24 Russians take part in the European Figure Skating Championships! Let’s get to know each of them

The 2024 European Figure Skating Championships began on Wednesday in Kaunas. This is the second time the annual tournament has taken place without our athletes due to suspension. However, as many as 24 skaters came to Lithuania, born in Russian regions – from Perm to Klin. Men and sports couples have already presented their short programs.

shows which of the two dozen athletes will qualify for medals.

Fight for the podium

Anastasia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (Georgia, couples), Gleb Smolkin (Georgia, ice dancing), Anastasia Gubanova (Georgia, singles), Ekaterina Kurakova (Poland, singles), Nikita Volodin (Germany, couples), Maria Pavlova and Alexey Svyatchenko (Hungary, sports pairs).

Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (Georgia, sports pairs). The students of Russian coach Pavel Slyusarenko declared themselves loud and clear at their pair’s first European Championship in Kaunas. Already after the short program, the athletes clearly showed that they were ready to fight for gold, having won the first day of competition. Luka previously said in an interview with that he and Anastasia “everything happened quickly and organically during the auditions”, and we can already see that in the current season. The pair won two stages of the Grand Prix and took gold in the series’ junior final. And now she is ready to win the gold medal of the European Championship, they have every chance to do it with a flawless performance.

Nikita Volodin (Germany, sports couples). Minerva Fabienne Haze and Nikita Volodin will also compete for gold at their first European Championships. Before reaching the gold medal in the Grand Prix Final, Volodin went through a long and difficult search for a partner in Russia, until finally luck turned on him. “I realized that Minerva is a very promising partner, a spark appeared, something ignited,” Nikita said in an interview with . The head coach of the duo is Russian specialist Dmitry Savin, who trains remotely. In Germany, Schubert Knuth, Rico Rex and Paul Bol work with the couple. Place at the current European Championships will depend entirely on how clean the free skating is.

Anastasia Gubanova (Georgia, single skating). Last year’s European champion returns to the tournament to prove she is the best. But the student of Russian coach Evgeny Rukavitsyn will have to face many problems: strong competitors and not the best scores of the season. Anastasia won last year’s championship with 199.91 points; results in subsequent competitions vary from 179 to 184 points. The skater will have to accept this challenge and give the best of herself to defend her title.

Gleb Smolkin (Georgia, ice dancing). Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin are new Georgian athletes; after long rumors, the duo’s change of citizenship finally took place. Tutberidze’s daughter and her partner can certainly be called the dark horses of the European Championship – the duo did not have the chance to participate in the Grand Prix stages under the new flag, and this will be the first major appearance of athletes under the Georgian flag. . At the 2022 European Championship, Diana and Gleb, still under the Russian flag, posted the seventh result, but the duo has a good chance of significantly improving their positions based on the season’s results. At the same time, it remains incredibly difficult to fight against the Italians Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri, the British Laila Fir/Lewis Gibson and the Finns Julia Turkkila/Matthias Versluis.

Ekaterina Kurakova (Poland, single skating). The Moscow native at last year’s European Championships was one step away from the podium, taking fourth place. This year, Ekaterina will perform at the tournament again and clearly intends to show the best results. During the season, the figure skater’s scores vary from 173 to 181 points, and at the 2023 European Championships she scored 186.90. The skater will have to give everything to improve the result. Her rivals remain the Georgian Anastasia Gubanova, the Belgian Luna Hendricks and the Swiss Kimmy Repond.

Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko (Hungary, sports pairs). Students of Dmitry Savin and Fedor Klimov are two-time Hungarian champions. At last year’s European Championships, the couple took fifth place. This year, skaters have a good chance of getting on the podium with an error-free free skate.

Tournament Beginners

Makar Suntsev (Finland, single skating), Fedor Chitipakhovyan (Armenia, single skating), Maria Senyuk (Israel, single skating), Asaf Kazymov (Spain, ice dancing).

Makar Suntsev (Finland, single skating). The Perm native made his debut at the European Championships in Kaunas. After the short program, he ranked 18th and qualified for the free skate. This is a marked improvement compared to previous competitions, including two Junior World Championships, where the skater failed to qualify for the free skate. Now, for the first time, Makar scored more than seventy points in a short film.

Maria Senyuk (Israel, single skating). Another European Championship debutant who has yet to prove herself at the tournament. The highest result in her career was the victory at the Denis Ten Memorial, where the skater scored 175.75 points. At the junior stages of the Grand Prix, she scored 156.26 and 132.06 points.

