The Associated Press
The Russian Figure Skating Federation says Olympic champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov will miss this year’s Grand Prix events due to injury.
The federation said Trankov was suffering from a shoulder injury which had “prevented (him and Volosozhar) from preparing for the start of the new season at full strength.”
The Russian duo, who won Olympic gold in the pairs and team events in Sochi in February, had been due to compete at Skate America on Oct. 24-26 at Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and next month’s Cup of China.
Volosozhar and Trankov are the dominant Russian pair and hold the world record score in pairs. They could still compete at the European or world championships next year.
Their absence from Skate America means the competition is now set to feature just one pair which qualified for the free skate at February’s Olympics, China’s Peng Cheng and Hao Zhang, who were seventh in Sochi.
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