u/Kindly-Plate-5785

The show will take place on 4th of July in Juriquilla, Mexico. Tickets available at donovancarrillo.con

After winning the elections for the President of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (he was the only candidate) Anton Sikharulidze gave a speech about the possibilities of RusFed suing the ISU if they don't allow Russian skaters in international competiton, and answered a couple questions about Kamila Valieva, Sasha Ignatova (Trusova), Sofia Muravieva, Veronika Zhilina and the chances of Russian junior skaters coming back next season. Here it is...:

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On the chances of Russian skaters coming back

I won’t talk about dates, because it’s wrong to give people false hope with specific deadlines — they are often postponed or shifted. But I think the International Skating Union will definitely make a decision on our juniors either this spring or by the beginning of summer.

I don’t see any contradictions at all, and I don’t see them regarding senior athletes either. We still hope that our senior athletes will also start competing internationally as soon as possible. The current situation and the level of interaction with the ISU are such that it really allows us to say we should soon begin competing on the international stage. Our dialogue with them — I hope these are not empty words — is ongoing all the time.

I expect that the chances for the juniors (coming back next season) are extremely high. If the International Olympic Committee issues a declaration recommending that all international federations lift sanctions on Russian and Belarusian athletes (the IOC already gave such declaration for Belarusian athletes), that would also be hugely significant and would move our issue forward, because the ISU takes guidance from the IOC.

On a potential deadline after which the Russian Federation might sue the ISU to CAS

There’s no deadline, we were the only winter sports federation to manage to create conditions that would allow our athletes to compete at the Winter Olympic Games (I kinda don't understand this, as there were other athletes from Russia competing in the winter Olympics, maybe someone here will explain what he meant). We achieved this through dialogue; we did not file a lawsuit. But we still understand that time is passing, and we are looking with great hope toward the international federation, which is expected to make a decision on lifting any disqualifications from our athletes (June 9th is the date that's been circulating in the media for the potential decision of unbanning Russian & Belarusian athletes).

If that does not happen, we will consider filing a case in the international court.”

On Sofia Muravieva

I don’t know much about Sofia Muravieva. She came and submitted a request to leave the Russian national team. Beyond that, I don’t know anything else about her. No proposals regarding her transfer have been received. She does not have documents from any country other than Russia. So it’s too early to talk about it.”

On the comebacks of Sasha Trusova and Kamila Valieva

Both Kamila Valieva and Alexandra Trusova are planning to return to the competitive season. They have submitted the relevant applications. We are looking forward to their return with hope. These are athletes of a very high caliber — it is important for us that such people take part in competitions. We have seen them in shows — they are doing well, and they will be competitive.

On Veronika Zhilina

Azerbaijan had been requesting a change of citizenship for several years. At first there were problems, and the transfer could not be made legitimate, but now all obstacles have been removed, and we have calmly allowed Veronika to skate for Azerbaijan and we hope things work out for her.

There were no difficult transfers this year. Mostly these are young children who live in another country. We let them go without issue. They fall under all transfer rules, and we have no grounds to refuse them.

The national team of Georgia and Israel* turned down Sofia Muravieva — they did not want to take the Russian skater because of unsatisfactory results and potentially high expenses. France was also not interested in the figure skater.

Quick reminder - The ISU said that the ISU federations have time until the 1st of July to submit a request for a federation change. Given that these were the federations mentioned in the media (and the US which I think we all agree is unrealistic) Sofia options are shrinking fast. What other options does she realistically have? Azerbaijan? Kazakhstan? - we don't even know if they are interested in her.

If Sofia didn't have a federation thats willing to take her before she decided to leave the national team, this whole situation can become a big mess for her. Especially, since next season Valieva and Trusova are coming back (and they weren't in the national team in the last couple of seasons).

Nevertheless, good luck to her, she's gonna need it.

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Edit

* The Israeli figure skating federation announced that Sofia Muravieva did not contact the federation regarding the change of sports federations

"Sofia Muravieva did not contact our federation about a possible change of sports citizenship to Israeli. We are always ready to consider situations with the transfer of skaters to us, but there is an important condition: an athlete who wants to represent Israel must have Jewish roots"

As a person that's interested in figure skating as a whole, but weirdly interested in the Russian scene (my ADHD probably loves the constant drama's that are going on there) I've decided to make a post summarising Veronika Zhilina's career. We'll go through how she looked like in her last season competing under the Russian flag, how she looks like now, what to expect and if she should be able to compete with the current top international competing ladies (as of today 21 May 2026).

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First let's answer a couple of questions about Veronika (some of them were under the post of her being finally allowed to compete under the Azerbaijani flag)

Q: From when will Veronika be able to skate for Azerbaijan?

From the 2026-2027 season.

Q: Will she skate as a junior or a senior?

She had her 18th birthday a couple days ago, so she's viable for both junior and senior competition (you can compete as a junior until you're 19 in singles). Obviously she's gonna skate for seniors, but there is a chance she will compete in 1 or 2 junior grand prix events to get on a senior grand prix alternate list. Sofia Samodelkina did the same thing when she competed in the Junior Grand Prix in Turkey. (I stole this comment from u/alysaspromise)

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Now lets go into her career.

Veronika started skating at the age of 3, she previously trained with Eteri and her camp, (Dudakov, Rozanov, Gleikhengauz), but changed camps and now trains with Plushenko. Yes, this was the girl that accused Sergei Rozanov of 'offering her massages' when she was a kid, which made him move out of Russia and is effectively banished rom the Russian figure skating world.

