Antropov and Sorokina explained which performance at the Sochi Olympics inspired them to take up figure skating

Figure skaters Maria Sorokina and Arseny Antropov, who practice ice dancing, told that the programs Yulia Lipnitskaya And Adeline Sotnikova at the Sochi Olympics inspired them to take up the sport professionally.

The Sochi Olympic Games took place from February 7 to 23, 2014. During these Games, a team figure skating tournament took place for the first time. The Russian team, represented by Evgeny Plushenko, Lipnitskaya, Tatyana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov, Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov, Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitry Solovyov, Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov, won it. In the singles competition, Sotnikova won the gold medal for the first time in Russian history, scoring 224.59 points in the program total.

— Recently the anniversary of the Olympic Games took place in Sochi. Were you following anyone there?

Antropov: I didn’t really follow figure skating or the Olympics at the time. We were about eight years old, I didn’t really understand who was ours, who to root for. I remember Lipnitskaya and Sotnikova well. To some extent, their performances inspired me to start skating. I wanted to be with them one day, maybe even at the same Olympics.

Sorokin: After these Olympic Games, I began my professional journey in figure skating. I saw Lipnitskaya and Sotnikova and realized I wanted to go there. Great motivation.

Sorokina and Antropov in the final of the Russian Grand Prix among juniors took eighth place in the dancers’ tournament, scoring 147.81 points.