News/Features:
The latest on Elena and Ruslan

January 20, 2006

Grushina & Goncharov win silver at Europeans

Elena Grushina & Ruslan Goncharov

Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov finished second at the European Championships.

Grushina and Goncharov, Ukrainian national champions, were in the lead the compulsory. But they were third in the original dance and fourth in the free dance Friday. It’s the second straight year they won the silver medal at Europeans.

Their total score, 196.73, was only 5.59 points behind gold medallists Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov.

Skating last, Grushina and Goncharov, performed to “The Feeling Begins” by Peter Gabriel. The husband and wife team had drawn to skate last.

“We tried to skate very clean, we tried to think about the elements, the levels, the edges, the steps. Of course we’re not happy about the fourth place in the free dance”, Grushina said.

They had a nice serpentine lift with changes of positions and a reverse rotational life.

The couple lost their overall lead the day before in the original dance, the Latin Combination. They were second overall coming into Friday’s free dance.
Grushina and Goncharov performed to Samba, Rhumba and Samba. The music is Cameval of Batreada by Peter Prade.

They were strong in a level four straight line lift and rotational lift. They also executed a level three dance combination spin. That earned them a third place finish.

“I felt very good (in the original dance) but of course I felt better (after the compulsory),” Goncharov said.

I’m glad about the skating. In my heart, it doesn’t matter which placement we achieve.”

Grushina & Goncharov lead
after compulsory at Europeans

January 17, 2006

Elena Grushina and Russian Goncharov of the Ukraine took the lead after the Compulsory Dance at the European Figure Skating Championships at Lyon, France.

Grushina and Goncharov, last year’s European silver medallists, led Margarita Drobiazko/Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania, who returned to competition after a hiatus of four years, and defending European and World Champions Tatiana Navka/Roman Kostomarov of Russia. The top three were separated by less than a point.

Grushina and Goncharov, a husband-wife team, earned 38.82 points, putting out an excellent Tango dance. They led Drobiazko/Vanagas who scored 38.34 points. Navka/Kostomarov were at 38.21 points.

“It’s just the first day, just the compulsory dance, but we’re obviously very happy with the result. It has been a few years since we beat Navka/Kostomarov,” Grushina said.

“We stay focused on the rest of the competition and want to show all our elements. We changed the serpentine step sequence in our free dance and cleaned up the circular footwork, because we didn’t get so high levels (in the previous competitions).”

The Compulsory Dance drawn for the 2006 European Championships was the Tango Romantica, invented by Liudmila Pakhomova/Alexander Gorshkov of Russia and their coach Elena Tchaikovskaya. It was first performed in 1974.

 

Grushina & Goncharov
win Silver at GP Final

December 17, 2005

Elena Grushina and Russian Goncharov of the Ukraine finished second in the ISU Grand Prix Final at Tokyo. They trailed Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia who won for the third straight year.

Elena and Ruslan’s Original Dance was skated to Samba, Rhumba and Samba. It featured difficult lifts including a straight line lift with Ruslan in a shoot-the-duck position and a level-four dance combination spin.

Elena and Ruslan, the husband and wife team, received a score of 58.84 points. “We skated well, but it’s hard with the time change. We skate with more control and more emotion. We are trying to show everything what we can do”, Ruslan said.

The team skated to "The Feeling Begins" (frm Passion) by Peter Gabriel

They received a berth in the GP Final with their win at Trophee Eric Bompard and second place at Skate Canada.

Elena and Ruslan continue their preparation toward the Winter Olympics. They are scheduled to compete at the European Championships Jan. 16-22 in Lyon, France.

Grushina & Goncharov win Gold in Paris

November 18, 2005

Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of the Ukraine earned a berth in the Grand Prix Final with their gold medal win at Trophee Eric Bompard.

Grushina and Goncharov now have 21 points from their two Grand Prix events. They finished second at Skate Canada in their other ISU GP assignment. Twelve points are awarded for first place and nine for second.

Grushina and Goncharov won all three dance competitions and recorded 190.07 points, over 11 points higher than the silver medalists.

Their unique lifts were highlighted by a straight line lift with him skating on one leg and a reverse rotational lift as well as level four twizzles.

“We were a bit nervous today because we made a big mistake at Skate Canada (their previous event), we fell. Today everything was clean”, Grushina said. “Today, our serpentine footwork was only level one, and we’ll change something to achieve a higher level.”

