21.01 Plushenko Picked for Sochi Olympics after Test Skate
MOSCOW, January 21 (R-Sport) – Russian figure skating star Evgeni Plushenko will be selected to compete in the men’s event at the Sochi Olympics, a source at the country’s Sports Ministry told R-Sport Tuesday.
The news comes shortly after Plushenko performed a test skate behind closed doors for Russian figure skating officials and expert judges.
It ends the hopes of Maxim Kovtun, the 18-year-old who beat Plushenko at last month’s Russian national championships, of taking the country’s sole entry for the singles contest at the Games.
Referring to a ministerial document on Russian athletes for the Olympics, the source said: "In the men's individual skating, there's one name there - Plushenko."
He will also compete in the new Olympic team event, the source said.
Plushenko said earlier that his test skate "went great" and that he had landed two quadruple jumps, the toughest element in figure skating.
"I skated the program clean with all the elements," he told R-Sport. "I’m pleased, my team is pleased, we did a great and successful job.”
A veteran of the sport at 31, Plushenko is now set to compete in his fourth Winter Olympics. He won gold at the Turin Olympics in 2006 and finished second to Evan Lysacek at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
The seven-time European champion has been struggling with back injuries for the past two seasons and last competed in an elite international event more than a year ago, when he withdrew hurt from the 2013 European championships.
He did, however, win the minor Volvo Open event in Riga, Latvia, in November.
He has skipped all Grand Prix and world championship events since the 2010 Olympics and has not skated since then against leading rivals such as world champion Patrick Chan of Canada or Olympic bronze medalist Daisuke Takahashi of Japan.
The selection ends a lengthy and, at times, bitter selection battle with Kovtun. The teenager could only manage fifth at last week's European championships in Budapest, saying afterwards that he had been distracted by disputes among Russian figure skating officials over who would get the Olympic place.
Plushenko appeared to rule himself out of the men's event in Sochi after the Russian nationals, saying that he was prepared to compete only in the team event. He conceded the men's singles place to "a young and promising athlete," widely understood as a reference to Kovtun.
Other major Russian skaters set to miss out on Sochi are Sergei Voronov and Konstatin Menshov, who finished second and third respectively at the European championships, where Spain's Javier Fernandez took gold.
The Olympics formally run from February 7 through 23, although the first competitive date for a Russian men's skater would be the February 6-9 team event, before the men's individual competition February 13-14.