Fedor Chitipakhovyan (Armenia, single skating). The only representative of Armenia in men’s single skating at the 2024 European Championships. Based on the results of the short program, he took 21st place and qualified for the free program, where he will perform the piece “You and me” performed by Dmitry Hvorostovsky.

Asaf Kazymov (Spain, ice dancing). The Spanish duo Sofia Val and Asaf Kazymov have not existed for long, but the athletes have already competed at the 2023 World Championships, where they failed to qualify for the free program. They are the only representatives of Spain in ice dancing at the current championship.

Coming and Coming

Vladimir Litvintsev (Azerbaijan, singles), Vladimir Samoilov (Poland, singles), Alexander Vlasenko (Hungary, singles), Nikita Starostin (Germany, singles), Georgy Reshtenko (Czech Republic, singles), Daria Danilova (Netherlands, sports pairs ), Yulia Shchetinina (Poland, pairs sports), Evgenia Lopareva (France, ice dancing), Maria Ignatieva (Hungary, ice dancing), Antonina Dubinina (Serbia, single skating), Pavel Kovalev (France, pairs sports) , Nikita Lysak (Slovakia, ice dancing).

Vladimir Litvintsev (Azerbaijan, single skating). Vladimir is the champion of Azerbaijan. This year’s European Championship was the fourth in the skater’s career. In previous tournaments he took 16th, 9th and 8th places. After the short program in Kaunas, he occupies twentieth place.

Vladimir Samoilov (Poland, single skating). The former Russian figure skater did not participate in the Grand Prix stages this season. The best tournament result of the season is the victory at the Volvo Open Cup (222.94 points). The skater participated in two world championships, but never managed to qualify for the free skate. Samoilov spoke about his transition to the Polish flag in an interview with : “I had a difficult time. I was told that I could train for Poland, but only abroad. Somehow I didn’t think carefully about the situation, I immediately responded: “Yes, let’s go.” »

Alexander Vlasenko (Hungary, single skating). This season, Vlasenko competed as a junior: at two stages of the Grand Prix he took 12th and 14th places, scoring a maximum of 174.15 points. At the last European Championships, he took 24th place. In the short program this year, he improved his result by 2.59 points, he is 23rd.

Nikita Starostin (Germany, single skating). Previously, the skater competed for Russia. Starostin now represents Germany and has already become the country’s champion. At last year’s European Championships, Nikita did not skate very well and took 15th place. This season, the skater took part in one stage of the Grand Prix (seventh place), scoring 201.15 points, which is already more than at last year’s European Championships.

Georgi Reshenko (Czech Republic, single skating). Until 2017 he represented Russia. Last year I competed at the World and European Championships, where I did not qualify for the free skate. The best result of the current season is 183.87 points at the Lombardia Trophy.

Daria Danilova (Netherlands, sports couples). Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba competed at the 2022 European Championships, but did not qualify for the free skate. At the 2023 World Championships, they took 13th place with 173.85 points. The best result of the current season is 177.54 points at the Grand Prix stage.

Yulia Chchetinina (Poland, sports pairs). With Michal Wozniak they are Polish champions in 2024, the couple was only formed in 2023.

Evgenia Lopareva (France, ice dancing). At last year’s European Championships, the duo of Evgenia Lopareva and Joffre Brissot took fifth place with 191.85 points. The skaters are double champions of France. The best result of the current season is 196.56 points.

Maria Ignatieva (Hungary, ice dancing). Students of Russian specialists Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk took tenth place at the 2023 European Championships. Previously, Maria played for Russia. Today, Maria Ignatieva and Daniil Semko are three-time Hungarian champions.

Antonina Dubinina (Serbia, single skating). Previously played for Russia. She is a multiple champion of Serbia. She participated in five European Championships, but only managed to qualify for the free program once.

Pavel Kovalev (France, sports couples). Pavel Kovalev and his partner Kamil Kovalev took part in two European Championships and took sixth place last year. This season’s championship got off to a bad start with two crashes in the short lap. The duo will not be able to perform their free program; a terrible fall in throwing prevented them from doing so and the athletes withdrew from the competition.

Nikita Lysak (Slovakia, ice dancing). Lysak and Maria Sofia Pucherova are two-time Slovak champions. The best result of the season is 146.45 points.