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Post: You can not turn away from Russia: which of our skaters will come to the Euro

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Although the International Skating Union (ISU) has suspended Russian figure skaters from international tournaments on the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), she will be performing at the European Championships in Espoo, Finland. Moreover, there are several dozen, and this is not a sensation, but a fact – in figure skating, our country remains a donor of athletes for the national teams of many lagging countries.

Moreover, not always, “runaways”, who received a new passport, refuse the old one and really leave – many continue to study in their historical homeland. RIA Novosti Sport offers many options for who to support at the European Championship, which will be held from January 25-28.

On the route “Tutberidze – Plushenko – Poland”

Until recently, Maurice Kvitelashvili served as one of the most striking examples of “imaginary migration” in figure skating. Born in Moscow, the athlete played for Russia until 2016, winning a bronze medal at the national junior championship in 2014. Then he changed the flag to Georgian, and already under him he achieved the greatest success in his career, placed third in the European Championship – 2020 and won the Grand Prix next year. But in fact, Maurice’s life went as before – he still lived and studied in Moscow with Eteri Tutberidze.

Maurice Kvitelashvili - RIA Novosti, 1920, 19.01.2023
Maurice Kvitelashvili

Changes took place only in the autumn of last year – Kvitelashvili went to Italy and began to train in the team of coach Lorenzo Magri. As the head of the Georgia Figure Skating Federation explained – “temporarily, given the current circumstances.” Indeed, in the “coaches” column of the skater’s biography on the ISU website, the names of all members of the Moscow headquarters remained – Tutberidze, Sergey Lipov and Daniil Gleikhengauz, as well as Magri, Angelina Turenko and Eva Martinek were added to them. So interpreting the phrase as “with seven nannies” begs. The European Championship will show whether Kvitelashvili will have six coaches without him or, on the contrary, with what.

Vladimir Samoilov also trains in the same Magri group. This skater, like Kvitelashvili, was born in Moscow and played for Russia, including the 2019/20 season, and was one of six in the national championship. What’s more, many people remember him for mastering five different quad jumps, which he demonstrated in practice and (extremely unstable) competitions. In general, he was considered a very promising athlete – it was not in vain that he managed to train with both Tutberidze and Evgeni Plushenko.

Later, however, the skater changed the flag to Poland and even competed at the 2022 World Championships, where she took 27th place. In the fall of 2021, Samoilov left to train in Italy. The European Championship in Finland will be a career first for him.

Another “our” participant of the European championship is the representative of the Czech Republic Georgy Reshtenko. This figure skater St. Petersburg and from the age of nine he trained in the Evgeny Rukavitsyn group. Although Reshtenko started competing for the Czech Republic in 2017, he was overseen by Roman Usatov in St. Petersburg Figure Skating Academy. But last year, the athlete had to move to Prague, where he was coached by one of the best Czech figure skaters of recent times, Michal Brzezina. The performance at the European Championship will also be a first for Reshtenko.

Petersburg native, another participant of the upcoming European championship “German” Nikita Starostin. He trained and performed in Russia until the age of 13, but later moved to Germany with his family. He participated in the European Championships (13th) and World Championships (22nd) last season and most recently won his country’s championship. Tyumen-born Alexander Vlasenko, currently representing Hungary, will also go to the European Championship as the leader of his team.

“Russian Nastya” and ex-Alice

The “most Russian” in the list of participants in the women’s singles skating tournament is Anastasia Gubanova. In fact, you can even quote it here: At the European Championships in Tallinn a year ago, this figure skater, who made her debut for the Georgian national team, said: “I am Georgian on ice, but in life it is the same Russian Nastya.” Gubanova then took seventh and sixth place at the World Championships of the same season – however, unlike the European championship, there were no Russians there.

Figure skater Anastasia Gubanova - RIA Novosti, 1920, 19.01.2023
Figure skater Anastasia Gubanova

Gubanova, unlike Kvitelashvili, did not change anything in her education and life, and went to St. She continues to work in Evgeny Rukavitsyn’s group in St. Petersburg. This season, the silver medalist of the Junior Grand Prix Final as part of the Russian team, the figure skater achieved her first serious success under the banner of a new country – she won the bronze medal of the Grand Prix stage in Sheffield. . And it makes sense that at the European Championships Gubanova would also claim a prize.