She landed both a triple axel and quads in competiton before her injury (we'll get to that later), even landed 4S + 3A combinations in training.

The last season Veronika Zhilina competed in was the 2022-2023 season. She was still a junior, but won numerous competitions including the Russian junior Grand Prix Final (beating for example Daria Sadkova - one of the current "Eteri Girls"), two Russian junior Grand Prix stages and finishing 2nd at the Russian junior Nationals (losing only to Alina Gorbacheva - this years alternate for Adeliia Petrosian for the Olympic Games).

When it comes to international competing a junior, the only international event she took part in was a junior Grand Prix event in 2021 in Slovakia, where she finished 1st beating for example Adeliia Petrosian, Sofia Muravieva and Kimmy Repond. She did so by landing 3 quads in the free skate - one Salchow and two Toeloops (one in a 4+2 combination)

Unfortunately after the 2022-2023 season Veronika had to undergo a spinal surgery to recover from an injury, which forced her to miss the 2023-2024 & the 2024-2025 seasons. In May 2025, she obtained Azerbaijani citizenship and hoped to represent the country internationally in the 2025–26 season, but in July 2025, the ISU and Russian Figure Skating Federation denied her transfer, citing numerous issues, from "not receiving all required documents" to "unregulated money issues" and other problems.

While firstly recovering from the surgery, then waiting in the one year "quarantine" required by the ISU when changing nationalities, Veronika slowly but surely returned to shape, she was constantly posting videos of her spins and jumps (which I'm a big fan of - you can watch by yourself above), where you can see the high level of technique in her skating abilities, to me her combinations remind me of old-school figure skating, where the flip and toeloop are really flips and toeloops. She even regained the 4S, posting a video on TikTok in December 2024.

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Given all of this - what to expect?

The answer is - it depends. All we have as of now are training videos, obviously she was very very good as a junior, being able to beat world known figure skaters is a great indicate of that, but coming back after 3 years out of competition is definitely not easy.

If she's able to land the jumps she was posting online (especially the 4S and the 3Lz + 3Lo combination) she should be in the mix for the podium (if not the favourite) at every event, obviously that easier said than done (especially since the last video of Veronika landing a quad Salchow that I was able to find on her official accounts is from December 2024 - it's the first video in the post). Nevertheless I'm still happy for her, as waiting 3 years without being able to compete had to be terrible.

Either way I'm definitely gonna be watching how she performs, and the truth is that in todays women's international figure skating world you don't need quads to win - both the Olympic Gold and Silver medalists didn't have a single ultra-C element, so if she's able to show consistent triples and triple-triples with good GOE's she should be in the mix either way :)

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Hope you guys enjoy this little summary. If the Russian juniors / seniors are allowed to international competition again or someone else from Russia changes federations I'll probably do a similar breakdown :) - also no, I'm not gonna do it for Plushenko's son, LOL.

Benoit Richaud summarised his work with Kamila Valieva:

"We started discussing working together back in the winter, after mutual acquaintances introduced us. for a long time it was unclear how we could make it work or how much time we would have. once i realized my schedule in Moscow would give us the opportunity to work together, i immediately contacted Kamila’s team.

Before arriving in Novogorsk, i didn’t know whether we’d be working on the short program or the free skate, so i asked Cédric Tour (french coach and musical composer) to prepare several music options in advance.

He responded very quickly, and i'm very thankful for his help. in the end, one of the options worked perfectly, and we choreographed the short program. as far as i know, this music hasn’t been used in figure skating before. it’s a very unique and powerful composition with a lot of rhythmic variation.

I think Kamila hasn’t skated in this kind of style before and it suits her incredibly well. my goal wasn’t to reinvent her but rather build the program around Kamila herself and the kind of skater she already is. we explored new ways of interpreting the music to use her body movement and the depth of her edges. it's about a skater’s evolution, some elements were completely new to her, especially the work on the step sequence. Kamila is incredibly talented and picks things up almost instantly.

Of course, we didn't have much time, choreographing the short program took us three days, but we spent long hours on the ice. we worked through the choreography and did countless run-throughs. one of the phrases i repeated the most was 'one more time!', Kamila even joked that she couldn’t remember ever doing so many repetitions or spending that many hours on the ice. it turned into a really intense training camp."

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Kinda hyped, can we skip the off-season already please?

Yeah yeah I know, another Benoit interview, this one will probably be the last one I post in a while, unless there's some breaking news :) But before we go into the last interview Benoit made before he left Russia, there are some news regarding Florent Amodio's camp.

Russian coach Alexander Volkov revealed that European Champion and 4x French Champion Florent Amodio will have a training camp with his skaters in Moscow, Russia. This is what he (Volkov) said about the whole situation.

"Florent and I have been friends for a long time — we’ve been crossing paths at competitions for about 10 years now. So I thought: why not invite him to Russia? When I suggested it to him, Florent only asked: “Is that even possible?” And he immediately agreed with great enthusiasm.

At first, Florent was concerned about getting a visa, but as it turned out that this issue is resolved quite easily — everything was arranged online. So now we’re waiting for him to come. By the way, he won’t be coming alone — we’re also expecting Ekaterina Kurakova (Russian-born Polish skater, that represented Russia as a junior until late 2017). Participation in the training camp will be open not only to my own students, but to all figure skaters from Russia as well.

