Coach Sofia Fedchenko became a consultant to the Chinese national team

— Is it true that you are now the head coach of the Chinese national women's singles skating team?

“We actually discussed this option, but at this stage I would rather be a consultant.” I don’t have the opportunity to move to China completely now, so for now we have agreed on this format of work.

— How did this option arise? And why did you decide to do it?

“I’ve been working with one of the strongest Chinese singles players, Wang Yihan, for a long time. She was fifth at the Junior World Championships and fourth at the Junior Grand Prix final. We studied online almost every day, she came to me in Moscow, I came to Beijing. Through her, the management of Chinese figure skating contacted me, and we began to discuss closer cooperation.

— Alina Gorbacheva will also now partially train in China?

- Yes. When I work in Beijing, Alina is here with me. Then we return to Moscow.

— A question that many will probably have: in connection with your new work, does Alina plan to change her sports citizenship?

- No, there are no such plans. Alina is a Russian athlete. Now her main task is to recover and return to international competitions. This season I really want to compete at the Challengers and the Universiade.

— How is Alina doing in general? How is the recovery going?

— Recovery is underway. We are in no hurry, we gradually increase the load and look at its condition. The main thing now is to calmly go through this stage and return to the full training process without unnecessary risk.