Russia’s Sinitsina and Katsalapov grab world championship gold in ice dance

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. Russian duo Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov won the gold in the ice dance competition of the 2021 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm, Sweden. They received a total score of 221.17 (88.15 for the rhythm dance plus 133.02 for the free dance). The silver went to Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States, with the total score of 214.71 (86.05+128.66). Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier finished third, garnering 214.35 points (83.37+130.98). Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin were fifth (208.77; 83.02+125.75), while another pair from Russia, Tiffany Zahorski and Jonathan Guerreiro, finished tenth (188.45; 75.58+112.87). Therefore, Russian ice dancers secured maximum quota for their team at the forthcoming Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. In order to receive three quota spots in a discipline, the total placement of a national team’s two highest-placed skaters/pairs must not exceed 13. The last time a Russian ice dance duo won the world championships gold was more than a decade ago, when Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin triumphed at the 2009 world championships. On top of medal chart Figure skaters from Russia topped the medal chart of the 2021 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm. Overall, athletes from Russia were way ahead their foreign rivals, receiving six medals - three gold, one silver and two bronze. The second place of the medal chart went to the US team, which grabbed one gold and one silver. Japan is third with one silver and one bronze medal. On Friday, Russian women swept the world championships podium for the first time in history: Anna Shcherbakova became the winner in ladies singles competitions, while Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Alexandra Trusova came in second and third respectively. On Thursday, Russia’s Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov won the pairs gold, and Alexandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovsky took bronze. Due to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sanctions, athletes from Russia are competing as team of the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSR). A fragment from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is played during the award ceremony instead of the national anthem. Read more