Russian men won’t medal at 2018 Games: Plushenko

Figure skating icon Yevgeny Plushenko has said Russian male skaters have no chance of stepping onto the podium at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games.

When asked by Russia’s Match TV whether it was realistic to think a Russian male skater would win an Olympic medal next winter, Plushenko replied, “No.”

“We need to take off our rose-colored glasses,” the twotime Olympic champion said in the interview, which aired on Friday.

The 34-year-old Russian, who announced his retirement in 2014, added that a top-10 finish in Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games would be a “blessing.”

Plushenko also had advice to offer to Russia’s top male figure skaters – 21-year-old Maxim Kovtun and 22-year-old Mikhail Kolyada.

He said Kolyada, currently eighth in the ISU world rankings, “absolutely needs to learn a few quadruple jumps” ahead of the 2018 Games to rival his competitors.

Plushenko added that Kovtun, who finished ahead of him at the 2014 Russian Championships, also needs to “master a few quadruple jumps and skate stably.”

The four-time Olympic medalist told Match TV he was set to open a skating academy and work as a coach.

Plushenko helped Russia win gold in the first ever Olympic team figure skating event in Sochi.

He won an individual gold medal at the Turin Olympic Games in 2006 and two Olympic silver medals, in Salt Lake City in 2002 and in Vancouver in 2010.

Plushenko also won three world crowns, seven European and 10 Russian titles.