World champion and coach Maria Butyrskaya criticized the judging in women’s single skating at the 2024 European Championships, expressing the opinion that former Russian figure skater Anastasia Gubanova, representing Georgia, was being judged. His words lead the way “Sports Express”.
“Are you stupid, stupid? Or blind? You are the judge, you must give enough consideration to all athletes. I don’t remember ever being so openly underestimated. Yes, Gubanova was a Russian girl, but now she plays in Georgia. Georgia has nothing to do with it. Moreover, Nastya is clean and was skating carefully,” said Butyrskaya.
The team that won last year’s continental championship completed its performance in the tournament with 206.52 points. The new European champion was Belgian Luna Hendricks, who scored a total of 213.25 points in the short and freestyle programs. Her compatriot Nina Piznarron came third in the tournament with 202.29 points.
Gubanova is a native of Tolyatti. In 2021, the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) allowed him to change his Russian sports citizenship to Georgian and compete for the national team of this country.
For the second time in a row, Russian skaters did not participate in the tournament. At the end of February 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a call to international sports federations and recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes not be allowed to participate in any competitions. For this reason, the International Skating Union (ISU) suspended figure skaters from both countries from competitions.
Previously Irina Rodnina in the name Third-tier Russian skater competing for Georgia.