MOSCOW, November 9 (R-Sport) - Evgeny Plushenko skated a rusty free program but did enough to secure victory in his first competition in nine months, a morale-booster ahead of his expected tilt at the Sochi Olympics.
The 31-year-old champion from Turin 2006 needed to accrue some points at an International Skating Union event to be considered for the Olympics, but ended up winning the second-tier Volvo Cup in the Latvian capital of Riga by a huge margin.
Having skated a program lacking the more complex elements such as quadruple jumps that will be needed for gold in Sochi, Plushenko accumulated 263.25 points to finish far ahead of his compatriot Alexander Petrov, who scored 218.75.
Sergei Borodulin made it a Russian podium sweep with 202.40 points.
The victory opens the door for Plushenko to skate in the fifth Grand Prix of the season, the elite-level Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, on November 22-24. Then come the Russian nationals in December and the European championships in January; both events will double as Russian Olympic trials.
Russia has only one spot in the men's competition in the February 7-23 Olympics.
A back injury has prevented a more comprehensive preparation program for Plushenko, whose last appearance was at January’s European championships.
He was forced to withdraw after the short program as he chased an eighth continental title and went on to have back surgery in Israel.