This is a highly anticipated event. As they say, fresh blood, something new. Especially since Amodio himself was such a memorable and extravagant skater, and now he’s also an excellent choreographer.’”

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Last Benoit Interview before he left Russia

He spent little over a week at the Novogorsk Olympic training base.

Q: How did you like Novogorsk?

I really like the atmosphere of the base in Novogorsk itself. This is my third time coming here; I like everything here — the atmosphere of this rink, where I feel at home, even though I’m not from here. I like the food. The chefs working here cook like at home; it’s very tasty.

In France, we don’t have such large sports facilities like this one in Novogorsk, with access to an excellent rink and such high-quality ice. In Novogorsk, you can live, prepare for upcoming competitions, and relax after training.

And there is something here that I can’t logically explain. Normally I don’t sleep very much, but here I fall asleep like a baby and can sleep for 10 hours.

Great conditions. It’s a wonderful place.

Q: The purpose of your visit was to choreograph new programs for the skaters of Alexey Gorshkov, Angelika Krylova, and Alexei Mishin. Later, there were offers from Alexandra Trusova, and you also managed to work with Kamila Valieva. How do you structure your work?

Every choreographer has their own strategy and plan. In general, there are many different approaches. I rely more on my own feelings — how I sense, see, and understand the athlete for whom I’m creating the program. I think being a choreographer is about feeling what a skater needs in order to truly open up. It’s hard for me to put this into words, but I believe that when you know the athlete, understand what you want to convey to them, and they themselves want it, then an interesting collaboration emerges, one in which new dimensions are revealed.

But it’s important to have close contact with the coaches as well, based on mutual trust, which turns the work into a creative process. And of course, when you have the opportunity to work with coaches like Mishin, Alexey Gorshkov, and Katya Ryazanova over a long period of time, creating programs for their skaters, you better feel and understand what people expect from you and how to solve that task.

I think this understanding comes with time and experience. And thanks to experience, I know what I need to do, how to work with a particular skater. I have seen them in competitions, noted what I like and what I don’t, or rather what I can improve through interesting choreography. From that, it becomes clear what music to choose and what style I want to bring in.

When I see that something new can be tried, it inspires me. I’m not afraid of such changes; I tell myself and others: ‘Let’s help this athlete reveal themselves in a different way in this program.’”

Q: And still, where do you start when creating a program? Do you have some kind of plan?

When I start choreographing a program, the only thing I prepare in advance is the music. As a rule, there isn’t much time allocated for creating a program; the skater spends a week with me, and then other people work with them — their coaches and choreographers.

At the beginning, if I’m creating a program for a skater for the first time, we spend quite a lot of time building a relationship — it’s very important for me to understand the athlete. At that moment, what connects us is the musical idea. But even if such an idea exists, I still don’t fully know what I’m going to do with it.

What I’m about to say will probably sound a bit strange, but I usually go through the music very quickly.

I remember that when I was first asked to choreograph a program for Vasilisa and Maksim (Kaganovskaya–Nekrasov, note), I didn’t even listen to their music to the end. At that moment, I honestly didn’t understand in which direction we would go or how it would develop.

For me as a choreographer, a program starts to emerge and take shape through movement itself, directly in the process of working with the skaters. From this combination — music, skaters, choreographer — choreography is born. I believe it has always been and will always be like this, because that is how art is created: when you don’t think about it too much, you simply do it.

This time, when we started working with Vasilisa and Maksim in Novogorsk, I had an idea, but during the process of creating the program we went in a completely different direction. That is creativity.

And it was the same with Alexandra Trusova. At first, I just observed her, her skating, her movements, and then an image and choreography for her formed in my head.”

Q: Who was the first Russian figure skater you started working with?

It was Liza Tuktamysheva. That was in 2015. I was then at a training camp in Switzerland, working with young skaters, and Alexei Mishin was at the same camp with Stéphane Lambiel. Mishin saw me skating and asked: ‘Who is this guy?’ And one of my friends said: ‘Oh, you should go talk to Mishin — he never asks questions for no reason, something might come out of it. When Mishin notices someone, he offers them work. He always helps young people advance in their careers.’

That same evening we met at dinner, and Mishin directly asked me: ‘Do you want to choreograph programs for my skaters?’ That’s how our collaboration began, and it has lasted for almost 12 years now.

Q: Is there a difference between choreographing programs for singles skaters and ice dancers?

In my opinion, the main difference is the length of the choreographic process. With singles skaters it happens faster, with ice dance couples it takes longer.

In the past, one might have thought that singles skaters were less artistic than dancers. But now I can say that some singles skaters are even more expressive and emotional. When I look back, I realize that singles skaters have come a long way in terms of artistry, especially over the last 10 years.

And coming back to the question, I need more time for choreography with ice dance couples, possibly because the elements in their programs are different.

Q: In Russian figure skating, new competition formats have appeared — the jumps championship, show-program tournaments…

...My mother is a big fan of these competitions.

Q: What is your opinion about the new tournaments?

I have already spoken with some people from your federation about this topic and expressed the opinion that everything you are doing in these events makes a strong impression on me from a sporting perspective, because it helps attract more fans, larger fan bases, and casual viewers. You are making the sport more understandable, because figure skating is quite difficult to understand if you are not involved in it. By implementing your ideas and projects, you are making the sport more interesting and appealing.

I believe the time has come to offer new formats and a new vision of competitions. And this is not only my opinion. When people talk about your new tournaments, I hear feedback that it is great, exciting, even more attractive than regular competitions.”

