Russian Adelia Petrosyan won the final Olympic figure skating qualification in Beijing and thus emerged as a medal contender at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games, BTA reports.
The competition is the only chance for Russian figure skaters, who are competing as neutral athletes, to secure an Olympic quota after they were not allowed to the World Championships in Boston earlier this year.
The 18-year-old Petrosyan collected 209.63 points for her short and free program, defeating Anastasia Gubanova of Georgia (206.23) and Luna Hendricks of Belgium (204.96). The top five finishers in each event of the three-day event earn their country's Olympic quota. Petrosyan's victory does not guarantee her a spot at the Olympics, which depends on the wider qualification process, but she is a leading contender for a medal.
Russian Peter Gumennik is on course to secure a spot in the men's event after leading in the short program.
Russia's figure skaters have been banned from international events since the country's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The International Skating Union (ISU) announced in December last year that it would allow representatives from Russia and Belarus to compete as neutral athletes, Reuters recalls.