“Dedicate time to each other”: Sinitsina and Katsalapov took a break in their careers and are preparing for the wedding

Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov will miss at least the first half of the season.

The athletes announced this on social networks.

For this reason, they were not included in the list of participants in the open rentals of the Russian national team, which will be held on September 24-25 in Moscow.

The winners of the gold and silver medals of the Beijing Olympics decided to relax and enjoy the preparations for an important event in their lives - the upcoming wedding.

“We had an amazing Olympic cycle.

Incredible.

We won the European and World championships, we were preparing for the Olympics in very difficult conditions!

It was our personal marathon for eight years, which brought us a huge amount of emotions, impressions, happiness, medals, including the most important in the life of an athlete - Olympic medals!”

- Katsalapov wrote in his Telegram channel.

He also emphasized that this period took a huge amount of strength from the couple.

Therefore, they felt the need for a reboot - both moral and physical.

“Therefore, after consulting with each other, coaches and loved ones, we decided to skip the first half of the season in order to rest and recover.

Moreover, soon we have a long-awaited event in life, our wedding!

And I want to focus on this as much as possible, enjoy every moment of preparation, of the day itself.

Dedicate time to each other, ”added the skater.

The athletes got engaged in May this year while on holiday in the Maldives.

Nikita proposed to Victoria on the ocean.

“I dreamed about it for a long time... I prepared the Ring in advance, carried it with me for a long time and waited for that very moment.

I wanted everything to be as natural as possible and a little unexpected, when we both feel 100% happy and relaxed.

It turned out even better.

Just perfect.

And I'm extremely happy!

We are extremely happy, ”Katsalapov shared on the social network.

The transition period in Russian sports is a good time to take a break and prepare for the wedding.

Therefore, the decision to suspend a career by and large was expected.

Moreover, none of the figure skating fans would be surprised if the 2021 world champions announced their retirement from the sport right now.

Although their coach Alexander Zhulin had previously stated that he had set new programs for the duet, even he did not have confidence that the wards would present them to the public.

Not without reason, when at some point fake, as it turned out later, news about the end of the careers of Vika and Nikita appeared in the media, the mentor without hesitation confirmed this information to reporters.

Later it turned out that Katsalapov's phrase was taken out of context and did not at all carry the meaning that was given to it, but many remained doubtful.

In particular, a couple of weeks before the open rentals of the national team, it became known that the first couple of the country plans to perform in Tatyana Navka's show in Sochi on the same dates.

In the end, Sinitsina and Katsalapov had to admit that they did not intend to pass the test for readiness for the season.

However, hardly anyone will condemn them for this.

Moreover, experts almost unanimously declared that the duet deserved this respite.

“Vika and Nikita are certainly talented skaters who have done a lot for the sport.

Nikita is generally a holder of three Olympic medals of all merits.

Taking a break and missing the first half of the season is their decision, which we have the right to respect and support.

Then we will wait for their decision to continue their career, ”Ilya Averbukh noted on this occasion.

He also said that he would not like to guess what is the likelihood of the subsequent completion of the career of Victoria and Nikita after a pause.

The choreographer expressed confidence that the skaters would definitely continue their “work on the ice” and the fans would see them in various guises.

In turn, coach Inna Goncharenko stressed that such experienced athletes as Sinitsina and Katsalapov can objectively assess whether they need some kind of pause to relieve psychological stress.

“The Olympic Games, the latest negative events in the world, positive news in their personal lives leave their mark.

So it's all here together.

If they declare this pause, then they do it with full responsibility.

I support their decision, and after a pause, I want to see them in all their glory, when they are rested and charged, ”the Championship specialist quotes.

Sinitsina and Katsalapov have been skating together since 2014.

Their duet was formed after Nikita decided to break off cooperation with his former partner, Elena Ilyinykh, with whom they became bronze medalists of the Games in Sochi.

The formation of the couple was not easy, and experts did not immediately accept them as leaders.

The 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang for athletes did not take place at all due to a partner's injury - during the qualifying national championship, Nikita received an ankle ligament rupture, after which the season was over for him.

By that time, the duo, having changed several coaches, began working with Zhulin, who led them in the new Olympic cycle to two victories at the European Championships, to the gold of the world championship in 2021 and the silver medals of the 2022 Games, as well as gold in the team championship .

“Now it’s like some part is lost - on the one hand, it’s very sad, but on the other hand, you need to understand that such athletes are born quite rarely.

Therefore, it was a pleasure to work with a couple of such talent, ”the coach commented on the pause in the career of his athletes.

When the titled skaters will return to the ice, it has not yet been specified.