Q: Russian figure skating is famous for its school; many coaches and skaters who started here now compete and work abroad. But for four seasons now, Russian skaters have not been able to compete internationally. In your opinion, does the absence of Russians have any impact on world figure skating?

Russian figure skating has always had a huge influence on the development of this sport. Over many years, Russia has given the world countless incredible skaters, coaches, choreographers, and styles that have inspired entire generations around the globe.

From a purely sporting and artistic point of view, when strong athletes are absent from competitions, it is inevitably felt, because it is precisely high-level competition that pushes everyone forward — both creatively and technically.

I believe figure skating only benefits when a very high level of mastery is maintained worldwide, and when many different schools, styles, and bright personalities contribute to the evolution of the sport.”

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Benoit said a couple days ago that in his opinion more and more coaches / choreographers will go to Russia to coach / choreograph. I guess he was right, I was still kind of surprised though :D

Also it was revealed a couple hours ago that Maria Zakharova was invited to the Donovan Carrillo's show in Mexico, it will take place on July 4th in Queretaro. Congrats to her, from being injured for 3.5 years, to learning a quad toe-loop at 18 to being invited to international ice shows while her country is banned from international competition, chapeau ba.

From having over 500 traffic violations, to lip-synching (not "singing" as some people claim) the nword and praising Vladimir Putin, Alina Zagitova is one of the most controversial people in the figure skating world.

Even her win at the 2018 Olympic Games was considered "controversial" by some people because she backloaded all her jumps to get a 10% bonus for each element that allowed her to get the gold medal. (I personally don’t consider this controversial as everyone could do it, at least in theory)

Whether I like it or not, her short program from the mentioned Olympics was, is, and probably will be, one of my favourite skates of all time. The choreography, dress and musical interpretation of Alina all works together and produces a perfect black swan program.

Contrary to popular belief, it was actually this skate that made her the Olympic gold medalist, the free skate even though had a more difficult triple-triple combination than Zhenyas (3Lz + 3Lo vs 3F + 3T) and had all jumping elements in the second half of the program (7 elements with the 10% bonus for Alina vs 5 elements for Zhenya) had the exact same score for both of the Russian girls - 156.65. (Holy reputation bonus for Zhenya btw)

Till this day Alina is only one of two women figure skaters that was able to get the Super Slam, which requires a skater to win all major competitions at both the junior and senior level.

She won the junior Grand Prix Final in 2016, the junior World Championships and the senior Grand Prix Final in 2017, the European Championships and the Olympic gold in 2018, and achieved the Super Slam after winning the World Championships in 2019.

Happy birthday to her, and I hope no one here runs into her on a public road, lol. 🏎️

Every now and then I see videos of self-proclaimed "experts" breaking-down skaters’ jumps in slow motion videos and saying that someone has "excessive pre-rotation" in their jumps and "because it wasn't called, they are over-scored".

Because I see comments like that even here, which I consider a level higher in knowledge than tiktok and "twitter", I decided that this is a good moment to remind everyone, that there is no such thing as "excessive pre-rotation", this term doesn't exist neither in the official ISU rulebook for figure skating, neither in the technical panel handbook.

What is in the handbook though, is something called "Cheated take-off". The handbook describes it as "A clear forward (backward for Axel type jump) take-off" that will result in a downgraded jump. After that it mentions that the most common cheated take-off occurs when someone is jumping the toe loop.

Whats most important though in the context of these slow-motion videos, is that the handbook clearly states, that the TP (Technical Panel) can watch the replay only in regular speed, no slow-motion, no pauses. It explicitly states that it has to be viewed at regular speed. This makes 99% of the videos online totally useless, as they are based on slow-motion, frame-by-frame analyses of jumps.

In contrast, we can see that when the Technical Panel is determining whether someone had the correct edge on a Flip or Lutz, the handbook explicitly allows the Technical Panel to use slow-motion replays. In these cases slow-motion videos are absolutely viable (although I'm not sure about the frame-by-frame analysis, as it's not mentioned in the Technical Panel handbook.)

:)

Hi guys, I'm looking for a website, where i can see detailed scorecards of events from the past.

I only know of skatingscores.com, but they allow to see only detailed scorecards of this seasons events without paying money.

Is there a site where i can see stuff like that for free?

French choreographer Benoît Richaud commented on the possible transfer of 19-year-old Sofia Muravyova, a medalist at the Russian Figure Skating Championships, to the French national team.

"France is just one of many options available to Sofia. We wish her all the best regardless of which country she chooses". Richaud was quoted as saying by a russian newspaper.

Earlier, it became known that the figure skater had requested to be removed from the Russian national team roster. Prior to that, media reports had also suggested a possible switch by Muravyova to the French national team. It was also reported that Muravyova could begin competing for the Georgian national team.

According to Ria Novosti Sport, Benoit Richaud postponed his flight from Russia to work with Kamila Valieva. The production process began today, May 14th. The agreement was reached last minute. It has not been determined yet whether it will be the short program or the free skate.

Benoit Richaud has been recognized twice as the best choreographer in the world according to the International Skating Union.

Sasha Trusova uploaded a video from the training session with Benoit Richaud, here it is, with English subtitles when needed :)

Sofia Muravieva is considering switching to the French national team (according to Sport-Express)

According to RIA Novosti, the option of joining the U.S. national team is also being discussed.

So far, no official requests have been submitted to the Figure Skating Federation of Russia.

