US journalist Dave Lees shared his thoughts on the possibility of Russian figure skaters returning to the international arena after the ongoing suspension decision. He expressed his opinion on his YouTube channel Skating Lesson.
“Are they going to come back and get top marks again because athletes who don’t have the ability to glide can jump? I don’t think this is beneficial for figure skating. That’s not an option,” Leese said.
But he noted that the Russians’ performance in international competitions would be good for figure skating’s star power.
At the end of February 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) appealed to international sports federations, recommending that domestic and Belarusian athletes not be allowed to participate in any competitions. For this reason, the International Skating Union (ISU) suspended Russian and Belarusian athletes from competitions. In the 2022/23 season, they focused on domestic competitions (Russian Grand Prix stages and the national championship). Although the issue of the return of Russian athletes was brought up at the ISU meeting held in October, it was not brought to the agenda.
The last official competition in which Russian figure skaters competed was the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
European Championships where there were no Russian figure skaters before in the name “a shame.”