2025-26 Russian Men's Figure Skating

niks · Apr 28, 2026

AlexBreeze said:
Dmitri Aliev revealed that he missed past season because of tuberculosis.

My goodness! That's quite serious. I hope he is fully recovered and doesn't have any lasting aftermath. Good health to Dima! :ghug:

AlexBreeze · Apr 28, 2026

niks said:
My goodness! That's quite serious. I hope he is fully recovered and doesn't have any lasting aftermath. Good health to Dima!

He needed more than six months of chemotherapy. For this reason, in a sense, he simply "disappeared" for a long time. No interviews, no social media activity, no details.

It looks like he still has intention to compete and show his new programs but it will depend on his health.

Big interview for Channel One
https://youtu.be/R9AwjPItwK8

Short version as an article
https://www.championat.com/figuresk...kroveniya-chempiona-evropy-bolezn-dopusk.html

thatdarncat · Apr 30, 2026

Just read about Dima on Sports Ru, poor guy he has had a rough year. Surprised he had tuberculous, that's a scary disease, hope he is on the road to recovery. Sending him good health and best wishes

niks · May 7, 2026

AlexBreeze said:
It looks like he still has intention to compete and show his new programs but it will depend on his health.

Big interview for Channel One
https://youtu.be/R9AwjPItwK8

Thanks for the link. I was able only now to see the interview in full. Dima says that if everything had gone according to plan, last season would have been his last. Though not surprising, it still saddens me that the end of his career is one way or another clearly in sight. He says he had mentally prepared for that, but that now he is confused and not sure what to do. Maybe the disease is some sort of blessing in disguise and in the end, it keeps him on the ice for a bit longer.

He considers he did a mistake by chasing after quads to try to catch-up with other skaters, and would now have a less "ambitious" approach, focusing on the quality of his skating and performances, which are indeed his strengths. He is worried whether he would be able to come back to competitive level because he understands it will be very hard physically, and probably mentally too. But I do hope he'll give it his best try and succeed.

And while dealing with the disease, he found other things that apparently brought fulfillment to his life, namely music. It seems he is learning to sing and looking into creating music. He is also teaching kids at his coach's group (I think). I'm very glad for him that he founds new ways to develop that bring him joy besides skating, because, though I'll be very sad once his career is over (hopefully not yet

), the most important thing is that he has a happy life afterwards.

I'm also glad that he seems to have a very close and supportive relationship with his coaches, who are with him through tough moments.

Btw, the location of the interview is beautiful

It's Evgeny Rukavacin's datcha, he very lucky to have such a lovely peaceful place, with forest and even a huge lake.

AlexBreeze · May 23, 2026

lariko said:
That means he can maybe do late season challengers at best.

I guess clearance certificate can only be obtained before July 1st in singles. So unlikely.

lariko said:
Or is he now going to Azerbaijan since everyone is going to Azerbaijan?

I don't think citizenship of another country is so easy to switch between.

lariko · May 25, 2026

AlexBreeze said:
I guess clearance certificate can only be obtained before July 1st in singles. So unlikely.

I don't think citizenship of another country is so easy to switch between.

Argh. I hope it will somehow sort itself out. Would love to see him skate live. He's very engaging when he is on.

labgoat · May 25, 2026

AlexBreeze said:
He needed more than six months of chemotherapy. For this reason, in a sense, he simply "disappeared" for a long time. No interviews, no social media activity, no details.

Best wishes to him for a complete recovery - this is serious stuff. He is one of my favorite skaters among the Russian men.

AlexBreeze · May 27, 2026

Artem Kovalev returned to AoP.

niks · May 27, 2026

AlexBreeze said:
Artem Kovalev returned to AoP.

I'm sad to hear this to be honest. I like his previous coach Volkov and they seemed to have a very good relationship together.

Does Volkov have any senior skaters left now?

And what is with all these skaters suddenly transferring to Plushenko out of the blue? Numbers start to pile up a bit too much to be simply coincidence imo...

AlexBreeze · May 28, 2026

niks said:
I'm sad to hear this to be honest. I like his previous coach Volkov and they seemed to have a very good relationship together.

Me too. Another skater left their first coaches.

niks said:
Does Volkov have any senior skaters left now?

Not sure.

niks said:
And what is with all these skaters suddenly transferring to Plushenko out of the blue? Numbers start to pile up a bit too much to be simply coincidence imo...

It's not the first time. I think it already happened before a few years ago.

Regarding Artem I think it's show opportunities. He skates in many lower tier outdoors shows.

AlexBreeze · Jun 6, 2026

New season's thread

Thread '2026-27 Russian Men's Figure Skating'

Jun 6, 2026

Follow Russian men's figure skating throughout the 2026–27 season, including news, programs, rankings, coaching changes, and discussion of Russia's men's singles skaters.

Previous Season's thread: