On the current ice: how our skaters will return to the international stage
The picture of the return of Russian figure skaters to the international arena is gradually becoming clearer. On Thursday, July 16, the names of eight athletes who received neutral status from the International Skating Union (ISU) became known. In single skating, these are Adelia Petrosyan, Alisa Dvoeglazova, Anna Frolova, Alina Gorbacheva, Margarita Bazylyuk and Grigory Fedorov. In pair skating, the status was awarded to Victoria Dvinina and Artem Petrov. Applications from other skaters, including Pyotr Gumennik, may be approved in the near future. How the Russians' return to the ISU tournaments will take place and according to what principle the athletes will be distributed according to the competitions — in the Izvestia material.
We must wait
On June 30, the ISU allowed Russians to participate in international competitions. At the European and World Championships in the upcoming season, Russian athletes will receive one quota in each type of program. They were suspended from ISU-sponsored tournaments in March 2022. At the 2026 Olympics in Italy, only Adelia Petrosyan and Peter Gumennik performed in neutral status.
The representative office may expand now. The first to receive neutral status were eight figure skaters, including three-time Russian champion Adelia Petrosyan, as well as Czech Republic medalists Alisa Dvoeglazova and Alina Gorbacheva.
"The lion's share of our athletes has not yet received the status," Ilya Averbukh, silver medalist of the 2002 Olympic Games, world and European champion in ice dancing, told Izvestia. — I'm happy for the girls, but not a single serious boy has received the status. It's not clear yet, but what about Trusova and Valieva? We must wait. There are more questions than answers right now. But one thing is for sure: the movement is going in the right direction.
Honored Coach of the USSR Tatiana Tarasova is confident that soon our other leaders will receive international admission.
— We need to wait, and everyone will be given a neutral status. Where will they go? I will not be happy that eight people have received a neutral status. The ISU suspended us for 4.5 years. And now they have come up with a neutral status. And we have a country — Russia! That's how you don't have to love us. We have developed figure skating in all its forms and turned it into an art! — Tatiana Tarasova emphasized to Izvestia.
The return of the skaters specifically will take place according to the most convenient scheme for the federation. De facto neutrality is nothing more than a label — the Russian Figure Skating Federation will determine the composition of the competition, and the federation itself is also coordinating the status, sources tell Izvestia.
At the moment, Russian adult figure skaters have access to the Challenger series tournaments (the second most important after the Grand Prix) - three quotas at one stage in each discipline. But the Grand Prix series is also not closed — the selection process is quite confusing and, due to the commercial nature of the tournaments, remains at the discretion of the ISU.
Adelia Petrosyan and Peter Gumennik have a high chance of receiving invitations, provided that his neutral status is approved. Both occupy 11th place in the ranking of the best results of the 2025/26 season. Previously, such positions, as a rule, guaranteed the athlete participation in at least one of the two possible stages of the Grand Prix.
In addition, it is important for the Russians to successfully compete in the first "challengers" of the season in order to get on the ISU reserve list. In case of injuries or failures of other participants, neutral athletes will be able to get vacant seats.
After the news about the admission, our athletes were provided with a paper with a questionnaire on their neutral status. Russian figure skaters were not asked about their attitude to their military or contracts with law enforcement agencies — there was no need to put dashes or answer "no." The wording was different — the conditions from communique No. 2804 were mentioned, that is, what a neutral athlete should not do, and at the end a signature is placed confirming that the athlete is familiar with the rules and will comply with them.
According to Izvestia, the federation focuses on the figure skaters of the national team — they will not issue status and business trips to everyone. Specifically, the paper was distributed to those who are listed in the main and reserve squads of the national team. We have not had any contact with those outside of these trains. It is difficult to imagine in such circumstances that someone not from the collections would want to go on principle and become neutral on their own, and then also go abroad at their own expense. This can still be assumed in private academies like Plushenko's Angels, but it is unlikely in public ones. But the main thing is that FFCR approval will still be required: according to the rules of the challenger series, athletes are declared by an ISU member, that is, the federation.
Who's going where
The tournament distribution scheme will repeat the one it was when there was a full-fledged Russian national team. It has elements of a grey area, but the sporting principle remains basic. The "Challengers" will take place throughout the season all over the world — from the USA and Japan to Kazakhstan and Europe. Moreover, to compete for the Grand Prix, you need to be the strongest and as early as possible. How will they choose who to send where?
Izvestia's sources describe it something like this: each athlete tells the coach his wishes — when and where he would like to perform, the coach transmits this to the federation, which will already distribute athletes according to competitions. It is logical to assume that in a controversial situation, the stronger skaters will have the advantage — those who performed better last season.
An important detail: all the interlocutors are confident that the terms of the neutral status will be extremely loyal and almost formal. Even the Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Gallyamov couple, who did not receive it before the Olympics, which took place just six months ago, is counting on the status. According to our information, Mark Kondratyuk is going to perform in Japan. Previously, he might also have problems obtaining the status.
Then it remains to assume and conclude. Petr Gumennik, who spent the offseason in the USA, probably has a chance to perform in Norwood on August 6-9 (the deadline for submitting applications for the tournament has already formally passed). It seems logical that Alexandra Trusova, who visited Warsaw, where visas are issued to Russians, is also preparing for a trip to the United States. As far as SE is aware, many figure skaters have expressed a desire to go to Japan in early September — representatives of both single and pair sports are going there.
If the applications of the other leaders are also approved, Russian figure skaters will be able to return to the full-fledged international ISU calendar for the first time in 4.5 years.
The calendar of the Challenger series of the season-2026/27
August 6-9: Norwood, USA
September 4-6: Tokyo, Japan
September 11-12: Norwood, USA (pairs)
September 17-20: Bergamo, Italy
September 24-27: Bratislava, Slovakia
September 24-26: Oberstdorf, Germany
October 1-4: Batumi, Georgia
October 7-11: Astana, Kazakhstan
October 15-18: Budapest, Hungary
November 16-22: Tallinn, Estonia
November 25-29: Warsaw, Poland
December 2-5: Zagreb, Croatia
February 10-13: Graz, Austria
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
