Shcherbakova, Trusova, Kolyada: who will miss the new season of the figure?

The composition of the Russian national team has already been published: the names of the athletes who will perform at the test skates are known. And this list does not include several skaters that the fans were probably waiting for on the ice.

Anna Shcherbakova

Will the 2022 Olympic champion in singles continue to compete? So far, there is no clear answer to this question. Until July, she regularly continued to train under the supervision of Eteri Tutberidze, but then she fell ill with mononucleosis, which negatively affects the general condition of the athlete. In early August, Anna returned to training, resumed participation in ice shows, sometimes rolling back two performances a day. But in an interview she admitted: she still cannot say for sure whether she will continue her career. The situation with the removal of Russians from international tournaments clearly affects Shcherbakova - if others have not yet proved everything to themselves, what to prove to her, where to get motivation? For Tatyana Tarasova, the absence of Anna in the list for test skates is an unequivocal indicator: "If she is not on the lists, then why wait for her?"

Alexandra Trusova

The fiery "Russian Rocket", the vice-champion of the same Beijing Winter Olympics, seems to feel more comfortable in ice shows than in official competitions. According to Sport-Express, she does not intend to play in tournaments in the 2023/24 season. The reasons are obvious: this is the lack of international starts, a decrease in motivation, health problems, employment in other projects, and even refereeing at Russian competitions, which Trusova was unhappy with. This year, Alexandra got from the show to Beijing, will soon go to Mexico with master classes, and she was last seen on Russian competitive ice in 2022 at the Grand Prix stages in Sochi and Samara - she lost both. Now it seems Trusova is busy creating her own ice show.

Mikhail Kolyada

Unlike Shcherbakova and Trusova, who do not give clear statements when talking about their future, Kolyada recently announced with certainty that his career was suspended. The 28-year-old skater said he would like to try himself as a blogger. “You are an unrealistically cool skater, but I like you from the human side, as a man, as the husband of his beloved wife, as an interlocutor. And to compete? There is no point anymore,” Alexei Yagudin was sympathetic to his decision. And indeed - age, lack of international prospects ... Perhaps the blogger Kolyada will be more successful than the figure skater, or will he try himself in some completely unexpected role?

Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov

A well-known couple also does not appear on the lists for test skates of the Russian national team. According to Morozov, they will take to the ice this season, but not in competitions, but in Ilya Averbukh's show "Letters of Love" in Sochi with two new demonstration numbers that will be staged soon. This decision was hardly a secret: back in July it became known that the couple was not preparing for the new competitive season. Tarasova said in an interview that they resumed training, but the immediate plan is to participate in the Averbukh show, and Evgenia did not say anything about tournaments. According to Maxim Trankov, despite the thought of ending their careers, Tarasova and Morozov were determined to skate for another year. But what they decided in the end is still a mystery.