MOSCOW, January 25, Alexander Govorov. The absence of Mikhail Kolyada will be a great loss for Russian figure skating team at the Beijing Olympics, said Natalya Bestemyanova, champion and Olympic silver medalist in ice dancing. Earlier it became known that Kolyada would miss the Olympic Games due to a positive test for COVID-19. Instead of Kolyada, Evgeny Semenenko joined the Russian national team. «Of course, this is a big loss for the team. Semenenko's prospects? If he skates cleanly, he will be in a normal place. But he hasn't skated cleanly lately. God bless him and good luck. You just killed me with this news. I thought that Kolyada was preparing and would be in order. I feel very sorry for him,» Bestemyanova said. The Olympic Games will be held in Beijing from February 4 to 20.
