Olympic figure skating champion Anna Shcherbakova said the current situation could directly affect her decision to continue her career.
On March 1, the International Skating Union removed Russian and Belarusian athletes from all competitions under the auspices of the organization. Russian figure skaters were forced to miss the World Championships in Montpellier. The strongest athletes took part in the Channel One Cup, which took place in Saransk from March 24 to 27.
“I have never set goals to win medals. So nothing is changing for me. I want to rest at the moment, but this does not apply to next season. For now, I think not only for me, but in general, everything is very chaotic and it’s not clear what awaits us. So I’m going to look at the situation while I’m temporarily taking a break after this season to recover”, said Anna Shcherbakova. “Because it was still, although very successful, with bright moments, but difficult for everyone. I want to rest and then I will make a decision before the start of next season. Could the current situation affect this decision? Probably yes”, added she.
Anna Shcherbakova is a Russian figure skater, who is the 2022 Olympic champion, the 2021 World champion, a two-time European silver medalist (2020 and 2022), the 2019 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, the 2019 Skate America champion, the 2019 Cup of China champion, the 2021 Internationaux de France champion, the 2021 Gran Premio d’Italia champion, the 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy champion, and a three-time Russian national champion (2019–21).
Anna Shcherbakova currently has the third-highest free skating score of any female skater, with 175.75 points, behind only compatriots Kamila Valieva and Alexandra Trusova. She was the first senior woman to land a quad Lutz (the first woman to land it is training mate Alexandra Trusova) and the first woman to land two quad Lutz jumps in a single program. She is also one of the few female skaters to have landed a quad flip, both internationally and domestically. She is the first woman to land a quad flip in combination with a triple toe.
