RUSSIA
The Russian Championships are an annual highlight around the globe. No other figure skating nation boasts the depth of talent in all disciplines, and fans worldwide tune in to watch this competition every year.
As expected, the ladies provided their own “Game of Thrones” episode, a cut-throat competition with only three survivors that made the team for Europeans and Worlds. Though there are many more talented skaters that are competitive at the international level and who, in any other nation, would receive multiple international assignments. Not so in Russia.
The 2020 Championships took place in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia for the first time. The Platinum Arena, a new facility built for the 2019 Winter Universiade seats 7,500 people. The motto of the Universiade was “Real Winter” — and real winter it was, with heavy snow and temperatures that often hovered around the minus 34 degrees Celsius (-29F) mark.
Krasnoyarsk is the hometown of Sofia Samodurova, the 2019 European champion, and two-time Olympic pairs champion Artur Dmitriev comes from
