“All skaters want to receive only the best, and the best is the Russian coaching school” – Enbert

Olympic silver medalist Alexandre Enbert told that skaters from all over the world want to work with the best coaches, and these are representatives of Russia.

The European Championships take place in Kaunas (Lithuania) from January 10 to 14. The tournament entry lists include 24 Russian-born skaters: 8 doubles skaters, 7 singles skaters, 5 dancers and 4 singles skaters. Additionally, athletes born outside of Russia, but with a Russian passport, compete for other countries.

— It is not news that Russian figure skating is one of the strongest schools in the world. We have always been able to see many athletes change their nationality and compete for other countries, and the current European Championship is no exception. But no one has yet calculated how many Russian coaches work with skaters competing for other countries.

If you remember pair skating, Dmitry Savin coached a huge number of pairs from different countries, you can lose count when listing them. It is clear that all athletes want to receive only the best, and the best is the Russian coaching school. We still see the best athletes who skated and still skate in Russia, working with Russian coaches. It has always been this way and it remains this way today.

— Is it a good thing that the Lithuanian authorities did not create obstacles and allowed Russian coaches to be close to their students?

— It is difficult to say anything other than that sport must remain a sport. Figure skating is a competition between people on ice and only on ice, and each athlete has the right to choose with whom to work, with which team, in which country to skate, ”Enbert told .

Russian figure skaters have been suspended from participating in competitions held under the auspices of the International Skating Union (ISU) due to the situation in Ukraine.