jumps, a quadruple toe loop in combination and a solo quadruple salchow. Despite blunders from his Grand Prix season, Fernandez landed both quads in his short program, with a slight negative grade of execution on the salchow.

"I think I did a good performance," Fernandez said. "We're not looking for perfection, but for a good program. It was a good day."

Fernandez received a total score of 103.82 points, leading the second-place skater, Dmitri Aliev of Russia, by over 12 points. "My goal for Europeans is to win, because it is important for me, important to keep writing history not only in Europe, but for Spain especially."

Fernandez will skate in next month's Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The Olympics begin Feb. 9.