Alexander Gorshkov: “In the Olympic season, skaters have special mood”

The President of Figure Skating Federation of Russia Alexander Gorshkov expressed the opinion that during the first stage of the figure skating Grand Prix, to be held in the Megasport sports Palace, Moscow, from 20 to 22 October, the athletes will try their best to perform well.

– Everyone will try to show the maximum of what he can do in order to affect the balance of power right from the start of the Olympic season, – said the 1976 Olympic games ice dancing champion at a press conference in Russia Today media agency.

At the first stage of Grand Prix Russia will be represented by:

• in women’s figure skating – two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva, Elena Radionova and Valeria Mikhailova;
• in men’s figure skating – bronze medalist of the last championship Mikhail Kolyada, Dmitry Aliev and Andrey Lazukin;
• in pair skating – Sochi Olympic Champions in the team competition Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov, the European Champions and the 2017 world championship bronze medalists Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov, and Kristina Astakhova/Alexei Rogonov;
• in  ice dancing team competition Sochi 2014 Champions Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev, Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin and Betina Popova/Sergey Mozgov.

Guests in turn are also represented by strong skaters – said Gorshkov. – First of all it is  Japanese Yuzuru Hanyu, Sochi Olympic champion, two-time world champion, who arouses genuine public excitement. At the hotel he was greeted by numerous fans.

Later  during the press conference it was clarified that it was  about the fans from, who basically make up the contingent of the audience from abroad. The Asahi TV company (Japan) team consists of 46 people. Among the Russian public, the Grand Prix stage has aroused a huge interest as well. Friday and Saturday tickets are already sold out.

Among Russians’ main competitors Gorshkov named experienced Italian Costner, traditionally strong individual skaters from Japan and the United States, a couple from Italy Marca Hotarek and American dancers Maia and Alex  Shibutani, winners of the last two World Championships.

– Skate-America will be the final Grand Prix stage this year. Skate-America  usually opened the series, – said Gorshkov. – However, lately it has become a bit more complicated for Russians to get the USA visas. I hope that our sportsmen will not have  problems with it. Some have visas, others expect to receive them in Moscow. In the near future, we will contact the American Embassy.

The FSFR CEO Alexander Kogan recalled that from 15 to 21 January Moscow will host the European Figure Skating championship. Thus, the stage of the Grand Prix will serve as a test event before Continental Championships, which will finally determine the composition of the team to participate in the Olympic Games.