June 7 Aleksei Yagudin quit touring in order to go to Russia to be with Tatiana Tarasova, who is recovering from a mild heart attack. Tarasova has acquired a new student, Irina Nicolaevna, who was recently 4th at Junior World Championships.
June 7 Shelby Lyons, an American pair skater, and her partner will be training with Natasha Mishkutyonok and her husband Craig Shephard. Marina Zueva will also be helping them with their choreography.
June 4 Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev have finally decided to go pro, according to their coach Tamara Moskvina. Apparently, they are both satisfied with this decision. We will miss them in the eligible ranks.
May 3 Alexander Abt has posted an interview on his official website. News within the interview: he is planning on creating at least a new free program for next season, if not a new short program. He will be going to a training camp this summer and will resume on-ice training in July, IF his problems with his rink in Moscow are solved. It seems that his rink does not want to give him enough practice time. He is also working on a quadruple salchow.
May 3 Aleksei Yagudin and Oleg Ovsiannikov have recently been experiencing visa problems. Yagudin has apparently been able to fix his, but not in time for the Edge Against Cancer event.
April 30Alexei Urmanov joined the COI tour this weekend for 15 tour stops.
April 30 Alexander Abt married Elena Pavlova last Thursday, April 24, in Moscow. They plan to honeymoon in New York, but live permanently in Moscow.
April 27 There is a new bulletin board dedicated to Maria Butyrskaya. Check it out here.
April 26 Fire on Ice will be held April 30 (this Friday) at the Utica Memorial Stadium in New York. Russian participants include Ekaterina Gordeeva and Shishkova and Naumov.
April 20 Aleksei Yagudin now has an official fan club. Membership costs $5 for the remainder of this year. To join, email Stacey with your name, email address, mailing address, your ICQ or Screenname (if you wish to chat) and your birthday (optional). All new members will receive an autographed photo, news updates by email, and more.
April 16 Although its been a rumor for some time, it is now confirmed that Pasha Grischuk and Sasha Zhulin have permanently split, Sasha to focus on choreography and coaching, Pasha on singles skating and her other interests. Among the reasons cited for the split was Zhulin's chronic back injuries.
April 16 Edge Against Cancer Ice Event, an evening to benefit the American Cancer Society will be held in Pennsylvania on May first and second. Russian participants will be Aleksei Yagudin and Usova and Platov.
April 16 The 26th annual Evening of Championship Skating, hosted by Paul Wylie, will be held this year on May 12. Russian participants include Usova and Platov, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, the Protopopovs, and Leonova and Khvalko.
April 16 If you wish to see more detailed results of the Hershey's Figure Skating Challenge (April 13), please go here..
April 16 The European team beat the World Team at the Miko Masters (April 13-14). Olga Markova, the only Russian competitor, earned a total of 79.8 points for the World team.
April 14 Valentine Piseev, president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, has declared the ISU's suspension of a Russian and Ukrainian judge intolerable. He said that Russia, as a great figure skating country, would not tolerate such treatment from the ISU and would fight it, even if it must go all the way to Hague (in his words!). Apparently, the judges were not given an opportunity to defend themselves, in other words, there was no fair trial. The Russian Figure Skating Federation is prepared to contest the decision and actions of the ISU.
April 14 Hershey's Kisses results: As it was a team competition (US vs. the World), there are not any individual results (at least not yet). But the World team beat the US team, although some of the US skaters beat their individual competitors.
April 13Miko Masters begins today (finishes tomorrow) in Paris, France. The only Russian competing will be Olga Markova, but Evgeny Pluschenko will be honored as a special guest.
April 13Worldstars on Ice with Katarina Witt will be held May 1 in Oberhausen, Germany. Russian participants include Maria Butyrskaya and Bechke and Petrov.
April 13The Hershey's Kisses Pro-Am is being held today in Binghamton, New York. Russian participants in this team competition include Maria Butyrskaya, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, Krylova and Ovsiannikov and Usova and Platov.
April 13 Katia Gordeeva has a busy schedule in the weeks ahead: she is currently on a book-signing tour in association with Target as a commercial push for her new fragrance line, Katia Sport, and will continue the tour until April 27. She also will be at two private ceremonies dedicating the new Target House at St. Jude Hospital and its Sergei Grinkov Memorial Garden. She has also signed a contract to appear on next year's SOI tour, which is now sponsored by Target.
