Russia did not coordinate its Grand Prix with the ISU, and should not have been
There are two months left in figure skating by the beginning of the season, and already now everyone is interested in what format the Russian Grand Prix will take place in – this year the competition will be engaged in import substitution for Russian skaters. In the international arena, we see not big ones, so we can unload domestically. MK-Sport will tell you what we are ready to do so that the jam is not worse than the Grand Prix series.
The international season in figure skating starts in September, but already now there is no doubt that Russia will not wait to participate in competitions under the auspices of the ISU. The organization made it clear at the June congress that they don’t really want to see figure skaters from Russia and Belarus at major starts, and in the national figure skating federation they prepared a backup plan for such a case.
In May, the FFKKR published a provisional average consumption for the 2022/23 season. Standard procedure for a post-competitive year, but in this case it was significantly different from last year’s schedule. Director General of FFKKR Alexander Kogan and its president Alexander Gorshkov they can surprise and make sure that Russian skaters do not profess a shortage, and this happened to them – six stages of the Grand Prix, the jumping championship, the First Channel Cup and much more.
The first thing that caught my eye was the coincidence of domestic Russian tournaments with a regular international event. So, the final of the Russian Grand Prix will be held in Sochi from March 3 to March 5 – on the same events the 2023 World Championship takes place, the Cup of the First Channel (January 21-22, Moscow) in the competitors of the European Championship, the jumping tournament (3, December 4) is the world final of the Grand Prix series.
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The FFKKR has already done this by postponing the Channel One Cup from the end of March to April in the 2022 World Cup, where the Russian team was not allowed. In our federation, they are trying in every possible way to please their skaters and annoy the ISU, which refuses our athletes even under a neutral flag, and even deprived them of the 1996 Grand Prix for the first time (it is rumored to be held in Finland).
But we hope that the final series of the Grand Prix will be held with the participation of foreign skaters – invited by the “stars” of the teams to become athletes from China and Georgia. This is reported by Match TV, according to which, such an initiative of the FFKKR may not only go sideways to Russian figure skating, and so it comes under sanctions, but also to the most Chinese and Georgian athletes. Moreover, these events already go beyond the domestic ones, which means that the coordination of the Russian Grand Prix is necessary with the GIP. What’s been done
“After normal internal checks, we can report that the ISU did not become aware of this initiative (Russian Grand Prix), we were not contacted about this. Therefore, we cannot give detailed comments on this matter.– told “Match TV” in ISU.
Gorshkov, in an interview with Sport-Express, was indignant: “What about ISU? And why coordinate the calendar of domestic competitions with them?”. The President of the FFKKR is right in only one thing – the International Union is not going to dictate the procedure for conducting a trial in Russia … Until foreign skaters are required for them.
However, the general director of the FFKKR Kogan said in time that the performances of Chinese athletes, Georgians and, possibly, foreign athletes, in the Russian Grand Prix are possible only out of competition. The only question is, will foreigners want to come to us when world competitions are held at the same time?