The Ministry of Sports of Russia has announced the main roster of the national figure skating team for the 2023/24 season. At the same time, it is not yet known whether Russian skaters will be able to participate in competitions under the auspices of the International Skating Union (ISU), a decision can be made on this issue as early as June 9-11, but there is a possibility that the discussion will be postponed to autumn.
Women: Sofia Akatieva, Kamila Valieva, Anastasia Zinina, Sofia Muravieva, Adelia Petrosyan, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.
men: Dmitry Aliev, Petr Gumennik, Artem Kovalev, Andrey Mozalev, Alexander Samarin and Evgeny Semenenko.
sports couples: Alexandra Boykova / Dmitry Kozlovsky, Anastasia Mishina / Alexander Gallyamov, Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov, Yasmina Kadyrova / Valery Kolesov, Natalya Khabibullina / Ilya Knyazhuk, Ekaterina Chikmareva / Matvey Yanchenkov.
Dance: Sofia Tyutyunina / Andrei Bagin, Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva / Yegor Bazin, Elizaveta Shanaeva / Pavel Drozd, Vasilisa Kaganovskaya / Valery Angelopol, Ekaterina Mironova / Evgeny Ustenko, Elizaveta Pasechnik / Maxim Nekrasov.
It is worth noting that the Russian and European champion of the 2021/22 season, Mark Kondartyuk, is in the reserve squad. It is clear that dance duo Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin are not on the charts, June 5 recognizedHe said that the executive committee of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) allows athletes to change their sports citizenship and join the Georgian national team. Also missing from the lists are Olympic champion Anna Shcherbakova in singles, Games silver medalist Alexander Trusova, two-time Russian ice dancing champions Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, and 2018 Games medalist Mikhail Kolyada.
The list of participants in the Russian national team is formed based on the results of last season, and first of all, skaters who participated in competitions go there. This was expressed by Alexander Kogan, Managing Director of FFKKR.
“The FFKKR Executive Board approved the national team lists on April 17 and forwarded them to the Ministry of Sports.
According to the approved rules, first of all, athletes were approved according to the results of last season’s competitions.
In addition, the national team lists include athletes who cannot participate in the main competitions for any reason, and they can be included in the lists with the decision of the coaching board. Both Trusova and Shcherbakova are included in this list, later it will be approved by the Ministry of Sports, ”said the author.
Head coach of the national team Elena Chaikovskaya confirmed that by decision of the coaching council, both Trusova and Shcherbakov were included in the additional list of the Russian national team for the 2023/24 season.
“Yes, Anya Shcherbakova and Sasha Trusova were included in the additional list of the national team by decision of the coaching council. Besides the girls, there are also many skaters who do not participate due to injuries and other reasons. Not all of these athletes are listed as sports, Tchaikovskaya told Match TV.
Olympic medalist in ice dancing, producer and choreographer Ilya Averbukh noted that not being in the national team does not mean that athletes have completed their careers, and that this will not prevent them from performing on competitive ice if they decide to return to official starts.
“No, this does not mean that Shcherbakova and Trusova have completed their careers. They are included in the lists of national teams not as they would like, but according to the results of the last championship of Russia. Shcherbakova and Trusova were not included, so they are not on the list. This will not prevent them from performing again and getting into the national team,” Sport24 quotes Averbukh.
It is worth noting the financial component of the problem. Getting into the national team guarantees the athletes financial support, being included in the base guarantees that almost all expenses will be covered: fees, scholarships, equipment, ice, medical support.
In addition, if the International Skating Union lifts the ban, they are the skaters included in the national team who will go to international starts.
At the same time, it remains unclear whether the skaters themselves are ready and willing to enter the season. If we talk about Stepanova and Bukin, the couple missed the Russian season, and in the spring it turned out that the reason for this was the pregnancy of the figure skater. But Stepanova has already returned to the ice, they continued to train, but it remains unclear whether they are ready to perform. Kolyada missed the Russian Championship due to exacerbation of chronic sinusitis and did not show the most stable performances throughout the season.
The careers of Shcherbakova and Trusova raise big questions among figure skating fans. Shcherbakova won the Olympic Games and announced that she would not be ending her career, then in August she had a leg surgery and missed the entire sports season while shining as one of the hosts of the Ice Age show. After rehabilitation, the figure skater began to take part in the show and even took part in the Russian Challenge show program tournament, where she took third place. She and she haven’t made any announcements about her participation in the new season so far.
Also, Trusova did not say anything about the upcoming season. Unlike his opponent, he started the season. After the test skating of the Russian national team, the figure skater again left Eteri Tutberidze and moved to CSKA, where she began to train under the guidance of Svetlana Sokolovskaya, who also trained Mark Kondratyuk, Alexander Samarin and Sofia Samodelkina. The post-Olympic season has always been tough for athletes, with Alexandra suffering from old injuries that prevented her from sliding at full strength. He took part in two stages of the Russian Grand Prix, placing third and second, respectively, which allowed the skater to qualify for the final of the tournament.
Trusova withdrew from the Russian Championship in December due to illness and did not go on competitive ice again: she refused to play in the finals of the Grand Prix, did not apply to the show programs tournament. She has also performed quite actively on various shows, she.
So far, none of the skaters have made a statement as to whether they will expect to be on competitive ice next season, so the question remains open.