The pair had gone into the final program in second and third place and so in with a good chance of a medal.

Some consolation came from the fact that Aleksandr, based on his performance in Sheffield, will be representing Estonia at next month's Winter Olympics in Milan–Cortina.

Among the spectators was newly crowned women's European champ Niina Petrõkina, from Estonia, who had bagged her second European gold on Friday, after winning last year in Tallinn.

Petrõkina said she was there both to support and advise the brothers. "Stay true to yourself and feel every moment and movement in your program. I don't know how they prepare, but I support them and focus on what they're doing," she noted.

The pair were still in the hunt for a European Championship medal, as 24-year-old Aleksandr went into the free skate in second place and his year-younger brother Mihhail in third.

The gap between the siblings was very small, too: Aleksandr, who won European silver in Kaunas two years ago, scored 88.71 points in the short program, while Mihhail took 88.28 points.

Georgia's Nika Egadze went into the free skate in first place with 91.28 points from his short program. The Selevkos needed to be at their peak, as Italy's Matteo Rizzo (88.00 points) was champing at their skates.

The free skate was performed in reverse order of finishers from the previous round, with the final group taking to the ice around 6 p.m. Estonian time.

Aleksandr went into the free skate from second place. He delivered a beautiful program, but unfortunately, there were several mishaps. The first jump planned as a quadruple was downgraded to a triple, and he fell on the second quadruple attempt. In addition, he also fell after a triple axel. This totaled 143.75 points for his free skate, nearly 23 points below his personal best, while overall the older Selevko finished with a total of 232.46, placing fifth.

Mihhail, meanwhile, began his free skate with a couple of small mistakes, making landing errors on both quadruple toe loops. In the middle of the program, he fell after a triple axel and made an error on one spin. The remaining jumps were executed without issues, giving him 142.02 points, just under 17 points short of his personal best; and 230.30 points, putting him one place behind his brother.

Egadze was the unsurprising champion, with 273 points.

Rizzo took the silver medal with 256.37 points, while the bronze went to Czech skater Georgi Reshtenko with 238.27 points. Britschgi was just outside the medals.

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