Russian figure skating news & updates in 2022

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starrynight

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I presume that this marriage must have something to do with visas etc. it’s unusual (given that they are usually quite active on social networks) that no wedding photos have been shared like they normally would be if it was a simple love match event.
 

PRlady

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I dunno. March was when Ukraine was leading the news in big headlines every day and the Russian Fed and skaters were screeching about being banned. Quietly getting married to ooze out under the door while everyone was looking elsewhere was a smart move, leaving romantic considerations aside.
 

Karen-W

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I presume that this marriage must have something to do with visas etc. it’s unusual (given that they are usually quite active on social networks) that no wedding photos have been shared like they normally would be if it was a simple love match event.
They shared pics on their IGs when they were in Las Vegas the same weekend of March 18th, which is the date on the marriage certificate. They also shared a pic, yesterday, on their IG, of them in a hotel elevator with rings on their ring fingers. I don't know that it's really any of the public's business what they share or the timing of those shares on their social media.
 

Bouffantrex

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I don't know that it's really any of the public's business what they share or the timing of those shares on their social media.
If they intend to represent USA (and in turn receive team envelope funding), I would argue it certainly is the public's business.
 

Karen-W

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If they intend to represent USA (and in turn receive team envelope funding), I would argue it certainly is the public's business.
No, it's really not. Unless, suddenly, the USFS and USOPC are getting taxpayer dollars then what reason is there for anyone in the public to know what is the status of their personal relationship? Absolutely none whatsoever. Furthermore, they won't be able to represent the USA until Feb 13, 2023 at the earliest (the day after 4CCs concludes, btw) and they certainly won't be eligible for team envelope funding until the 2023-24 season assuming they compete at US Nationals and place high enough to receive funding as well as earn their way onto the USFS' ISP. As far as I can tell, the earliest point at which there might be some sort of public "need-to-know" would be about 11 months after they got married.
 

Sylvia

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Davis & Smolkin shared this update on their respective Instagram accounts today (June 30, 2022): https://www.instagram.com/p/CfcOlx7OuNE/

Machine translation:

Recently, a lot of false information about us has appeared on the net, so we would like to clarify the situation.

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to leave the group of Igor Shpilband and start working with a new team of Elena Novak and Alexey Kilyakov. Under Igor's guidance, we have made a huge leap forward in terms of skill, in our individual and partner skills. We are immensely grateful to Igor, Pasquale, Natalia [Annenko-Deller] and Adrienne [Lenda, Igor's wife] for the work done.
While training with our new team, we are athletes of the Russian National Team and are looking forward to starting the new season at test skates.

As for the rest of the news, in figure skating around the world there is a practice of receiving comments from various experts in the off-season, which relate to significant technical changes in connection with the newly introduced rules.

As for our personal life, we try to protect it and hope for understanding and tact on the part of fans and journalists.

DG
 

Flake99

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Let's see if I can paraphrase that correctly: "We switched coaches. We have taken steps to make it much easier for us to switch to represent the U.S. We repeat, we skate for Russia. Technical off season blah blah blah. Just say no to Trimetazidine."
 

Holy Headband

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Marriage (if it indeed took place) will make it easier for Gleb to join Diana in the US if/when the situation in Russia deteriorates because of international sanctions or domestic crazy. (Let's not forget Gleb doesn't support the war and was anti-Putin even before the invasion.) That doesn't mean either that their relationship is fake or that they're planning to switch federations, so speculation to that effect strikes me as a little fanciful.

A Croatian friend of mine married his American girlfriend right out of university so he could stay with her in the US. I don't think they would have gotten married so early if not for visa pressures, but it's been 8 years now and they're still happy together and divide their time between America and Croatia. Life is complicated for everyone, including figure skaters, and there are often more factors to consider than fans see on the surface.
 

barbk

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Marriage (if it indeed took place) will make it easier for Gleb to join Diana in the US if/when the situation in Russia deteriorates because of international sanctions or domestic crazy. (Let's not forget Gleb doesn't support the war and was anti-Putin even before the invasion.) That doesn't mean either that their relationship is fake or that they're planning to switch federations, so speculation to that effect strikes me as a little fanciful.

A Croatian friend of mine married his American girlfriend right out of university so he could stay with her in the US. I don't think they would have gotten married so early if not for visa pressures, but it's been 8 years now and they're still happy together and divide their time between America and Croatia. Life is complicated for everyone, including figure skaters, and there are often more factors to consider than fans see on the surface.
I have a counter-example. My sister's then boyfriend was a French citizen living in Canada while finishing his PhD. He had a visa to come and work in the US at a university. They got married in Canada...and he was subsequently refused entrance to the US and his visa voided. It took months and the intervention of a highly placed congressman before his visa was reinstated and he missed an entire semester at Chapel Hill. US Immigration seems to be highly suspicious of marriage when careers are involved.
 

