Russian figure skating news in 2026

According to Tass (English translation):
MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. Figure skater Yegor Rukhin, who previously played for Russia, will represent Bulgaria at international tournaments. This was announced by TASS President of the Federation of figure skating of Bulgaria Hristo Turlakov.

"Egor Rukhin will represent Bulgaria," Turlakov said.

Runin is 22 years old, he is the winner of the Moscow Championship 2024, the winner of the stages of the ISU Junior Grand Prix of 2021.
 
victorskid said:
According to Tass (English translation):
MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. Figure skater Yegor Rukhin, who previously played for Russia, will represent Bulgaria at international tournaments. This was announced by TASS President of the Federation of figure skating of Bulgaria Hristo Turlakov.

"Egor Rukhin will represent Bulgaria," Turlakov said.

Runin is 22 years old, he is the winner of the Moscow Championship 2024, the winner of the stages of the ISU Junior Grand Prix of 2021.
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nvm
 
@Ka3sha posted on Saturday about Egor Rukhin's switch to Romania in the OES News thread and I've since added @victorskid's excerpt there, along with Rukhin's 2019 JGP videos: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/2026-27-oes-news.114003/#post-6949516

Re-posting here from the JGP forum in Kiss & Cry:
Sylvia said:
Ted Barton's 3 [Xi'an] Winners' interviews in English:
Lev Lazarev (very good spoken English!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwOa5Q7-xpM
Sofiia Dzepka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR2N3bR4-rs
Mariia Fefelova/Artem Valov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fA5FgARu2c

Rebecca Ghilardi - new addition to ISU's video team this year - interviewed Polina Shesheleva/Egor Karnaukhov (Russian with English subtitles added): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tPPKuwqtFY
Click to expand...
Lazarev, Dzepka & Fefelova/Valov will compete in Bangkok this week; Shesheleva/Karnaukov will compete in #4 Ankara (3rd pairs event).
 
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Alina Zagitova: “The goal is for figure skating in Tatarstan to reach the federal level”

Legal issues related to the figure skating school are currently underway — its registration and staffing schedule approval
realnoevremya.com realnoevremya.com
Today, a figure skating school opened in Kazan. After the official ceremony, Olympic champion Alina Zagitova answered questions from journalists. She spoke about what lies behind the project, what her role in the school will be, and what directions will be developed there.
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"Realnoe Vremya is an online newspaper, providing business news and sectoral analytics, up-to-date information about the development of economy and technology in Tatarstan, Russia and the whole world."
 
Having watched the men's competition at the Kinoshita Group Cup, I'd like to hear the thoughts of those of you who are more familiar with the Russian skaters:

-- Will their PCS scores improve substantially as they are expected to compete fully next year? (especially Gumennik and Dikidzhi)? It's not surprising that any skater who does three or four quads back to back lacks much of their TR, because they just need to focus on their ultra C elements and don't have time to do anything else. However, I am impressed by their skating in the other parts of their programs.

-- (Sorry for the basic nature of this question) Will Russia (AIN2) have a spot at the World Championships or European Championships, or will they have to earn it ths season? if so, how?
 
YukiNieve said:
-- (Sorry for the basic nature of this question) Will Russia (AIN2) have a spot at the World Championships or European Championships, or will they have to earn it ths season? if so, how?
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Since they weren't represented at 2026 Worlds, Russia (AIN2) and Belarus (AIN1) are allotted 1 spot in each discpline for 2027 Worlds (and Euros & Junior Worlds).
 
And they will send their best in hopes of earning back the spots. It will be interesting to see how they determine who will go. In the past, it was typically the winner of Russian nationals, but since they instituted their own version of grand prix events and had a final, that was the determination. That's how Gummenik made the Olympic roster. Since they may or may not have entries into the senior grand prix, the internal comps may be the deciding factor? There are even more really good pair teams and that decision is going to be brutal. Same with the men. There are more than the three who competed this weekend. In fact the men have been more interesting the last couple of years than the women. But, Trusova is back in the game, Kostornaia and hubby plan to compete in pairs, and my new favorite Maria Zakharova (Anna Tsareva's daughter) has a consistent quad. She did very well last season. It will the discussion for the entire season for the Russian fans--note many were not happy that Adelia was sent to the Os, but she won the criteria set by the federation and given the time the IOC made them decide. Then her injury flared up and there you have it. And note, only the skaters who made the Russian national team get funded. Others, such as Trusova since she didn't compete, are paying their own expenses.
 
rfisher said:
And note, only the skaters who made the Russian national team get funded. Others, such as Trusova since she didn't compete, are paying their own expenses.
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Can you explain this some more? They can compete internationally even if they are not part of the national team? They cannot go to an ISU challenger without getting assigned by their federation. So the federation assigned Sasha although she is not funded by it? If she can afford it on her own she has no obligations to the federation. That might be a big advantage though.
 