And one of his rivals will be another former Russian woman – Ekaterina Kurakova. A miniature (153 cm tall) Muscovite became famous in the figure skating world at a very young age – he played the main role in the ice musical “Alice in Wonderland” by Ilya Averbukh. This figure skater also stood out in the sports arena – for example, she tried to do quad jumps.

Kurakova has been representing Poland since 2019 and it just so happened that at the first European Championship, Russian journalists lined up to interview her. But not because of increased interest in her career: the fact is that Kurakova later trained in Canada with Brian Orser and Evgenia Medvedeva, who had recently moved there. And the two-time silver medalist of the 2018 Olympics and the then two-time world champion was far from as open to the media as he is now – and it was impossible to miss the opportunity to learn about his new life. at least through an educational partner.

Kurakova, who now trains in Italy in the same Magri group, in which Samoilov is also located, of course, attracts independent attention. The figure skater finished fifth at last year’s European Championships and may well rise to the podium in the upcoming championship with successful skating.

Ekaterina Kurakova - RIA Novosti, 1920, 19.01.2023
Ekaterina Kurakova

Another Russian single skater known to many Russian fans who will perform at the European Championships is Anastasia Gracheva. She has repeatedly participated in the stages of the russian Cup and in the national championships and has been playing for Moldova since this season. As before, Gracheva is training in Moscow under the guidance of Yulia Lebedeva, and the European Championship will be a first in her career.

Sochi Hungarians and the “old” Galliamova

A pair of all Russian skaters training in our country will perform in pair skating at the European Championships. This is Maria Pavlova and Alexei Svyatchenko. Both athletes are well known in the figure skating world as they excel at the junior level. They became a couple at the beginning of 2022, they train in Sochi under the guidance of Dmitry Savin and Fedor Klimov. And given the lack of Russian duets, they could well claim the European Championship podium.

Among other sports couples who will come to Finland, you can find a Russian “half”. Pavel Kovalev from St. Petersburg plays for France, and his partner Kamil is his wife and bears the same surname. Alisa Efimova is a Finnish national, but for six seasons she played for Russia with Alexander Korovin and even won a silver medal in the US Grand Prix stage. She will compete under the German flag with figure skater Ruben Blommaert for the European Championships, which will be held in Efimova’s homeland.

Another important participant of the upcoming European championship, St. Figure skater Nika Osipova, born in St. Petersburg. Alexander Gallyamov, who was remembered by many as the future winner of the World Championship and the former partner of the team tournament of the Olympics, already won all his titles in a duet with Anastasia Mishina. After breaking up with Gallyamov, Osipova managed to ride a horse with the current husband of Yulia Lipnitskaya, the enlisted Vladislav Tarasenko and Dmitry Bushlanov. And now the figure skater plays for the Netherlands as a couple with Dmitry Epstein.

Among the dancers participating in the European Championship, the most important representatives of the Russian school are Maria Kazakova and Georgy Revia. While playing for Georgia, Denis Samokhin and Maria Borovikova trained in their group and only moved to Italy in the spring of 2022. The couple won the Junior Grand Prix Final, silver medals of the European Junior Championships. And last season, Kazakova and Revia competed at the Beijing Olympics, where they took 19th place.

The Moscow-born representatives of France, Evgenia Lopareva and Joffre Brissot, also have the chance to move up in the rankings. They used to train in Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer’s group in the Russian capital, and now split their working hours between Lyon and Montreal. Lopareva and Brissot competed at the European Championship last year and finished ninth. A season ago, they finished 17th for the first time at the World Championships.

Other duets feature curious dancers of Russian origin. Victoria Azroyan, daughter of famous former figure skater Vazgen Azroyan, who is currently coaching in Moscow, will perform with Estonian-born Artur Gruzdev for Armenia at the European Championships. Maria Ignatieva, who participated in the Russian Championship, will come to the second consecutive European Championship under the Hungarian flag in a duet with Ukrainian Daniil Semko. And for former Russians Anastasia Polbina and Pavel Golovishnikov, who currently represent Poland, the European championship will be their career debut – although they already had a world title in their career, but only with 28th place in the final table.

Source: Ria

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