The 2020

Rostelecom Cup The Rostelecom Cup (russian: Кубок Ростелекома), formerly the Cup of Russia (russian: Кубок России), is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating ser ...

was the fifth event in the 2020–21 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Megasport Sport Palace in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

on November 20–22. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, a large number of modifications were made to the Grand Prix structure. The competitors consisted only of skaters from the home country, skaters already training in the host nation, and skaters assigned to that event for geographic reasons. However, the event became controversial after apparent

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

spread among attendees led to suggestions that it had been a

superspreading event A superspreading event (SSEV) is an event in which an infectious disease is spread much more than usual, while an unusually contagious organism infected with a disease is known as a superspreader. In the context of a human-borne illness, a super ...

Entries

The

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Net ...

announced the preliminary assignments on October 1, 2020.

Changes to preliminary assignments

Results

Men

Ladies

Anna Shcherbakova withdrew prior to the short program due to illness.

Pairs

Ice dance

COVID-19 spread and controversy

Despite some precautionary measures being taken, the Rostelecom Cup's organization came under criticism for, like many other Russian domestic competitions held during the season, allowing a large audience and insufficient enforcement of mandates regarding

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dis ...

and proper mask usage. A focal point of criticism was the decision to hold the traditional post-competition banquet where many skaters were documented not wearing masks or socially distancing at all, as well as sharing food from a communal buffet; in addition, several skaters who competed at the event were photographed in the following weeks at a birthday party for retired Russian skater

Alena Leonova Alena Igorevna Leonova (russian: Алёна Игоревна Леонова; born 23 November 1990) is a retired Russian figure skater. She is the 2012 World silver medalist, the 2011 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2009 World Junior c ...

. Several Russian skaters who competed at the event subsequently reported contracting the virus in the weeks afterward, including

Dmitri Aliev Dmitri Sergeyevich Aliev (russian: Дмитрий Сергеевич Алиев; born 1 June 1999) is a Russian figure skater. He is the 2020 European champion and the 2020 Russian national champion. On the junior level, he is the 2017 World J ...

Alena Kostornaia Alena Sergeyevna Kostornaia (russian: Алёна Сергеевна Косторная; born 24 August 2003) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2020 European champion, the 2019–20 Grand Prix Final champion, a six-time Grand Prix medal ...

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva Elizaveta Sergeyevna Tuktamysheva ( ; rus, Елизавета Серге́евна Туктамышева, , jɪlʲɪzɐˈvʲetə tʊktɐˈmɨʂɨvə; born 17 December 1996) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2015 World champion, the 202 ...

Victoria Sinitsina Victoria Alexandrovna Sinitsina (russian: Виктория Александровна Синицина; born 29 April 1995) is a Russian ice dancer. With Nikita Katsalapov, she is the 2022 Olympic champion in the team event, 2022 Olympic silve ...

, and

Nikita Katsalapov Nikita Gennadyevich Katsalapov (russian: Никита Геннадьевич Кацалапов; born 10 July 1991) is a Russian ice dancer. With Victoria Sinitsina, he is the 2022 Olympic champion in the team event, 2022 Olympic silver medalis ...

. Estonian skater Eva-Lotta Kiibus later also reported contracting COVID-19 at the event and was still suffering effects two months later.

Irina Rodnina Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina ( rus, Ирина Константиновна Роднина, p=ɪˈrʲinə kənstɐnˈtʲinəvnə rədʲnʲɪˈna; born 12 September 1949) is a Russian politician and retired figure skater, who is the only pair sk ...

, a three-time Olympic pairs champion for Russia and current

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

member, strongly criticized the handling of the Rostelecom Cup and cited it as an example of the government needing to more aggressively fine people for non-compliance. After the event, an American journalist questioned

Jan Dijkema Jan Dijkema (born 23 September 1944) is a Dutch politician, sociologist and President of the International Skating Union. Career Dijkema studied sociology at the University of Groningen and was at the age of 32 in 1978 the youngest Member of th ...

, president of the ISU, whether the

Figure Skating Federation of Russia The Figure Skating Federation of Russia (russian: Федерация фигурного катания на коньках России, lit. ''Figure Skating on Skates Federation of Russia'') is the national sport governing body for figure skating ...

would be sanctioned over their disregard for safety protocols. Dijkema acknowledged "the regrettable news about the situation involving positive test results for COVID-19 of certain Russian Skaters ," but denied the ISU taking responsibility over the situation due to the 2020–21 Grand Prix series' semi-domestic nature.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rostelecom Cup 2020 Rostelecom Cup 2020 in figure skating 2020 in Russian sport November 2020 sports events in Russia