Russian Petr Gumennik wins Olympic figure skating qualifier as neutral athlete

Audio By Carbonatix

BEIJING (AP) — Russian figure skater Petr Gumennik showed he could be a contender for the Olympic podium at next year's Milan-Cortina Games after he won the final qualifying event by a vast 34-point margin Sunday.

Competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete, Gumennik performed five high-scoring quadruple jumps in the free skate, despite some shaky landings, on his way to a total score of 262.82, securing him a place at next year's Olympics. That score would have placed him 10th at last season's world championships.

Among the other skaters in the top five qualifying men's spots Sunday were Mexico's Donovan Carrillo, a fan favorite on his Olympic debut in 2022, and Ukrainian Kyrylo Marsak.

Neutral athletes qualify for Olympic spots for themselves as individuals, while other skaters qualify quota places for their country.

Gumennik's win came a day after fellow Russian skater Adeliia Petrosian won the women's event at the qualifier ahead of two former European champions. Petrosian is expected to contend for the gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.

Also Sunday, Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius won the ice dance event for Lithuania.

That means the Michigan-born Reed, who gained Lithuanian citizenship last year, is set to return to the Olympics for the first time in 16 years. She competed for Georgia in 2010 at the age of 15.

The ISU followed other Olympic sports bodies in excluding Russian skaters from its competitions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine shortly after the 2022 Olympics.

In December, it announced a pathway for Russians to receive “Individual Neutral Athlete” status to compete without symbols like the national flag and anthem. They had to go through the final Olympic qualifier because they weren't eligible to qualifying spots via the world championships.

There were no Russian entries with ISU-approved neutral status in pairs and ice dance for the qualifier.

___

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics