Foot pain and blood blisters: Evgenia Medvedeva forced to change skates hours before national championship

Two-time world figure skating gold medalist Evgenia Medvedeva faces a new challenge ahead of the Russian national championship after her skate boot broke at a training session hours before the competition.

The task of qualifying for the national team has become harder for the Olympic silver medalist who, apart from competing against quad-jumping youngsters, will also have to break in a new pair of leather skates – a painful process which sometimes takes up to several weeks.

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Getting a new pair of skates is an extremely difficult phase for an athlete – when boots work as ‘ankle killers’ before they are broken in.

Realizing all the trials she will go through, Medvedeva decided not to withdraw from the championship –where spots on the national team will be at stake – and bravely put on completely new skates for the next training session.

Medvedeva will be the last to demonstrate her short program on Friday after all of her rivals, including first-year seniors Alexandra Trusova and Alena Kostornaia, who will already know their scores.

Reigning world and Olympic champion Alina Zagitova is not competing in Krasnoyarsk after announcing a career break several weeks earlier.

The skater is now taking part in an exhibition show, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, which is being staged by Olympic champion ice dancer Tatiana Navka.

Dozens of Russian skaters will be in contention for a spots on the team, with only three being awarded the right to represent the country on the international level.