It was revealed today that Lena Kostyleva will skate to "Bolero" as her short program for the next season.

Personally I’m kinda interested in how will she be able to perform it, but tbh I’m done with bolero, each year we have at least one person skating to this song, like there’s nothing else to choose from, lol.

But… there is some interesting symbolism in this music choice, the last international skate from an athlete representing Russia (although it was under the "Russian Olympic Committee" banner) was Kamila Valievas Bolero free skate at the 2022 Olympics.

There’s a big chance that Russian juniors will be back next season, so the idea of Lena Kostyleva’s (the best female junior skater from Russia) first skate in international competition being performed to the same song that was the last song Russian skaters were able to perform before the ban is very interesting 😄.

Thoughts?

Today aired an interview with B E N O I T Richaud. It was very long, so I only selected the quotes that I considered to be the most interesting. As always, please remember that I’m not a Russian speaking person so this is translated by a translator. I will not post the link, as this post will be taken down by Reddit.

Which part of the season is more difficult for you: staging programs or the competitions themselves?

It's hard to compare, it's like two different works. Productions – difficult period physically, work in the season – this is more of a psychological and intellectual burden.

The busiest period, probably – Grand Prix series. One start after another, I go to every stage, the schedule is very tight. Then it’s easier: national championships, European Championships, Cheka and World Championships, you can already take a breath there. This season it took a lot of time and effort for the Olympics, but usually winter – is a fairly calm time.

I work with my athletes according to a special scheme: when I’m not around, they calmly train themselves. They have a detailed plan for each workout: how many jumps, spins, and sliding exercises you need to do. I am always in touch – video calls, detailed analysis of classes, analysis of the work done.

If technical issues arise, I turn to specialists whom I trust. I am not a jumping expert and have never considered myself one. But I was lucky to work with professionals: Alexey Mishin, Cedric Tour, Anshe Boklandt – they are wizards! I ask them a question and they always have an answer. 

Camps – Is this your camp in the Alps?

Yes, this year we again have three weeks in Courmayeur, Italy, and then we move to France for two months. We are given a skating rink in Angers, where the Grand Prix stage usually takes place.

And before that, I will also hold small closed training camps for my team, the skaters with whom I work as a coach. So the whole summer is already planned.

Who to expect this year at your camp?

There will be those skaters who have been coming to me for years, and new names – from the USA, Asia and Russia, including great champions and top athletes. Let me name specific names a little later, but believe me, it will be interesting.

Of course, there will be Alexey Mishin himself – I don’t trust anyone in technical matters more than him. His method is a miracle, it always works. It seems to me that not everyone understands how brilliant a specialist he is. Yes, I know that he is a legend in Russia, but believe me, the scale of his figure is even greater.

It was planned that several Russian figure skaters would come to me, but not everyone would be able to do this – visa problems. But for some I will stage programs in Moscow.

Are you going to Russia?

Yes, I will spend 9 days in Novogorsk. I will work with your dancers and will stage a short program early next week Alexandra Trusova. It’s a pity that it’s so difficult with visas now, but you see – with Alexandra everything was resolved in the best possible way.

Which (ice) dancers will you work with?

Again with Vasilisa Kaganovskaya and Maxim Nekrasov. This is a very interesting couple, I am already looking forward to our cooperation.   

I'll also be choreographing a dance for Alexei Gorshkov's junior pair, Fefelova and Valov. They're an incredible team, and I'm thrilled to be able to create a program for them. This will be my first time working with juniors in ice dance, but they're amazing.

I hope the ISU accepts your juniors and the world gets to see this pair. Believe me, they'll be unbeatable—no one will beat them. I don't want to say anything bad about other pairs, but Maria and Artem's level is out of this world.

Last season you gave them a very successful free dance. Did you like how they rolled it in for spring? Has the program changed in any way? 

She opened up and became even stronger. I watched with pleasure how they worked on quality, and did not rush to shred and change the program. You know, in ice dancing so much depends on the judges – it is customary to listen to their opinion. Therefore, I am doubly pleased that Vasilisa and Maxim retained the original idea of the production. The changes were minimal.

What do you think is the reason for their success?

They have an amazing coaching team that is great at ice dancing and looks to the future. It’s also very nice to work with the guys, they are open to new things, easy to communicate with and love figure skating. 
They are very different from the previous generation: they have a different skating and a completely different style. There are probably other young couples, but I admit: I didn’t follow your competitions too closely and I’m not very familiar with other duets. 

But I see that Russian ice dancing has changed a lot and has made a huge leap over the past 4 years. I want to see how Russian dance duets burst into the international scene. It will be interesting.

You choreographed the last short program of Kaori Sakamoto's career. How do you like her performance at the World Championships?

I was both happy and full of sadness. But I felt even more proud – of her and a little of myself. For the first time in my career (and I’m only 38, I’m still very young), I was next to the skater from her first adult season until her last. We staged many programs and went hand in hand for many years.

I never tried to change it because it's impossible. She is a strong and complete personality, not like everyone else. She is a person who gives light to everyone she meets along the way. Are you sad and bad? Kaori will cheer you up with just her appearance. She has a gift for making people happy

It's hard to describe it in words, but looking back at this season, I feel very strong emotions. We've talked a lot with Kaori lately, I didn't expect it at all, but she said she was very grateful to me. Her mother also wrote me a very warm message thanking me for helping discover Kaori as a figure skater.

Did her silver in Milan upset you?

