Russia’s Evgeni Plushenko made a triumphant return to the world figure skating stage on Thursday, delivering a fantastic routine in the men’s portion of the team competition.
Plushenko is 31-years-old. Since winning the 2012 European championships, he has been sidelined with multiple back injuries. According to the New York Times, he has only competed at a small event in Latvia and the Russian national championships in the last two years, where he finished second to an 18-year-old.
Plushenko was given Russia’s lone Olympic spot anyway, largely because of his legendary status.
Amid the doubters, he dropped a score of 91.39 to give Russia an early lead in the team event (they’re currently in second-place behind Japan). He even beat out Canada’s Patrick Chan, the best skater in the world.
The quad-toe, triple-toe combo:
Lots of personality:
What a legend:
Full standings:
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