You probably haven’t heard of Adeliia Petrosian but from Volgograd to Vladivostok she’s renowned as the Motherland’s reigning ice queen. Petrosian, a 17-year-old Muscovite who’s barely tall enough to peer over the boards, has won the last two Russian titles.
In an ordinary year – remember those? – Petrosian would have been at TD Garden on Wednesday afternoon competing in the women’s short program at the World Figure Skating Championships.
If history is any guide Petrosian would have been favored to win a medal, possibly the gold as did four of her countrywomen did over the past decade. But ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 their skaters have been banned from international events.
They still skate domestically on the Russian Grand Prix circuit and in the December nationals. If the International Olympic Committee agrees, one of their women (along with a man, a pair and a dance couple) will be allowed to compete in next year’s Olympics in Milan provided they earn their ticket at the last-chance September qualifier in Beijing.
That was the arrangement at last summer’s Paris Games where 15 Russians participated as “Individual Neutral Athletes.” The requirement, which would be in force again, was that none of them be affiliated with the military or a national security agency.
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They also “will undergo careful examination of public statements and appearances to see if individuals may have supported the invasion of Ukraine.”
If Petrosian or someone else passes muster will she become the fourth Russian in a row to win the gold medal? Who can say, since there’s no standard of comparison?
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Petrosian never has competed at the senior level outside of her country so the breakthrough quadruple loop jump that she landed several years ago wasn’t recognized. She’s part of the lost generation of Russian skaters, whose predecessors ruled the planet.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Evgenia Medvedeva (twice), Alina Zagitova and Anna Shcherbakova all claimed world titles and the latter two followed Adelina Sotnikova atop the Olympic podium.
This is the fourth global championships without the Russian women and the beneficiaries are the Japanese and Americans, who previously owned the sport.
Kaori Sakamoto is going for a fourth consecutive crown, last achieved by Carol Heiss in 1960. Americans Alysa Liu collected the bronze medal in 2022 and Isabeau Levito took silver last year.
Before the Russians were excluded the Japanese hadn’t won a title since 2014 after having claimed five in eight years. Before Liu collected her medal, the US hadn’t won one since Ashley Wagner earned silver here in 2016.
So there’s been uncommon room for new faces on the award stand. Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx, absent here after ankle surgery, won her country’s only two medals. And after being blanked after 2013 champion Kim Yu-na retired the Koreans made the last two podiums with Lee Hae-in and Kim Chae-yeon.
So the leader board after the short program was what it figured to be with three Japanese and two Americans among the top five.
Liu, who retired for two years after the Olympics before returning this season, was sitting in first place ahead of Mone Chiba and Levito, who was back in form after missing Nationals with a foot injury. Just behind were Wakaba Higuchi and Sakamoto.
Would it have been more interesting were the Russians here? “I don’t know. Maybe?,” mused Liu, who skated against them at Olympus three years ago. “I think competitions are more fun the more people we can include in them.”
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The Russians certainly haven’t been missed by those who believed that they were taking women’s skating in an unhealthy direction with their next-teen-up approach.
The strenuous (if not harsh) centralized training regimen produced Olympic champions — Zagitova was only 15 when she won in 2018 — but they were shunted aside once the next crop was ready.
Then came the doping scandal at the Beijing Games when Kamila Valieva, a 15-year-old supernova just up from juniors, was allowed to compete despite having tested positive for a banned heart drug at her nationals.
The Russians subsequently were stripped of the team gold, which went to the Americans. Valieva was handed a four-year ban and her results were nullified. And the International Skating Union, coincidentally or not, gradually raised the minimum age to 17.
Without the Russians here, the competition so far has been less predictable and more intriguing. Sakamoto doubled the triple flip in her combination and is sitting in fifth. Had the judges not given her unduly high component marks for artistry she would have been even lower.
Amber Glenn, the US champion, splattered her opening triple Axel and was ninth. But with Liu and Levito both in medal position there’s a good chance that Friday night will bring the first title by an American since Kimmie Meissner in 2006. “I didn’t know that,” Liu said. “That’s a fun fact.”
Meissner and Sasha Cohen both earned medals that year, marking the end of two decades where there was at least one and usually two Americans on the podium. Liu and Levito both have been there, signaling the beginning of a star-spangled renaissance that might well continue on Causeway Street.
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