The 2020 Russian Championships take place in the Platinum Arena in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Dec. 25-29. The 2020 Russian Championships is the main qualifying competition to earn a place at the European and/or World Championships. In 2018, the Russian federation amended its senior eligibility rules to permit junior skaters who are eligible to move up to the senior ranks the following season to compete at the senior level at nationals in the current season.
This year, Russia′s national network Channel 1 will live stream the competition worldwide with host Ted Barton calling all the action. This stream will not be available in Japan. Direct links for each discipline are posted below.
There will be some familiar names missing from the rosters this year. On Dec. 13, Alina Zagitova announced she is taking a break from competing but will continue to train and skate in shows. Mikhail Kolyada is also out as he continues to recover from a nasal operation he underwent in late October. Ksenia Stolbova and Andrey Novosolev have been forced to withdraw due to a leg injury Novosolev suffered in a training accident. Viktoria Vasilieva and the pairs team of Diana Mukhametzianova and Ilya Morozov have been assigned to the Youth Olympic Games and will not compete in Krasnoyarsk.
Maria Sotskova, Roman Savosin, Artur Dmitriev, Jr., ice dancers Betina Popova and Sergei Mozgov and the pairs team of Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert have also withdrawn, all citing health issues as the reason. Mozgov is recovering from a back injury and Enbert is still receiving treatment for a heart-related condition. Anastasia Tarakanova withdrew after arriving in Krasnoyarsk due to injury.
According to Tatiana Mishina, Alexander Petrov withdrew because he was not ready. “He doesn’t have a quad jump now. You can skate, but you have nothing to compete with. Alexei (Mishin) appraised his readiness during the training camp in Novogorsk and made such a decision.″
Russia will field a full complement of skaters (three in each discipline) to the European Championships. Three ladies, pairs and ice dance teams and two men will be selected for the 2020 World Championships.
Seven of the top-ranked ladies will likely battle it out for one the three berths on those teams: Alena Kostornaia, Anna Shcherbakova, Alexandra Trusova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Evgenia Medvedeva and Sofia Samodurova.
The men in contention for places on the European and World teams include Dmitri Aliev, Alexander Samarin, Sergei Voronov and Andrei Lazukin. This will be the first head-to-head for the senior men against two junior stars, Andrei Mozalev, 16. and Daniil Samsonov, 14, who placed second and third, respectively, at the Junior Grand Prix Final in early December.
A trio of pairs teams are a pretty solid bet to claim the berths at Europeans and Worlds: Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov, bronze medalists at the Grand Prix Final, Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii, and Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov.
In ice dance, the three spots will likely go to Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov, Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin and Tiffani Zagorski/Johnathan Guerreiro.
The Russian Junior Championships take place in Saransk, Feb. 6-9. Live Stream and Start Orders/Results links.
START ORDERS/RESULTS (English)
START ORDERS/RESULTS (Russian)
JAPANESE LIVE STREAM: JSPORTS
EVENT SCHEDULE (Russian)
WORLD CLOCK
Images from the draw for the short programs
YOUTUBE – COMPLETE EVENTS
Men′s Short, Rhythm Dance, Pairs Short
Free Dance, Men′s Free, Ladies Short
Pairs Free, Ladies Free
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