Everyday life of Zhulin's group

This off-season, Alexander Zhulin's group was replenished with two strongest dance couples: former national champions Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin and current winners - Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva and Yegor Bazin. Both have already started work, albeit with varying degrees of immersion.

If the former are just getting involved in training after the partner's maternity leave, then the latter are fully working. "We transferred Igor Orshulyak's brilliant idea for our free dance to the ice. In just a month, my coaches and I collected a complete picture of our free dance, a rhythmic layout, came up with elements, ligaments and even chips that will no longer fit into this year's programs. For the rest of the offseason, Egor and I worked in the new headquarters, like Pokémon in turbo mode, so we leave with a clear conscience to rest, "Elizaveta wrote in her Telegram channel.

Stepanova and Bukin, according to Zhulin, are almost ready for an arbitrary dance and there is a selection of music for rhythmic.

"So far, they are not working in full mode. Sasha and Vanya performed at Ilya Averbukh's show, Sasha is recovering from childbirth, after all, it's not so easy. ... We will fully start working with the training camp in Sochi in July, "RIA Novosti quotes the coach.

Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov have not yet announced their retirement, although they completely missed the past season, concentrating on performances in the show. The silver medalists of the Beijing Olympics admitted that they have not yet decided on their attitude to the replenishment of their coach's group.

"It's not clear yet - this is the off-season, transitions, I want to see the guys with our team in action. Maybe we will be able to answer a little later. But, of course, such a healthy and calm jealousy is present," Katsalapov said in the podcast "Free Program".

Memoirs of Sinitsina and Katsalapov

The vice-champions of the Beijing Olympics have not yet said anything about their career plans, but in an interview with Maxim Trankov they shared their memories and first joint performances. Victoria and Nikita paired up in 2014, before that they performed with Ruslan Zhiganshin and Elena Ilyinykh, respectively.

The athletes admitted that they were hit by a flurry of criticism and even insults on social networks after such a sharp turn in their careers.

"I was shocked. I read so much about myself - as if I was the worst person on the planet. I have my own vision, my own reasons why this happened, why I want to do this and achieve no less success - to achieve, to go through all the difficulties, gritting my teeth. And it's not that I don't get good feedback or just support for it, I get so much manure for it, like I'm doing something terrible. I was very worried," Katsalapov shared.

According to Sinitsina, because of such an inadequate reaction of fans, she abandoned social networks for several months, but people somehow found out her mobile phone number and wrote SMS with insults. It was not easy during the performances either.

"The first year was hellishly hard. Especially the first competitions. We came to the Grand Prix in Moscow for the first time, I will never forget it. We got a stage together with Lena and Ruslan, we were in the same warm-up. When we went out on the ice, we were booed by the whole audience. It was tin, I have no other word. It was very hard," said the skater.

Zagorski and Gureiro return to the ice

Meanwhile, the dance leaders in the coming season may have new, or rather, old, rivals. The imminent resumption of joint training was announced by Tiffany Zagorski and Jonathan Gureiro. The athletes took a break in their careers when it became clear that the Russian team would not be allowed to participate in international competitions. This break was also necessary for them to solve the problems with the health of their partner. As you know, Tiffany had meningitis during the Olympic season, and because of this, the duo could not qualify for the 2022 Games, although they were considered the favorite in the fight for the third ticket to Beijing. The national championship turned out to be tragic for them, where, after an arbitrary dance, Zagorski was carried off the ice in his arms. According to Gureiro, during the program, he saw that his partner was in a semi-fainting state and several times offered to stop the performance, but Tiffany heroically completed the rental.

Probably, during the time that has passed since that tournament, the athlete managed to improve her health, and now she is ready to plunge back into the competitive mode.

I wonder if the skater will return the image familiar to fans, because during her absence she grew her hair and changed her hair color from fiery red to golden.

  • RIA Novosti
  • © Alexander Wilf

Enjoying your vacation

While some skaters are finishing staging programs, others have already scattered to different parts of the world to rest.

So, Kamila Valieva went to the UAE, where she met with her friend Samira, with whom she has been friends since kindergarten. The girls spent time very actively: they played basketball, did Pilates, yoga in hammocks and even tried their hand at boxing. And from the hotel, Camila received as a gift her own photo in a frame decorated with stones and Olympic rings.

"It's very nice and nice," the athlete shared in the Telegram channel.

After a few days in the Emirates, Valieva flew to the favorite vacation spot of many skaters - the Maldives.

Alina Zagitova, Anna Shcherbakova, Maxim Trankov and Tatyana Volosozhar with their children, as well as Evgeny Plushenko with his family, are already enjoying the ocean and the sun there. His pupil Sofia Muravyova also chose Dubai for recreation. The city made a strong impression on her.

"Burj Khalifa and singing fountains, love at first sight," the athlete wrote on the social network.

Anastasia Zinina also rests there, who not only enjoys the city views, but also fearlessly explores the sandy expanses of the UAE.

"Today I defeated the dunes on a buggy. It was scary, but fun. I also mastered a new sport - skating on a board in the sands, "the skater shared her impressions.

Medvedeva's secret

Evgenia Medvedeva belongs to the type of athletes who have never advertised their personal lives. The two-time world champion has repeatedly stressed that "private is not public," and for a long time did not even hint at whether she currently has a young man. But the other day on social networks, Eugene arranged a day of answering questions from subscribers and quite a bit lifted the veil of secrecy from this part of her life. The former figure skater was asked if she was in a relationship, and she posted a photo with the young man, but did not show his face.

"Some kind of ask.ru," she joked.

Meanwhile, fans conducted a whole investigation and found out that Medvedeva's companion is figure skater Dmitry Chigirev.

As it turned out, the athlete, who performs in pair skating with Ekaterina Geinish, accompanied Evgenia at the match of the Russian Football Cup between Dynamo and Akron in early April. Young people sat together on the podium and talked nicely. The young man was also seen at the tournament of show programs in March - he presented Medvedeva with a huge bouquet of flowers. In addition, in one of the episodes of the program "Tasty with Laysan", the vice-champion of the Olympics described her ideal of a man as a tall brunette, and Chigirev is the exact embodiment of this description.

However, none of this can be considered an unequivocal confirmation of the novel. Previously, Evgenia was credited with a relationship with Yuzuru Hanyu, singer Christian Kostov, as well as blogger Yevgeny Milokhin, but these rumors have not been confirmed.

Hungary abandoned the European Championship

The Hungarian National Skating Association (MOKSZ) has announced that it will not be able to host the European Championships next year. Officials attributed this to the impact of the Ukrainian conflict on the country's economy and energy prices. The ISU now has to urgently look for a host country for the continental championship, which is scheduled for January 2014.

However, according to three-time Olympic champion Irina Rodnina, this will not be difficult for the federation.

"There is no need for special infrastructure to host the European Championships. One training field and one field for performances. There are hotels in any big city, "the famous figure skater quotes Sport-Express.

At the same time, Alexander Zhulin proposed to move the tournament to Russia, but he himself doubted the likelihood of such a development of events.

"They will not meet us halfway in this. They all live there great without us, they won all sorts of world championships with incomprehensible people. That's why it's just great for them without us," the coach said.

In turn, ISU Honorary Vice-President Alexander Lakernik also ruled out the possibility of holding the European Championship on the territory of the Russian Federation.

"This is unrealistic for political reasons," the expert emphasized.