Anna Shcherbakova, the Olympic figure skating champion from Russia, will undergo knee surgery to alleviate an old injury.
“Professional sport is a full dedication,” was posted on her social media. “Unfortunately, because of my old knee injury, I can’t train in full force.”
Shcherbakova, 18, did not elaborate on the specific injury nor did she say how long she will be sidelined.
She will fly to Germany on Wednesday for the surgery, the Russia Figure Skating Federation director general said, according to Russian news agency TASS.
The official reportedly said that the injury bothered Shcherbakova before the Olympics, where she won gold over countrywoman Alexandra Trusova after yet another Russian teen, Kamila Valieva, dropped to fourth after topping the short program.
Russian skaters are banned from international competition indefinitely due to the war in Ukraine. The entries for this fall’s Grand Prix Series were published last month with no Russians.
The next major international competition after that is the European Championships in late January in Espoo, Finland.
The world championships are in March in Saitama, Japan. Since Russian skaters were banned from last March’s worlds, they were unable to qualify more than the minimum one entry per discipline for the 2023 Worlds, should the ban be lifted by then.
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