“Russian pair skating is so strong that the interest will not go away” – figure skater Knyazhuk

Figure skater Ilya Kniajouk working in tandem with Natalia Khabibullina spoke about the lack of international departures for Russian athletes.

In March 2023, the IOC Executive Committee recommended to international federations, if Russians are allowed to start, to do so individually, in a neutral status, without participating in team events, and also to exclude the participation of athletes associated with law enforcement and expressing support for the SVO. The International Skating Union (ISU) has not yet cleared the Russians to compete.

“Russian pair skating is so strong that the interest will not go away, even if it takes a long time to compete,” the athlete quotes RT.

Khabibullina also noted that when the couple started skating at the senior level, they realized there was still a lot of work to do.

– And it must be done in time before thinking about international competitions. Therefore, there was no resentment because we weren’t allowed to go anywhere. In this regard, we struggled more in the last junior season. We understood that he was the last, so we wanted to perform both in the world junior championship and in the final,” added the figure skater.

RT