Olympic champion Rodnina called Humennik's result at the Olympic Games fair

The referee's assessment of Russian figure skater Pyotr Gumennik at the 2026 Olympics was not underestimated, the athlete adequately coped with the competitive situation. Irina Rodnina, a three-time Olympic champion and State Duma deputy, told Izvestia on February 14.

"To begin with, judging at the Olympic Games is always quite objective.. <… > It is not underestimated [rating]. He's a debutant. Since he coped with this competitive situation, he is honored and praised. He had a very difficult situation," she said.

According to the champion, for the first time the figure skater found himself in the leading group of athletes with whom he had never performed before. She also recalled that Humennik's performance was difficult due to the music change. At the same time, Rodnina stressed that the figure skater coped with the short program, despite the fact that he was the first to start the competition. She added that the athlete had demonstrated technical and psychological stability at the box office.

"He was probably higher than some athletes in free skating. You know, the total result. 12th place, there is a 12th place. You can't throw it anywhere. Although the 12th was quite decent for him. Because we didn't know what to expect," the athlete said.

The Olympic champion also noted that during the Olympics, athletes experience a lot of pressure and tension at competitions, but Humennik was able to show a clean program.

Olympic pressure: how Humennik started at the Games in Italy

Peter could not cleanly roll out his program, and the skiers could not cope with the shortest distance.

Earlier in the day, two-time Olympic biathlon champion Dmitry Vasiliev noted that Humennik, despite his excitement, showed a decent result during his performance, taking sixth place, which cannot be considered a failure. He also pointed out that the first day of performances was difficult for Humennik, which could be due to nervousness and insufficient international practice.

On February 13, at the Olympic Games in Italy, Humennik performed a clean free skate and scored 184.49 points. He performed at number 13. The athlete managed to perform flip, lutz, Rittberger and double Salchow — in a cascade with a triple toe loop and in combination with two double axels. In addition, the athlete was able to perform an axel in 3.5 turns.

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