Grushina and Goncharov grabbed the lead Friday with a technically strong and characteristic performance of the Ravensburg Waltz.

The dancers came back later in the evening for the Original Dance. The Original Dance of the 2005/2006 season is the Latin Combination.

The husband and wife team defended their lead with a lively Samba, Rhumba and Samba Original Dance.

They produced difficult footwork and lifts including a straight line lift with Ruslan in a shoot the duck position and a rotational lift with her in a donut position.

Their first Samba part was highlighted by the side by side footwork line.
“It was a hard day, but we skated well,” Goncharov said Friday. Our OD at Skate Canada wasn’t bad either, but this here was better. And the compulsory dance also was better.”

Elena and Ruslan win
Silver at Skate Canada

Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov

October 30, 2005

World Bronze Medalists Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov won Silver at Skate Canada Sunday. The husband-wife team were ahead going into the free dance, but suffered a fall, and dropped them to second overall.

In the Original Dance, the pair, who had drawn to skate last, put out a characteristic performance to Samba, Rhumba and Samba rhythms. They completed a side by side footwork line with twizzles in both directions, a straight line lift with him in a shoot-the duck position and her bending backward as well as a level-three diagonal step sequence and a rotational lift with her in a donut position.

After the original dance, Elena said: “We really wanted to show what we can do today. It was clean, there were just a few little things that we need to polish in the future. But that’s what competitions are for, we’ll know what to work on for the next time.

Elena and Ruslan in Champions On Ice

Elena and Ruslan will join the Champions On Ice tour for four shows in April. They will be at the MCI Center in Washington on April 1 at 7:30 p.m.; at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia on April 2 at 1 p.m.; at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. on April 3 at 3 p.m.; and at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, N.Y., on April 4 at 7 p.m.

Grushina & Goncharov
win Bronze at Worlds

Elena Grushina & Rulan Goncharov / photo by Ivan Sekretarev

March 18, 2005

Ukraine's Elena Grushina & Ruslan Goncharov won their first World medal, a Bronze, at the World Figure Skating Championships held in Moscow.

Skating to “Air” by Johann Sebastian Bach and “Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi, the husband-and-wife team produced beautiful lifts. The reigning European silver medalists received 109.48 points (45.69/63.79) for their romantic program. They earned the bronze medal with a total score of 213.95 points.

 “We’re very happy with bronze, although we had hoped for more, of course”, Goncharov said. “This was a hard won medal for us. There have been seasons before where we could have been on the podium, and it was a long wait for us, and this makes the medal three times as valuable to us.”

Grushina and Goncharov were in third after the original dance. They also were in third after the compulsory dance earlier in the week.

Grushina & Goncharov third
after original dance

Elena Grushina & Ruslan Goncharov/ Photo by Dushenka

March 17, 2005

Ukraine's Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov are in third after the original dance at the World Championships in Moscow. They also were in third after the compulsory dance earlier in the week.

In the compulsory dance, reigning European silver medalists Grushina & Goncharov, who had drawn to skate in the first of six warm up groups for the compulsory dance, set the standard with a strong “Midnight Blues”.

The husband-and-wife team received 41.30 points (18.76/22.54).

“We do not think about the starting order at all, we just want to show our best. I do not think the order matters in the compulsory dance, although it could be different in the other events”, Grushina said.

“Of course we would like to win our first World medal, but the competition is very tough this year.”

The free dance is Friday.

Elena and Ruslan sign with MCE

March 17, 2005

Elena and Ruslan have signed with Michael Collins Enterprises and will be skating on several Champions on Ice tour stops on the east coast.

Elena & Ruslan win Silver at Europeans

January 28, 2005

Elena and Ruslan finished 2nd at the European Championships in Torino, Italy.

Elena & Ruslan second at Cup of Russia

November 28, 2004

Elena and Ruslan finished 2nd at Cup of Russia!

Back in competition

November 26, 2004

After missing their first two Grand Prix events, Elena and Ruslan are currently in 2nd place after the compulsory dances at Cup of Russia.

They're also coaches!

November 22, 2004

Elena and Ruslan will travel to Jamestown, NY, from December 1-4, to coach Sara Bailey and Chase Brogan at U.S. Junior Nationals. This is Sara and Chase's first season skating together and they are at the Juvenile level.

Elena & Ruslan assigned to three Grand Prix events

June 8, 2004

Elena and Ruslan have been assigned to three Grand Prix events - Skate America, Cup of China and Cup of Russia. Cup of China is their non-scoring event.