Coach Shaidorova spoke about the pride of his players after his performance at the Olympic Games

Alexey Urmanov, the gold medalist of the 1994 Olympic Games in men's single skating, the coach of figure skater Mikhail Shaidorov, on February 14, in an interview with Sport-Express, spoke about the pride of his wards after winning the 2026 Olympics in Italy.

"I have a very serious pride in the boy. Not for the boy, but for this man. For Mikhail Shaidorov. He's a great guy. I was talking to my colleagues backstage. I am very proud to have such an athlete that I can trust," he said.

Urmanov added that preparations for this tournament had been underway all season. According to him, the Olympics have been a priority from the very beginning.

The coach also noted that Shaidorov is an athlete who can be trusted. He explained that the skater performed a quadruple flip during the performance, which was "raw." Urmanov said that he would not have sent any other athlete to perform such an element.

In addition, the coach commented on the performance of figure skater Ilya Malinin, who plays for the United States. This, as Urmanov noted, was a shock both for the people sitting in the stands and for the judges. He recalled a popular expression in figure skating: "you can't win a competition with a short program, but you can lose." In his opinion, it fits the situation with Malinin.

In addition, Urmanov said that the performance of Russian figure skater Peter Gumennik was almost flawless. He clarified that the Russian performed "with dignity and well."

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Russian figure skater Pyotr Gumennik competed in the free skate at the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy on the same day. According to the results of the competition, he took the sixth place. Malinin was defeated in the free skate, scoring 156.33 points. According to him, the reason for the failure was excessive confidence. He added that the result could also be influenced by a psychological condition.

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