Fred's, (Used to be Barb's), Board

Champion Russian pair Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov have announced the end of their pairs partnership.

This has been rumoured for a while. In a quote from the Russian article, Klimov said: "I think we achieved a lot, but we decided to stop preparation, and this decision is final."

Stolbova is quoted as saying she will continue her career after the breakup of the duo with Klimov.

In subsequent articles Fedor Klimov has confirmed he is retiring from skating but hopes to continue to be involved in some way, perhaps coaching.

Meanwhile, it has now been confirmed that Ksenia Stolbova is skating/training with Andrei Novoselov, a former Russian pair skater who last season competed for France with Lola Esbrat, winning their national championships (in the absence of James & Cipres). He originally was released to France by the Russian Federation to partner with Daria Popova (2014); when she retired he re-teamed with Esbrat (mid-2015). His release to France was in exchange for the release to Russia of ice dancer Tiffany Zahorski.

And so the "stomach turns"