Emma Smith
BBC Sport journalist

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We are weeks away from the start of the 2026 Winter Olympics – but before the action starts in Milan, the best skaters in Europe are coming to the UK.

The European Figure Skating Championships are taking place in Sheffield, and you will be able to follow the action right here on the BBC.

The championships will feature many of those hoping to compete for Olympic medals in February – and results could indicate whether Team GB will win their first Olympic figure skating medal in more than 30 years.

Here's all you need to know when it comes to following, and understanding, the championships, and some of the biggest stories we expect to play out in South Yorkshire.

The championships will take place in Sheffield between January 14 and 17 at Utilita Arena in Sheffield.

Live coverage will be streamed on the BBC Sport website, and you will also be able to watch on BBC iPlayer. There will also be highlights from the competition shown on BBC Two at 11:00 GMT on Sunday, 18 January.

To catch up on all the action, click here.

Prepare to hear the names Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson plenty of times over the coming weeks.

Competing in ice dance, last year Fear and Gibson won the first World Championship medal for Great Britain in more than 40 years and were ranked first by the ISU after the 2024-25 season.

Dubbed the 'Disco Brits' for their funky choice in music – a Spice Girls medley – they have never previously won a European medal.

If they get on the podium in Sheffield, it would give them a huge boost before the Winter Games where they will look to win Britain's first Olympic figure skating medal since Dame Jayne Torvill and Sir Christopher Dean took bronze in 1994.

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There is British interest in all the other events too, with all members of the Team GB figure skating squad for the Winter Olympics competing in Sheffield.

It would be a surprise if any of the group, other than Fear and Gibson, were to win a medal, but there are plenty of interesting stories, nonetheless.

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The only men's singles competitor is Edward Appleby, a three-time British national champion at only 21 years old.

Viewed as an up-and-coming talent on the global stage, Appleby finished ninth at the 2024 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Taiwan.

There are two British contenders in the women's singles – including Nottingham's Nina Povey, who also works as a figure skating costume designer.

She is joined by Kristen Spours, who has skated since the age of six and recovered from a spinal injury to return to Olympic level.

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British interest in the pairs comes from Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby. The pair only came together to compete from 2019 but are already five-time British national champions.

They finished fifth at the 2025 European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, and will make their Olympic debuts in Milan. They are a good outside bet for a medal in Sheffield.

Fear and Gibson are not the only British duo in the ice dance event.

Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez, aged 20 and 24 respectively, will also compete this week before jetting to the Olympics. The pair came fourth at the Junior World Figure Skating Championships in 2023.

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There are three disciplines. In single skating, athletes compete individually and show their ability in a well-balanced programme of jumps, spins, steps and other choreography.

The second discipline is pairs, where a male and female skating duo compete together, performing lifts, jumps, spins, steps and choreography in harmony.

There are two forms of these disciplines – a short programme, of around two minutes and 40 seconds with specific mandatory elements as a show of skill; and the free skate, longer at over four minutes, which allows the athletes more freedom in their choice of elements and complexity of choreography.

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Then there is ice dance, probably the most well-known discipline. Here, a male and female pair again compete together – but while the pairs focus more on athleticism, ice dancing is about rhythm and showmanship along with the skills. It is more flamboyant, with a variety of eye-catching costumes and musical accompaniment.

Ice dance has two segments – rhythm, which requires a specific theme set by the International Skating Union (ISU) for direct comparison; and free dance, where skaters have full creative freedom in their routines.

Notable by their absence from the European Championships are Russian and Belarusian skaters, with their competitors banned because of the war in Ukraine.

However, they will be allowed to compete as neutral athletes at the Winter Olympics.

One controversial figure who may be in Sheffield is Eteri Tutberidze, the former coach of Russian Kamila Valieva.

Tutberidze is now involved with the Georgia national team.

She drew condemnation, including from the International Olympic Committee, after berating the then 15-year-old Valieva following her free skate routine at Beijing 2022.

Valieva, who had gone into that Olympic Games as gold medal favourite, finished fourth after an error-strewn routine which came days after it was revealed she had failed a drugs test.

Georgia have contenders in all four events - including Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin in ice dance. Davis is Tutberidze's daughter but is not trained by her.

Whether Tutberidze will be rinkside in Sheffield remains to be seen.

As for those who will definitely be in Sheffield, keep an eye out for France's Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry in the ice dance.

Cizeron and former partner Gabriella Papadakis rank among the most decorated ice dancers in the sport's history with five World Championship titles and gold and silver Olympic medals - now he steps on to the ice in his first season with a new partner, with another Olympic gold their aim.