The 22-year-old Russian figure skater Egor Rukhin, who has been the champion of Moscow since 2024 and has worked with famous Russian specialists such as Eteri Tutberidze and Evgeni Plushenko, will now compete for Bulgaria. The news was confirmed by the President of the Bulgarian Skating Federation Hristo Turlakov to TASS, BTA reported.
Rukhin is already in Sofia, where he has started training with Andrey Lutai. The figure skater himself also confirmed the change to Sports.ru: “Yes, I will represent Bulgaria. I train in Sofia with Andrey Lutai. Regarding the tournaments - we are still in the process of specifying.“
The Russian has a serious biography for his age. In addition to Tutberidze and Plushenko, at different periods of his career he worked with Alexander Volkov and Alexei Vasilevsky. In 2021, he won a bronze medal at the Junior Grand Prix series in Gdansk, and three years later he became the champion of Moscow.
However, the last season was not among his strongest. At the Moscow championship in the 2025/2026 season, Rukhin finished 13th, and at the first stage of the Russian Grand Prix in Magnitogorsk he remained 11th. After the end of his collaboration with Alexei Chetverukhin, he chose Sofia for the next step in his career.
It is not yet clear when Rukhin will make his official debut for Bulgaria. With his arrival, Bulgarian men's figure skating may gain more competition. So far, among the leading names is Alexander Zlatkov, while in the women's category, Bulgaria relies on Alexandra Feigin.