It's time for a world war: Petrosyan returns to the international ice after the Olympics

From October 1-3, Batumi will host the Trialeti Trophy, a new tournament in the Challenger series, which this fall has become the main international venue for returning Russians. This time, the representation turned out to be almost maximum: 10 of the 12 available quotas were used. The main event will be the return of Adelia Petrosyan, who will perform at an official international start for the first time since the 2026 Olympics. At the same time, in almost all disciplines, Russians are able to fight for victory or at least for a place on the podium.

The return of Petrosyan

There were several changes in the line-up shortly before the start. Matvey Vetlugin replaced Andrey Mozalev due to weak performances at the control box office, and Rybakov/Makhnonosov to Varvara Zhdanov/Timur Babaev-Smirnov due to injury.

The main focus will be on Adelia Petrosyan in the women's tournament. This is her first official international start since the 2026 Olympics, where she finished sixth with 214.53 points. In the summer, Adelia left Eteri Tutberidze and began working with Inna Goncharenko, and presented new programs at the control rentals, although there were some mistakes in the free version. It is known about the suboptimal shape of the figure skater due to injuries. Therefore, you should not put pressure on high expectations. Perhaps, she is now even inferior in strength to Anna Frolova, who scored 208 points in Japan.

Moreover, the competition is serious. Two-time European champion Nina Petrykina scored 210.41 at the Lombardia Trophy two weeks ago, and received 77.20 for the short one. There is also Anastasia Gubanova, representing Georgia, who is the ninth at the Olympics. There are no dangerous Japanese women who can perform ultra-si — there is a feeling that the Japanese federation has less money and they send people on long-distance business trips less and less. Other interesting participants are former Russians Ulyana Shiryaeva (Canada), Inga Gurgenmdze (Georgia) and Victoria Safonova (Belarus).

Vetlugin again against Seleuco

Matvey Vetlugin came to Batumi instead of Mozalev for a reason. At the Lombardia Trophy, he scored a decent 254.53 in total, but lost to Estonian Mikhail Selevko. The opponent will be around again — he showed up in Batumi. And the main status opponent is the 2026 European champion Nika Egadze, whose personal best is 273.00. But Eteri Tutberidze's ward can be extremely unstable. Kirill Marsak, a Ukrainian, also came to Georgia, and he finished fourth at the first Challenger in Italy.

The prospects of Nikolai Ugozhaev, for whom this is his adult debut abroad, even look more interesting. At the control rentals, he showed serious content: he held a cascade with a quadruple lutz in the free skate and performed a quadruple sheepskin coat. The difficulty level allows you to cling to victory, the question is how the jumps and the program will be evaluated at the first foreign start. But at least one Russian must get into the medals.

Russian duets vs. Georgian favorites

The couples' main intrigue is the return of Anastasia Mishina/Alexandra Gallyamova. They eventually got a neutral status. The 2021 world champions and the 2022 Olympic bronze medalists were clean at the test rentals, but with the old programs they seemed to have lost their luster. To win and become a reserve in the Grand Prix series, you will have to beat the Georgian pair Anastasia Metelkina./Luka Berulava, and these are the European champions and Olympic silver medalists. So a good test of the real level of Russian couples at the level of the best in the world is coming.

Ekaterina Chikmareva and Matvey Yanchenkov have already proved their desire to fight for victories in Japan, where they lost to Boikova with a total score of 202.55/Kozlovsky. In Russia, they are not allowed to get so close to the leaders, but abroad they claim at least a bronze medal and can impose a fight on Mishina./To Gallyamov.

In dancing, the favorites are obvious — the hosts of the tournament are Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin. In Japan, they received 189.99. The leaders of the Russian troika are Elizaveta Pasechnik/Dario Cirizano also finished fifth with 172.71. The difference is obvious, but again, taking second place is quite a feasible task for Russians. There are many familiar names among the competitors — half of the foreign national teams have Russian surnames, there is even a Brazilian dancing couple, but there are no such people who are too tough for Lisa and Dario.

But Shichina and Drozda, as well as Rybakova./Makhnonosova, the task is simple — get in line, preferably closer to the beginning.

The Russian national team

Men: Matvey Vetlugin, Nikolay Ugozhaev
Women: Adelia Petrosyan, Anna Frolova
Couples: Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Gallyamov, Ekaterina Chikmareva/Matvey Yanchenkov, Anastasia Mukhortova/Dmitry Evgeniev
Dancing: Elizaveta Pasechnik/Dario Cirizano, Elizabeth Shichina/Pavel Drozd, Ekaterina Rybakova/Ivan Makhnonosov

Trialeti Trophy Schedule
(Moscow time)

Thursday, October 1st
13.45. Women, short program
16.45. Dancing on ice, rhythm dance
19.50. Men, short program

Friday, October 2nd
14.00. Couples, short program
15.15. Ice dancing, free dance
19.30. Men, free program

Saturday, October 3rd
14.00. Pairs, free program
16.30. Women, free program