I’m sorry that the Olympic performance was not ideal, but this is a sport, this is the Olympics, everything happens there. Remember the story with Ilya Malinin: no one doubted that he would win, but this did not happen. 
But this is their story, and over the years of work I realized that everyone has their own path. What happened happened. I told Kaori that if she wanted to win the Olympics, she would have to go back to the sport, haha.

How do you cope with increased popularity?

I like it. Because I perceive this as the popularity of figure skating, not personal. I have always said that I want to change the situation in which our sport finds itself. Figure skating deserves more attention, spectators and views. And there are no trifles in this matter.

In Prague at the World Championships, I stood on the street outside the arena once for two hours – signing autographs and taking pictures. Not because I really want recognition, but because I know: it’s important for the fans. 

I am sure that in the next 10 years we will see a new flowering of the figure, and our job is to contribute to this as much as possible. Coaches should also be involved in this – I like how, for example, Eteri Tutberidze feels about this. She never refuses a photo or autograph to fans; she reacts very kindly to such requests, no matter how much she is in a hurry. 

After this season, there is probably a queue of people wanting to put on programs. Do you have to refuse someone?

I try to work with everyone – I still find it very interesting, I would like to develop figure skating by working with different athletes. But sometimes you have to say «no» if the schedule or logistics do not allow it.
And also if I see that there is no point in working together this also happens, although rarely. It’s just that sometimes it’s clear that the skater and I have different views on both work and what the program should look like. Why waste both his and my time?

Does the price tag for your programs increase with popularity?

All top choreographers work at approximately the same rate. The cost of my work increased slightly after I won the ISU Skating Awards for Best Choreographer. In addition, everything around is becoming more expensive, but my prices have increased quite slightly. 

Can you make a discount if you are interested in a skater and he has a financial problem? 

Certainly. Moreover, I still sometimes put programs for free. If a skater does not yet have support from the federation or has difficult times, I will always meet them halfway. This is a very important point for me – not everything is measured by money.

Which skaters would you like to work with?

It would be very interesting for me to stage programs for the strongest Russian figure skaters – especially your pairs and girls. And a new generation of Japanese athletes, very interesting guys also appeared there.

You are so far the only foreign director who is now ready to work with Russians. Aren't you afraid of the hate?

This is the third time I’ve come to work in Russia and I don’t see any problem in it. Moreover, I know that, having looked at me, now other choreographers are ready to take Russian figure skaters.

Richaud arrived in Moscow on Friday. It is reported that he will create a short program for Evgeny Semenenko and free dance programs for the pairs Vasilisa Kaganovskaya – Maksim Nekrasov and Maria Fefelova – Artem Valov.

It had also been planned for the French choreographer to create a program for Sofya Muravyova, but after her recent split with coach Alexei Mishin, the collaboration was canceled.

RIA Novosti

Today the IOC released a statement, saying that the "The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) no longer recommends any restrictions on the participation of Belarusian athletes, including teams, in competitions governed by International Federations (IFs) and international sports event organisers."

You can read the whole statement here.

For those interested, they also answered the question about Russian athletes. Here it is...:

"Why does the IOC decision not apply to athletes with a Russian passport?

The situation relating to the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is different from that relating to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Belarus. The NOC of Belarus is in good standing and complies with the Olympic Charter. Whilst the ROC has held constructive exchanges with the IOC on its suspension, it remains suspended while the IOC Legal Affairs Commission continues to review the matter.

The IOC EB also noted with concern the recent information that has led to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) looking into the Russian anti-doping system. The IOC EB would therefore like to obtain a better understanding of this situation."

The "recent information" mentioned of course relates to the new director of RUSADA , who was involved in the 2014 Sochi doping scandal and the fact that just a week ago WADAs president, Witold Bańka released a statement revealing that a major investigation of Russian athletes concluded, with 291 athletes sanctioned.

There is a list available of sports where Russian athletes were found guilty of doping here; There is no mention of figure skating (Just "skating", which given the nature of the sport disciplines I would assume refers to Speed Skating, not Figure Skating).

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Imo: If WADA gives a green light, and the legal disputes are over, we will see a similar announcement for Russian Athletes. This of course doesn't mean that the ISU will immediately comply, but given the amount of leverage and pressure the IOC has over sport federations, i think it's safe to assume that Russian athletes will come back in the next 12 months - that's just my predicition though.

Also: Yes, this means that the Belarussians will be treated as every other country, with their national anthem and flag.

Please be civil in the comments below :)

In a recent interview I posted here a couple days ago Sof(i)a was asked if she still has a good relationship with Sasha Trusova. She replied that she does, but now after Sofia decided to change the country she represents they don’t meet as often and just text each other here and there.

Well it seems that Sasha decided to meet her in Astana, as she flew there with Makar and their little baby Misha.

Also they decided to do a little surprise and take Anna Frolova with them, and we can see her reaction in the video haha 😀

The caption translates to "The surprise was a success"

Cute!

Today aired an interview with Sofia Samodelkina for a russian newspaper (sports .ru). It was a reaaaally lengthy interview (which i unfortunately can't link because reddit will take this post down) in which she spoke about everything, from having difficulties in learning the Kazakh language, to being obsessed with ultra-C elements.

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Milan was your first Olympics. Did it meet your expectations?
I imagined it pretty much like this. Maybe I thought I’d feel something special all the time, like a unique state of mind. But in reality, it’s just another competition: you immerse yourself in the work and don’t think about anything else. When I went out to skate, I didn’t feel anything unusual.