Sylvia

TBD
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July 1, 2022:
According to Match TV, Russian figure skating coach Eteri Tutberidze arrived at the base in Novogorsk, where the skaters of her group are holding a training camp.
Earlier, Match TV reported that the specialist flew to Moscow from the United States on Thursday. Tutberidze stayed in the States for about a month and a half - one of the main purposes of her visit was the desire to help her ice dancing daughter Diana Davis resolve the issue with the coach.
The Tutberidze group began a training camp in Novogorsk on June 6. On Friday, Match TV reported that the coach visited the Khrustalny skating rink.
 

Bouffantrex

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No, it's really NONE of your business and that's what you are saying here. You want "gossip" material which has no impact on anything LOL!
Settle down. I could care less about gossip. I simply do not want these two representing USA this season and taking away international opportunities from our deserving American dance teams.
 

Sylvia

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Lara111 wrote above: "American dance teams? Ha ha. They are as American as Diana is an American"

By my count, both partners of 11 of the 17 U.S. dance teams currently listed in the ISP were born in the USA.

ETA: I wonder if USA-born Annabelle Morozov will stay on Russia's national team with her new partner, Devid Narizhnyy, or switch to her mother's birth country of France?
 
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soogar

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Settle down. I could care less about gossip. I simply do not want these two representing USA this season and taking away international opportunities from our deserving American dance teams.
They are not that deserving if they can't beat them. I honestly don't get the dislike for Davis and Smolkin. They are not a bad team and I don't think the US teams after C&B, and H&D are all that great either. Diana is a an American and it seems that Eteri is spending quite a bit of money for her daughter to receive dance training in the United States and has done so for the past few years. I don't think anyone can argue that Diana is not entitled to represent the United States as she is an American citizen. I remember years ago when many American females were "buying" foreign (most Russian) partners to compete with when ice dance didn't have enough male partners. No one, save for Punsalon and Swallon (over Gorsha Sur) said that these partnerships were not entitled to compete for the United States.
 

Carolla5501

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Settle down. I could care less about gossip. I simply do not want these two representing USA this season and taking away international opportunities from our deserving American dance teams.
I’m sorry. It’s so much better that you are actually passing judgment on “deserving American”



You still not “entitled” to know anything about a skaters personal life It’s none of our business
😂
 

Carolla5501

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They are not that deserving if they can't beat them. I honestly don't get the dislike for Davis and Smolkin. They are not a bad team and I don't think the US teams after C&B, and H&D are all that great either. Diana is a an American and it seems that Eteri is spending quite a bit of money for her daughter to receive dance training in the United States and has done so for the past few years. I don't think anyone can argue that Diana is not entitled to represent the United States as she is an American citizen. I remember years ago when many American females were "buying" foreign (most Russian) partners to compete with when ice dance didn't have enough male partners. No one, save for Punsalon and Swallon (over Gorsha Sur) said that these partnerships were not entitled to compete for the United States.
There was also the skater mom who fought Tanith Belbin’s representing the U S!
 

Flake99

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I read both here and on other sites that Eteri Tutberidze and Alexei Kiliakov were formerly ice dance partners. I'm wondering if anyone has information about what music they skated to or where they competed.

It certainly makes sense that Tutberidze would trust her former partner to coach her daughter. Hopefully WISA will honor Eteri by giving Diana programs to contemporary music that would be appropriate for Tutberidze herself, such as "Poker Face," "Denim Jacket" by Maroon 5, and "Bitch" by the incomparable Meredith Brooks.
 

Bouffantrex

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I’m sorry. It’s so much better that you are actually passing judgment on “deserving American”
I refuse to apologize for advocating for the American dance teams that have trained in the United States in the USFS system their entire lives and careers who may be directly impacted by this sudden change.

This is nothing personal against Davis and her new husband (mazel tov!), but some here are being deliberately obtuse. Russia has been banned by the ISU due to the barbaric invasion of Ukraine, Diana's mother is the most powerful (and likely abusive) coach in the sport, and Davis/Smolkin silently married two weeks after the ban took place. Forgive me if I'm not thrilled.

Diana is American by right of birth.
Indeed. And that doesn't mean I have to be thrilled about Davis/Smolkin suddenly representing the United States and taking opportunities away from other dancers.
 

Sylvia

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I read both here and on other sites that Eteri Tutberidze and Alexei Kiliakov were formerly ice dance partners. I'm wondering if anyone has information about what music they skated to or where they competed.
From Tutberidze's wiki: "After briefly training under Natalia Linichuk, Tutberidze switched to Gennady Akkerman, her coach for the next three years. She skated with Alexei Kiliakov until he emigrated to the United States."