Sylvia said:
Ted Barton's 3 JGP Xi'an winners' interviews in English:
Lev Lazarev (very good spoken English!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwOa5Q7-xpM
Sofiia Dzepka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR2N3bR4-rs
Mariia Fefelova/Artem Valov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fA5FgARu2c

Rebecca Ghilardi - new addition to ISU's video team this year - interviewed Polina Shesheleva/Egor Karnaukhov (replied in Russian with English subtitles added): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tPPKuwqtFY
Click to expand...
I enjoyed Sofiia Dzepka's vlog from Xi'an:
www.instagram.com

Sofia Dzepka on Instagram: "The second part of the vlog from Junior Grand Prix stage in Xi’an 🇨🇳⛸️"

13K likes, 107 comments - sofiadzepka on September 3, 2026: "The second part of the vlog from Junior Grand Prix stage in Xi’an 🇨🇳⛸️".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
ETA - part 1 was travel/arrival: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DckdDPszjMl/

Winners' interviews at the JGP in Bangkok:
Lazarev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZqeOTv0drk
Dzepka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F5GM2LgFcQ
Fefelova/Valov (with Rebecca Ghilardi): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRKwxFOmR-s
 
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YukiNieve said:
-- (Sorry for the basic nature of this question) Will Russia (AIN2) have a spot at the World Championships or European Championships, or will they have to earn it ths season? if so, how?
Click to expand...
I thought i saw people saying they'll have one spot each for Euros and Worlds, and those will determine their spots for subsequent years
 
DobroFon with Medvedeva and Skoptsova (skating talk show / podcast) did a series of interviews with AIN skaters in Japan

Aleksandra Trusova / Ignatova
some excerpts:

on relationships with her father
It was important to me to feel like a girl. I think I was raised like a man — I was always expected to do everything and succeed at everything. That came from my father. He used to say, “You must always work and never rest.”

It was very important for me to feel like a little girl when I was with my husband — to feel that I did not have to do anything and that I was loved simply because I existed. I believe I lacked unconditional love, and that is important to me: to be loved not for something, but simply for who I am.

With my father… I felt that he wanted me to be an athlete and earn money. But a father is very important in a girl’s life. I do not think he has the right to scold her or make demands of her.

When Makar and I talk about this, I say, “Only I can raise a daughter, and only you can raise a son.” In other words, he can scold our son, and if we have a daughter, I can scold her.
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— Do you feel that Tutberidze's attitude towards you has changed in some way?

— Definitely. Everyone understands. Everyone’s attitude has changed. Before, you would come over and they would give you a task, mostly telling you that you had not done enough and needed to do more. Of course, when I was younger, they would also tell me when to stop. But more often than not, it was, “Go to the next practice session.”

Now they say, “Well, we could work on the programme during one of the sessions.” And I say, “Yes, of course, I’ll stay.” Then they ask, “Are you sure you can make it at six?” And I say, “Yes, I can.”

I think it was difficult for them to adjust, but I think having a child was the key factor. Even when I said, “Could I please have two and a half days off each week?” they replied, “Of course, do whatever works for you.” And I had prepared myself for the conversation and thought everything through…
Click to expand...
Also, Aleksandra for Channel 1 vlog

about having her son with her at the events
He never distracts me. He came over to me after the warm-up because he suddenly felt affectionate and wanted to hug and kiss me. Then I told my mum to take him to dinner because it was getting late.

So they went to dinner, and I went onto the ice. They are not allowed into the stands until later, so they came out just in time for my performance and watched from the corner. My mum says he freezes every time I skate. She gets nervous, and he hugs her tightly and just freezes.

But afterwards, he was happy to see me, and we had another cuddle. Then, after the medal ceremony, we went to the interview together. He walked around there and charmed everyone. And now he is already asleep.

Of course, there are some challenges. Sometimes I remember that this is not how I would normally prepare myself to compete. But then I remember that he is the most important person in my life, and nothing else matters. This is how I live now, so it does not matter to me what happens next or how things used to be.

