The beginning of the rental: The Russian Grand Prix starts in Kazan without Kamila Valieva

On Saturday, October 17, the 2026/27 Russian Adult Grand Prix of Figure Skating starts in Kazan. Medals in four disciplines will be awarded in two days in the capital of Tatarstan. Alas, "Rhapsody of Ice" will be held without Kamila Valieva: on October 15, it became known that the star singles player, who initially appeared at the "home" tournament, withdrew due to illness. Anna Frolova, Camilla Nelyubova and Sofia Muravyeva are among the contenders for victory in the absence of Kamila. One of the men's favorites will be Evgeny Semenenko, who already has a big international victory this season and an invitation to the Chinese stage of the ISU Grand Prix.

Who will take the gold

Valieva, a 20-year-old native of Kazan, was supposed to show both programs at official competitions for the first time after her disqualification. However, on October 15, the figure skater announced on social media that she would miss the competition.

"Dear fans and fans of figure skating, my dear Kazan citizens. Unfortunately, I will not be able to compete at the Grand Prix in Kazan due to illness. I wish you good health, please take care of yourself. We will definitely see you at other stages of the Russian Grand Prix," the athlete wrote on her Telegram channel.

After completing her four-year suspension, Valieva decided to resume her career. In January, she participated in the Russian Jumping Championship, in March — in the Channel One Cup, in September — in the control rentals of the national team.

— I knew that I would return to the sport. I've always kept that in mind. I don't want to regret in the future that I never tried it," Valieva said in an interview with the publication "Ice" in the summer of 2026.

Valieva is currently working in Tatiana Navka's team under the guidance of Svetlana Sokolovskaya. Before her suspension, she trained in Eteri Tutberidze's group. French choreographer Benoit Richaud staged both new programs for her: a short one to Ludovico Einaudi's Mamma La Rondinella, and an arbitrary one to Max Richter's music for the film Hamnet. The September rentals showed that the complex jump set still needs work. Valieva has not yet announced the exact date of her return to competition, but since she does not have a neutral status, it is obvious that these will be internal starts.

The most famous participant of the Kazan Grand Prix in women's single skating after Valieva's withdrawal is Anna Frolova. This season, the youth Olympic medalist has already won two bronze medals at international tournaments in Japan and Georgia, and a year ago she became the third at the Kazan stage. Another contender for the awards, Kamilla Nelyubova— finished last season with a bronze medal at the Russian Grand Prix final and included a triple axel in the program.

Dina Khusnutdinova also has grounds to claim a high place. In November 2025, she won the stage in Kazan, receiving 218.01 points, performing two triple axels in the free program. But on October 9, 2026, at the Denis Teng Memorial, Dean became only the seventh — 185.70. She has to regain her former stability.

Sofia Muravyeva will also perform among the stars of the women's tournament this week. In the spring of 2026, the CR-2024 silver medalist stopped cooperating with Alexei Mishin and asked to be excluded from the national team. At the same time, there is no information about the skater's new coach yet. A year ago, Muravyeva took second place in Kazan after the short program with a score of 72.60 points, second only to Dina Khusnutdinova in additional indicators. However, mistakes in the free skate dropped her to the final fifth place (197.91 points). Now I wonder in what form the athlete will approach the first stage of the new season.

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Semenenko gained momentum

Evgeny Semenenko starts the Russian series as one of the main favorites. Alexey Mishin's student won the Ondrej Nepela Memorial in Bratislava in September, scoring 292.09 points and beating Olympic champion Mikhail Shaidorov. He previously won bronze in Japan, and now, together with Alexandra Trusova, he has received an invitation to the ISU Grand Prix in China.

— I really want to compete in all possible competitions, and even more so in such competitions as the Grand Prix. I hope that everything will continue to turn out well," Semenenko said after the victory in Bratislava on Okko, speaking about the international series.

Evgeny's expected rivals include Lombardia Trophy silver medalist Matvey Vetlugin and Andrey Mozalev, who withdrew from the scheduled start in Georgia. Semyon Solovyov is also listed in the preliminary application. Vetlugin promised to experiment with the presentation of programs, so it's not just his jump set that's interesting.

In pair skating, many expected the arrival of Alexandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovsky. However, the current national champions, who won in Kazan a year ago, received an invitation to the international Grand Prix in France on October 23-25, so they will skip the domestic stage.

In the absence of favorites, the bronze medalists of the September tournament in Japan, Anastasia Mukhortova and Dmitry Evgeniev, as well as Taisiya Shcherbinina and Artem Petrov, are among the contenders for awards.

Elizaveta Pasechnik and Dario Cirizano, who won the silver Trialeti Trophy in Georgia in early October, should come to the fore in dancing. They should compete with Sofia Leontieva and Daniil Gorelkin. Fans can also expect bright performances by Varvara Zhdanova and Timur Babaev-Smirnov, Ekaterina Rybakova and Ivan Makhnonosov.

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How the Russian Cup became the Grand Prix

Historically, the Russian Cup was a series of regional tournaments that helped select participants for the national championship and provided skaters with regular starts. In 2022, after the Russians were banned from international competitions, the federation reformatted this system. The new series of the Russian Grand Prix included six stages with the participation of the national team leaders, with television broadcasts and a separate final. For several years, it became the main regular venue for the country's strongest figure skaters.

The situation has changed since June 2026. The ISU allowed Russians to return to international competitions in a neutral status. In September and October, they have already performed in Japan, Italy, Slovakia, Georgia and Kazakhstan. Some have received invitations to the ISU Grand Prix stages.

Today, the Russian Grand Prix is needed to test programs, competitive practices, and selection for the national championship. Each skater can compete in no more than two stages. After Kazan, the series will be hosted by St. Petersburg (October 22-26), Krasnoyarsk (October 30 - November 2), Yekaterinburg (November 6-9) and Omsk (November 13-16). The final will be held on February 25-28, 2027 in Saransk. The Russian Championship will be held in December in Chelyabinsk.

The performances themselves are also changing. In the 2026/27 season, the singles have six jumping elements in the free program instead of seven, and choreographic rotation has been added. Athletes have to distribute the difficulty in a new way, and the amount of points is not always correct to compare with last season.