The footnote/original source is this translated interview that's in the FSU Archives - relevant except:
Interview with Eteri Tutberidze: “Fifth element” [March 22, 2015]: http://fsrussia.ru/intervyu/905-eteri-tutberidze-pyatyj-element.html
...
Q: Having switched to ice dance, you worked with almost all the well-known coaches.
A: It happened so. At first, I trained at the Stadium in the group of Lydia Vasilevna Kabanova, who taught excellent basics. I do not want to offend anyone, but the understanding of elements, what is bracket turn, rocker turn, counter turn – I got it all from Kabanova.
Two years later, I switched to Tchaikovskaia, who paired me with Vyacheslav Chichekin. When Elena Anatolyevna made it clear that she was no longer going to train because her student Vladimir Kotin decided to retire, I asked Linichuk to take me in her group.
Perhaps I would have stayed with Natalia Vladimirovna, but at the time she had a huge group. She had ten senior teams, not even to mention the juniors. There was a real battle for ice at every practice. She didn’t have time for us, and I switched to Ackerman. I started skating with Alexey Kilyakov who is coaching now in the United States. His ice dance team, McNamara – Carpenter, were among the medalists at the Junior World Championships in Tallinn this year.
I have worked with Ackerman for three years, but then in CSKA management change occured. We were offered to train at the same time with pairs skaters, which was unreal. Alexey [K.] soon got married, after some time he went to the United States. I was left alone, tried to train under Tarasova, quickly realized that it was a mistake. During the Olympic year, her focus was on Klimova - Ponomarenko. I had to do something. When I got an offer to do shows in America, I agreed.
 
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starrynight

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It’s probably a big stretch to try to implicate Diana into her mother’s choices.

Diana is her own person and might differ from her mother in many ways.

And we don’t know what kind of experiences Diana has had in life. It must be a lot to be raised in ice rinks with such high expectations by a mother whose whole life is absorbed with winning by any means possible. A family dynamic like that could be hard.

So I have no ill feelings at all against Diana.
 

Carolla5501

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I refuse to apologize for advocating for the American dance teams that have trained in the United States in the USFS system their entire lives and careers who may be directly impacted by this sudden change.

This is nothing personal against Davis and her new husband (mazel tov!), but some here are being deliberately obtuse. Russia has been banned by the ISU due to the barbaric invasion of Ukraine, Diana's mother is the most powerful (and likely abusive) coach in the sport, and Davis/Smolkin silently married two weeks after the ban took place. Forgive me if I'm not thrilled.


Indeed. And that doesn't mean I have to be thrilled about Davis/Smolkin suddenly representing the United States and taking opportunities away from other dancers.



But none of this gives you the right to know anything about any skaters personal life. Nothing besides you want to be nosy.

You don’t have to want the skater represent the United States that’s fine



Your statement was that if they’re going to represent the United States the public is entitled to know personal information. No you’re not. You are not in charge, you are just a fan with a vendetta What do you want is personal information to use in your campaign, I don’t see that as being any different from gossip but apparently you do😂


Take your own advice, settle down Since your complaint is that American skaters should only be allowed this shouldn’t be a problem. as with a lot of our American dance teams at least half of the skating team is American


Oh wait - I see that you’ve also decided you get to judge the skaters entitlement to be an American
 

Karen-W

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It’s probably a big stretch to try to implicate Diana into her mother’s choices.

Diana is her own person and might differ from her mother in many ways.

And we don’t know what kind of experiences Diana has had in life. It must be a lot to be raised in ice rinks with such high expectations by a mother whose whole life is absorbed with winning by any means possible. A family dynamic like that could be hard.

So I have no ill feelings at all against Diana.
Yes, to this! Additionally, Diana and Gleb have been living and training in the US since at least 2019. She has spent approximately 1/3 of her life in the US (I believe Eteri returned to Russia when Diana was 3), plus whatever time she might have spent with her American family visiting through the years. I hardly think it's fair to criticize her and her mother for choosing to have her compete for Russia when so many other American skaters do the same thing - representing another country with less depth in a particular discipline, and even choose to switch back to competing for the US.

Where is your chagrin and annoyance, @Bouffantrex, at Emilea Zingas, who represented Cyprus in Women’s Singles at Worlds 2021 and last fall, for her return to the US fold in partnering with Vadym Kolesnik to compete in ice dance? How dare she, right? Or, is she, in your esteemed opinion, not enough of a threat for international assignments to warrant attention?

I liked Davis/Smolkin their one junior international season and thought their programs from Igor this season were absolute shit. I think moving to a different training center is good thing for them (and I'll be more than a little sad if Green/Parsons have left WISA because I think both teams could push each other in good ways). If they decide, at some point in the future to switch to representing the USA, I won't criticize them at all. Who cares where the developmental funding for them came from? If the US can reap the benefit without the cost, that's not a bad thing, IMO, given the support and opportunities given to so many of US skaters who wind up switching countries as juniors or seniors.
 

Flake99

Banned Member
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Thank you for the information @Sylvia. I figured out that I can't access the archives here without buying a subscription, and I've been considering whether to do so this week. Being able to read translations of Russian interviews would be a perk for me and also for my young relative who got me interested in skating (they are a non-elite skater in the U.S.).

Also, @Carolla5501, I say this with no ill intentions, but do you really think it's worth repeatedly and circularly engaging with a poster who seems to be a provocateur and has an avatar that looks like an extra from The Young and the Restless circa 1991? I guess a surprisingly high number of skating fans seem to enjoy entering into bad faith arguments with each other, and not just regarding political topics.
 
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