When I step onto the ice, I am a figure skater, and when I step off it, I am a mother. But I cannot be a mother only at certain times. I am always a mother. Even when he comes to my training sessions, everyone understands that perfectly well.

At the rink, everyone tries to look after him, but if he gets upset, I leave the ice and go to him because, no matter what, I am a mother first.”
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About Kinoshita
“I’m happy that everything turned out so well. It was nice to be able to show what we had been working on in training. I was also pleased that I knew exactly what I was doing.

I controlled every step and moved confidently from one element to the next. Of course, I was extremely nervous because no one knew what to expect — not me, not my coaches.

After such a long break, I was afraid that something might go wrong. To calm myself down, I kept saying to myself, ‘You’ve already skated the short programme. Everyone has seen that you’re in good shape.’ I tried to reassure myself that even if I made a mistake, it would not be a big deal — I had only recently given birth, after all, ha-ha.

But that kind of self-talk does not really help me. I’m still a perfectionist: I need to perform what I have been doing in training, otherwise I will eat myself up inside.

I was even more nervous before the free skate than before the short programme. I tried to prepare myself mentally as best I could. Eteri Georgievna tried to calm me down. Everyone kept saying, ‘Come on, everything will be fine. She’ll skate brilliantly.’ Unfortunately, that does not work at moments like that.

I only began to feel better immediately before the start. When we were already standing by the boards, it finally sank in: I was about to step onto the ice and the programme was about to begin. I tried to pull myself together, although I could not relax until the very last moment.

Even during the step sequence, I remained completely focused. Eteri Georgievna was already clapping to make me pick up speed, but by then I was exhausted and simply could not skate any faster. It was only at the end, during the final spin, that I finally enjoyed myself and realised: I had made it to the end.

I froze in the final pose. As it happened, I was looking directly at the male judge sitting in front of me. I was so exhausted that I stayed in that position for a very long time, staring straight at him. Eventually, he could not help smiling. At first, he was sitting there with a serious expression, but then he smiled. That was when I finally relaxed and took my bow.

I don’t think Eteri Georgievna has ever welcomed me off the ice looking so happy in my entire career. That made me feel wonderful too. It even seemed as though she was happier than I was, because I was so exhausted that I could not show anything — any emotion at all.”
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Sylvia said:
So who is this young man and can someone find & link to his competition protocol sheet? This clip popped up on my timeline just now:
www.instagram.com

All around on Instagram: "🤯 Russian figure skater Mikhail Aleksakhin is the first to perform a 4-4-2 combination in a competitive program"

349 likes, 1 comments - allaroundever on September 13, 2026: "🤯 Russian figure skater Mikhail Aleksakhin is the first to perform a 4-4-2 combination in a competitive program".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
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I saw this as well on reddit and was confused. From the comments there -- Mikhail Aleksakhin is a 15 year old junior man who trains at Angels of Plushenko. From what I found, he was 14th at the last russian junior nationals with a score of 205.34. He's made podiums at two junior russian GP events, but otherwise no notable results.

There was a link to the event in question here on golden skate -- this was "Moscow Region Figure Skating Championships" held this weekend, Aleksakhin was in the KMC junior men category. He scored 69.75 in the short and 128.04 in the free, winning both segments and a total score of 197.79.

SP: 3A, 3Lz-, CCoSp4, 3Lo+3T, FCSp4, StSq3, CSSp4- [P: 5.83, C: 5.58, S: 6.25]
FS: 4T+Eu+4S<+2A, 4Sq, 3A+3T, CCoSp4, 2A<<, 3Lo, 3S, +chsq, FCSp3-, +chsp [P: 5.92, C: 6.00, S: 6.08]

It was not clean 4x4 combo but it's getting traction I'm guessing because it was in competition + russian signal boost
 
Sylvia said:
So who is this young man and can someone find & link to his competition protocol sheet? This clip popped up on my timeline just now:
www.instagram.com

All around on Instagram: "🤯 Russian figure skater Mikhail Aleksakhin is the first to perform a 4-4-2 combination in a competitive program"

349 likes, 1 comments - allaroundever on September 13, 2026: "🤯 Russian figure skater Mikhail Aleksakhin is the first to perform a 4-4-2 combination in a competitive program".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
Click to expand...
( cr. to flanker)
 
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