STOCKHOLM — Spain's Javier Fernandez won his third straight European figure skating gold Friday with a free program that had some technical faults but never faltered on verve. Fernandez's consistently vivid skate to music from “The Barber of Seville” began with an attention-getting strong quad toeloop. He later fell on a quad salchow attempt, a planned quad to open a combination turned into a triple and he doubled a triple lutz. Russians Maxim Kovtun and Sergei Voronov took silver and bronze. In pairs, Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov led after the short program, edging Russian compatriots Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov. France's Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres were in third place, but a full nine points behind. — Reuters
