Medvedeva back in Russian team for figure skating worlds

MOSCOW (AP) — Two-time world figure skating champion Evgenia Medvedeva has returned to the Russian national team ahead of next month’s world championships.

The Olympic silver medalist has struggled in her first season since moving to Canada to train, finishing third and fourth at two Grand Prix events and seventh at the Russian nationals in December.

However, Medvedeva recovered to win a Russian event last week widely considered to be an unofficial skate-off for Russia’s third world championship slot alongside Olympic gold medalist Alina Zagitova and European champion Sofia Samodurova.

The reserves are former world champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who started the season strongly but was then hospitalized with pneumonia, and Stanislava Konstantinova, fourth at the European championships last month.