I immediately remembered what Sasha Trusova said—she mentioned that at Beijing 2022 she didn’t feel nervous on the ice at all. Back then I couldn’t understand how that was possible. It’s the Olympics! But it turns out you prepare so much—physically and mentally—that you just go out and do your job.

What was the best moment?
For the first time in my life during a program, I felt that I was a happy person. I was doing my step sequence in the short program, and suddenly the thought hit me: I’m at the Olympics, this is amazing, my parents are watching me on TV right now! And the crowd was so supportive! Those emotions will stay with me forever—even if I make it to a second or third Olympics.

Whose performances in Milan stood out most to you?
Among the women, definitely Kaori Sakamoto—she’s on a completely different level in terms of impression and presentation. Her skating is so effortless—it’s like she doesn’t touch the ice. By the end of her program, the audience gets goosebumps. Among the men, I really liked Yuma Kagiyama’s and Kevin Aymoz’s free skates.

But I see you give interviews in English quite confidently now.
Yes, and I’m proud of that, because I basically started from scratch. Of course, I still make mistakes, and when people talk too fast, I freeze. But overall, I communicate quite easily now. My goal is to make it perfect—so I don’t need translations whispered in my ear.

What about Kazakh—are you learning it?
Of course I want to. I tried before, but without a tutor it didn’t work well. Now I live in an English-speaking environment, and learning two languages at once is hard. It’s definitely in my plans—I pick up languages quickly, I just need a good teacher. It’s about respect for the country, and I’d love to give an interview in Kazakh someday.

You were also gifted an apartment in Astana.
That was a shock. We arrived from Milan, there was a big welcome at the airport. They announced an apartment and car for Mikhail Shaidorov. I was happy for him—an apartment, wow!

Then suddenly: “Sofya Samodelkina is also awarded an apartment!” I woke up instantly. I called my parents, jumping with happiness. It’s still under construction, but I’m already imagining how I’ll set it up. It’s a large one-room apartment in a good new district. Now I have motivation to earn money for renovations.

Who are you closest with among international skaters?
I like spending time with Isabeau Levito—we’re on the same wavelength and connected easily. When we meet at competitions, we joke around and chat. It’s a very sincere kind of friendship. In sports, it can be different—there can be tension. I’m quite sensitive and notice those things right away.

At the Milan Olympics, I met Adeliya Petrosyan. We hugged—we hadn’t seen each other in ages. After the free skate, we congratulated each other that it was over, and then both got taken for doping control. We sat there for a long time, chatting—remembering our junior days, how we trained then and how much has changed. It was really nice to see her. The next day we even went for a walk together with some friends.

Do you feel more attention after the Olympics?
Yes, especially in Kazakhstan. After Worlds, I’m in a taxi at 4 a.m., exhausted. The driver says: “Sorry, I know you’re tired, but I was rooting for you at the Olympics—can I take a photo?” Of course I said yes. I try not to refuse—I remember how upset I was as a child when a celebrity didn’t give me an autograph. It only takes a few seconds, but it means a lot.

Rate your season on a scale of 10.
Probably a 7 or 8. No one knows what would have happened if I hadn’t gotten injured in the summer. It really set me back—I had no physical training at all for two months. I was doing a turn in a step sequence, my foot hit a rut in the ice—and I heard a crack, unbearable pain, my knee twisted. I’ve never felt pain like that in my life. Thank God there was no fracture. At first I was optimistic: I’d rest a bit and get back to it. I even went back on the ice after a few days—but my leg twisted again on a simple exercise. That’s when I realised I had to see a doctor. And in the U.S., that’s very expensive.

My main goal for the off-season is to sort out my health so nothing prevents me from increasing difficulty.

You mean quads and the triple Axel?
I think about it all the time. When I injured my leg, I was most upset that it would set me back in working on ultra-C elements. Trying to relearn a triple Axel or a quad right before the Olympics would have been a strange decision, so it was clear right away: this season was a miss in that sense. When I was jumping in winter, I could see the height was there—I had room for another rotation. But I couldn’t take the risk.

It’s absolutely clear to me: if I don’t land a triple Axel or a quad next season, I won’t move up from my current positions. The goal is clear. But as you grow up, you realize goals aren’t that easy to achieve. A difficult jump isn’t just about attempts—you need to structure all your work properly.

But did you have successful attempts after moving to the U.S.?
Yes. The first thing I landed here was the Axel, then I started rotating the Salchow and loop. I know what people will say: “Where’s the video? You probably dreamed it.” But my coaches and I have plenty of videos of those landings—I just don’t see the point in showing off when there’s nothing to brag about yet. Once I do it in competition, then we can talk. As Rafael Vladimirovich says: a jump exists when it’s 10 out of 10, not on social media.

People keep asking you about Mikhail Shaidorov—you’re treated almost like a pair.
Yes, it’s starting to feel a bit strange—we’re not twins. I think if you asked Misha, he’d say the same. We have a good relationship, I’m very proud of his gold medal. Unfortunately, we don’t see each other often during the season since we train in different parts of the world, but we stay in touch. I’m incredibly happy everything worked out for him in Milan, but lately, because of the hype, there have been some wild stories—pairing us romantically, asking awkward questions. I try to respond politely; hopefully it will calm down soon.

