Elena Berezhnaya - Partnership With Anton Sikharulidze

Partnership With Anton Sikharulidze

Berezhnaya wished to return to the ice and doctors agreed that physical exercise would be therapeutic. On 15 March 1996, only two months after the accident, she began skating carefully with Sikharulidze's help and Moskvina observing. Berezhnaya said, "I didn't have any false dreams about the future. All I thought about was those first steps." Moskvina felt the pair looked promising, "They're a natural pair. They've got it – something magical."

With Berezhnaya's condition improving, the two began to consider the possibility of a competitive career together. She had made a nearly full recovery, although her speech remained slurred requiring speech therapy. As of 2010, only a minor speech problem remained. In November 1996, she made her return to competition, competing with Sikharulidze at Trophée Lalique where the pair immediately won their first medal, a bronze. In December, they placed fifth at Cup of Russia, and then captured the silver medal at the Russian Nationals, earning them a berth to the European Championships. In January 1997 in Paris, the pair made the podium at Europeans, a rare feat for a pair in their first season together. At the 1997 World Figure Skating Championships in March, their short program placed them provisionally in third, with two judges giving them first-place votes. However, the pair placed 12th in the long program and dropped to 9th overall.