Samokhin, figure skating coach: “It’s a difficult time because we are stewing in our own juices”

Figure skating coach Denis Samokhin said that the situation with ice dancing in Russia is not the easiest at the moment, as there is no opportunity to watch Russian and foreign athletes together in order to adequately compare them.

Irina Khavronina and David Narizhny teamed up last winter and are training in the group of Samokhin and Maria Borovikova. In their first season, the skaters became winners of two stages of the Russian Grand Prix, and also won bronze at the Russian Championship and the Spartakiad of the strongest.

Russian figure skaters have been suspended from competitions under the auspices of the ISU due to the situation in Ukraine.

— They say that Russian ice dancing is going through a difficult period. How can you assess these words?

— It is a difficult period, because we are stewing in our own juice. It is natural when you meet not 20 couples, but six – the same ones at the same tournaments. Of course, this is a kind of stagnation.

I can’t say that everything is bad there. Everyone is trying in their own way, everyone is developing in their own way. It’s hard to compare yourself to international players; you have to watch everyone on the same ice. From the video we can tell where we are stronger, but again, the comparison is good when there is only one ice. Of course, we follow them, we understand what the leaders are better at. We may well fight them when we are allowed to participate in international tournaments. So I don’t see any strong stagnation,” the correspondent reports, based on Samokhin’s words.

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