What does your schedule look like?
I have one day off—Sunday. The rest of the days I’m at the rink from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Morning warm-up, then three ice sessions with breaks, then a short rest and about 1.5 hours of conditioning. Sometimes I add cardio in the evening. That’s almost 30 sessions a week. On Saturdays training is optional, but I always go—except right before competitions. On Sundays we go to the beach, play tennis or volleyball.

I really like when we have a strong group on the ice. Guys who land lots of quads come, and you try to keep up. Nikolaj Memola, Mikhail Selevko, Petr Gumennik. Petr is an absolute machine. Five minutes on the ice—and he’s already doing quads. We all skate past him in disbelief—it’s incredible. He’s tall and very physically strong. When he goes into a jump, you press yourself against the boards—it’s that powerful.

What about comments on your body?
They used to hurt a lot. I could cry easily—why hit a sore spot? It’s my body, my story. Now I read less, and even if I see something, I just laugh. After the Olympics, I saw a comment like “they gave an apartment to a nightstand.” It’s ridiculous: someone sits there angrily writing about a girl they don’t even know—and feels proud of getting likes. Big achievement.

Have you struggled with eating before?
Of course. But in childhood—now I don’t push myself like that. Back then I could eat cucumbers for breakfast, a piece of meat for lunch, and skip dinner. Those were the conditions. I’d train, not eat afterward, then run on a machine wrapped in plastic for another 1.5 hours. I was exhausted—I’d wake up with no energy, faint, walk along the walls.

But I was 12–13. At that age, you don’t think about what will happen when you’re 19. Now I try to approach food consciously, maybe a bit stricter before competitions. That’s also something you have to learn. And I’m not ashamed to talk about it. I don’t look like Korean skaters—but I’m not Korean! It’s strange to compare us. Yes, it’s hard—it’s a daily struggle. But “just don’t eat” doesn’t work. It never has. That leads to the opposite effect.

What does Sofya Samodelkina need to work on the most?
Discipline. Not in training—I have no problems on the ice. But Rafael Vladimirovich explains that sport is impossible without overall discipline. You have to understand that your lifestyle determines what you achieve in sport.

And that’s still hard for me. I like going out with friends, filming TikToks. There was one really embarrassing moment. We posted a video—nothing special—but Rafael Vladimirovich saw it and said: “So this is how you relax at home in the evening? Instead of sleeping and recovering?”

There was also the story with the Donald Trump campaign cap. American social media really went after you then.
The dumbest situation. It wasn’t even my cap! I was visiting someone, trying on baseball caps—I liked a red one. I wore it for a second in a video—and then I open Twitter and there’s a whole wave of discussion about my political views. So I had to explain that I had no idea what “MAGA” meant—I googled it afterward. But since then I’ve matured. Sometimes I think back to things that happened a year ago and don’t understand why I acted that way.

Were there days when you regretted the decision to leave?
There were tough days. But I never regretted the switch. The hardest part was making the decision to leave: I didn’t want to leave my friends, change my environment, be separated from my family. Like any kid, I worried—what would I gain by sacrificing all that? There were no guarantees. But once I started skating and competing, all doubts disappeared.

You used to be close with Sasha Trusova—you even caught the bouquet at her wedding. Are you still in touch?
We live very different lives now—in different countries and time zones. Sasha has started a family, had a son—that’s wonderful, her little Misha is adorable, I love following their life on social media. We text sometimes, congratulate each other on holidays. Sasha wrote to me after the Olympics saying she was happy I made it there and fulfilled my dream.

Did you see that she’s landing a quad Lutz and triple Axel again?
That’s amazing! Sasha is unique—she does things no one else can. It’s not just that she grew up and landed a quad—she also gave birth, which has never happened before. I’m really rooting for her, and if she decides to come back and puts everything together, the result will be incredible. The whole world will be watching and cheering for her.

Would you like to meet her at competitions?
That would be cool. I can both be friends and compete. I’m always for a great rivalry.

This year you had your short program choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne. Why does everyone want to work with her?
When you step on the ice with her, it’s like magic, I swear. She works in a special aura—it’s her own magical space that you get access to, she has limitless imagination: she can offer 500 variations of a sequence if something doesn’t feel right. She’s constantly inventing and refining things. I was a bit upset it didn’t make the ISU Skating Awards longlist. I understand they pick more popular athletes—but that’s okay. I’ll have another program like that in the future. I’ll skate something they simply won’t be able to ignore.

Is it expensive?
Very. I won’t name exact numbers, but it’s absolutely worth it.

Does the federation pay for Bourne’s programs?
Yes, they supported it this season and promised to support next season too. I was over the moon when they said they’d cover it. Of course, we discussed it with Rafael Vladimirovich first—he said if I had a worthy season, he’d talk to Shae-Lynn. It’s very hard to get to her. When I explained to the federation why it costs so much, I promised the program would be amazing. And it turned out that way.

I’ve always had a dream: to skate “my” program—like Alena Kostornaia’s “Angel.” That program became her signature; even now, if I used that music, everyone would say, “Oh, that’s Alena’s program.” I wanted my “Czardas” to become something special, so that people would remember me in that image.

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As I said, these are just selected quotes, the interview was a bit longer, I tried to include the most interesting parts, I don't speak russian so forgive me if sometimes the translation is off, I tried my best :)

After one of her recent Team Tutberidze Tour performances, the 2018 Olympic Champion was asked in an interview about the new rules for the 2026/27 season.

- "Alina, how do you feel about the rule changes?"

- "I don't really care"

HAHAHA, she's so done with this sport its actually funny.