MOSCOW, December 27 (R-Sport) – Evgeny Plushenko will miss the European figure skating championships in January, the Russian Figure Skating Federation confirmed Friday.
The seven-time European champion said this week that he had no plans to compete at the event, in Budapest from January 15-19, because he wanted to save his energies for the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Plushenko, 31, lost his Russian national title on Wednesday to 18-year-old Maxim Kovtun. Afterwards, the Turin 2006 Olympic champion said that he was not seeking a place in the men's singles event at the Sochi Games in February.
Plushenko, who also won Olympic silver in 2002 and 2010, hopes to compete in the new team event.
On the women’s roster for the European championships, last year’s silver medalist Adelina Sotnikova, who won her fourth national title on Thursday, will be accompanied by Grand Prix Finals runner-up Julia Lipnitskaia and 2012 world silver medalist Alena Leonova. Last year’s European bronze winner Elizaveta Tuktamysheva was not even included as an alternate after finishing 10th on Thursday.
All of Russia's strongest available pairs will go to the Hungarian capital, including world record holders Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, who skipped the national championships. Two-time world bronze medalists Yuko Kavaguti and
Alexander Smirnov are still unable to compete due to Smirnov's knee injury.
Among the ice dancers, reigning European champions Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev have decided not to compete in Budapest in order to concentrate on their Olympic preparations.
