Evgeni Plushenko: “Petrosian only six points behind the leader. The key question is how many quads we’ll see in her FP. They are absolutely necessary to compete for gold. Ideally, she needs to land two.”

Evgeni Plushenko, the two-time Olympic champion, shared his thoughts on Russian skater Adeliia Petrosian’s chances at the 2026 Milan Olympics

original source: Sport-Express

Evgeni Plushenko, the two-time Olympic champion, shared his thoughts on Russian skater Adeliia Petrosian’s chances at the 2026 Milan Olympics. To contend for gold, Plushenko argued, Petrosian must land two quad toe loops in her free skate program on February 19. Petrosian currently ranks 5th following the short program.. Here’s a translation.

“A triple axel in the short program would have been magical, but Petrosian and her coaches decided not to take that risk, which I believe was the right decision. It all depended on her condition after dealing with injuries all season.

We don’t know the full details, but we can rely on the facts. If Adeliia hadn’t practiced the triple axel during her recent training sessions, it likely means she wasn’t 100% confident she could execute it cleanly. So, she left it out of the short program, minimized the risk, and prioritized a clean skate. That was a sensible choice.

Considering she was second in her warm-up group, Adeliia earned very good scores. Let’s not tempt fate here. She’s only six points behind the leader, Japan’s Ami Nakai, so the main battle lies ahead in the free skate.

Now, Adelia needs to show her character in the free skate and prove why she is the current leader of the Russian team. I hope she can handle it. The key question is how many quad toe loops we’ll see in her free program. They are absolutely necessary to compete for gold. Ideally, she needs to land two,” Plushenko wrote in his column for Sport-Express.

Related topics: Adeliia Petrosian, Evgeni Pluschenko