MOSCOW — After almost a decade without any top-level women’s figure skaters, Russia suddenly has more than it can use. Discovered in distant provinces and aging rinks, trained by the country’s leading coaches and eyeing one another’s every move, the skaters have a surprising leader in Julia Lipnitskaia, the newly crowned European champion. Only 15, Lipnitskaia is two years younger than her Olympic teammate, Adelina Sotnikova, and much younger than the top medal contenders.Over the past year, Lipnitskaia and Sotnikova emerged from an intense competition for the two places on Russia’s Olympic team from a talent pool that includes Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, 17, and two more 15-year-olds, Anna Pogorilaya and Elena Radionova. And while the pressure is intense on all Russian athletes to succeed in Sochi, the skaters’ rapid rise has some observers contemplating one prize the country has never won at the Olympics: a gold medal in women’s singles.
“There were two, then three, and now there’s already really a lot of competitors, and so Russian figure skating is blossoming,” said Tuktamysheva, rolling through Moscow on a bus after a training session. “In order to be selected, you need to be able to do the more complicated moves, and so that was a sort of stimulus from the very beginning”
Sotnikova, who won Russia’s national championship at age 12, said: “It’s competitive at every stage. All the girls watch each other.”
The exceptional competition for places has raised the level of all the skaters, giving Russia a good chance for an Olympic medal. Although not expected to beat the favorites, South Korea’s Kim Yu-na and Japan’s Mao Asada, who are both 24, the young Russians are strong contenders for at least a bronze. Russia has won only two medals in the event at the Games, and never the gold. They are hoping this year will be a completely different turnout.
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