I don't understand, why is Trankov commentating? Are they not competing??? What have I missed here lol ?
They originally wanted to skip the Europeans because they felt that they have too many competitions. I assume that someone told them that it wouldn't be very wise, so eventually they decided to skip nationals instead. As the reigning worlds champions they will have their place at Europeans/Olympics guaranteed. I think it must be very hard to keep yourself in top competitive condition for the whole season, and their season started quite early (B competition) so they are probably having some time before they will have to peak again for January, February and possibly March if they will want to go to worlds.