“We rejoice less”: Russia deprived of places at the World Figure Skating Championships

international robbery

According to a document published by the International Ice Skating Union (ISU), the Russian national figure skating team has lost its maximum quota and can now take to the court in a duet in sports pairs and ice, as well as only one athlete each in men’s and women’s skating. dance.

Russia has disappeared from the list of countries that can submit multiple applications for participation in various disciplines, and the same rules apply to the junior world championship.

At the same time, at the European Championships, the Russian team still holds the maximum quota: three positions in each type of program.

Obviously, this is due to the fact that Russian athletes and athletes no longer compete at the World Championships this year due to the suspension and therefore cannot verify their ratings.

At the same time, the continental championship was held with the participation of our team and the quotas there remained at the maximum level.

But they too will soon disappear if the Russian team is not allowed to play again on the international stage. Meanwhile, local skaters have been suspended, the number of places is not important because none of our teams will go to either the European Championship or the World Championship.

The next European Championship will be held in Espoo, Finland from January 23-29, and the World Championship will be held in Saitami, Japan from March 20-26.

Recall that at the last European Championships in Estonia this year, the Russian team collected a rich collection of awards. Domestic skaters won gold medals in all types of the program.

Mark Kondratyuk won in men, in women the entire pedestal was occupied by students of Eteri Tutberidze Kamila Valieva, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, first in ice dancing Nikita Katsalapov with Victoria Sinitsina and Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin took silver. Finally, the entire pedestal for sports couples also became Russian: Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Gallyamov took the main prizes, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov took second place, and Alexandra Boykova with Dmitry Kozlovsky took third place.

In the 2021 World Cup, the last of which was with the participation of the Russians, the picture was generally similar. In the weakest form – in men’s skating – there were no medals, but in other types the Russians were excellent.

In dances, Sinitsina and Katsalapov won, Mishina and Gallyamov won against sports couples, and Boikova and Kozlovsky took third place, but for women, the entire pedestal was traditionally Russian: Shcherbakova took gold, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva – silver, Trusova – bronze.

“Everything is not up to us”

For socialbites.ca, the first domestic world champion in women’s singles, Maria Butyrskaya, commented on the sad news.

“This is wrong and unfair, our athletes suffer from it. I understand that for foreign skaters it does not matter how they win the world championship, but as for me, everyone is used to fighting with the strongest. And with our girls – almost impossible. Everyone has already given up: no matter how you skate, you still will not be able to win a medal or a title, ”she said.

– These are political games, not sports, so no one can say when we will be back. Neither you nor me – it’s not up to us. Let’s hold our fists so that usually Russia comes back first. If it turns out that we’re going to the World Championships with a quota, I’m sure we’ll be returning all quotas next year. May God grant him a world championship. The important thing is that we perform at the Olympics.”

“I would be happy with a group like this

Another well-known Russian skater, Katarina Gerboldt, spoke more optimistically about this.

“In that case, I’d be happy with a small quota, because we could totally miss out on all the quotas, but so far the return of Russian athletes is a big question,” said Gerboldt.

– Of course, we understand that the strongest athletes on the planet are Russians, and the strongest single skater turns out to be at the Russian Championships, but the most desirable medal in the career of every athlete is not the Russian Championship, but the World Championship or the Olympic Games. Of course, the victories won in these tournaments are more meaningful and more valuable, but the Russian championship looks much stronger in terms of participant level.

It so happened that skaters whose careers caught up with the current moment were not lucky. In addition to talent, strength and effort, luck is also very necessary in sports. Unfortunately, he is not currently on the side of Russian athletes. We can only hope and wait when we return to the world sports arena. Our skaters are the best, the strongest. We should not slow down, we should continue to develop, we should increase the competition in the country so that we can be at the top of the podium again on our return.”