Russian figure skater Adeliia Petrosian wins Olympic qualifier for Milan-Cortina

Russian figure skater Adeliia Petrosian is set to be a contender for the gold medal at next year's Winter Olympics after winning the final qualifying event Saturday.

Skating as an Individual Neutral Athlete without national symbols, Petrosian beat two former European champions with a total score of 209.63 points in Beijing on Saturday, with a Michael Jackson-themed short program and Argentine tango-style free skate.

This week marks the first time that Russian figure skaters have taken part in international competitions since the 2022 Olympics.

The International Skating Union president defended its stance on allowing Russian skaters to compete as neutrals, in comments to The Associated Press ahead of Saturday’s free skate.

Jae Youl Kim said the ISU followed the International Olympic Committee’s approach which led to a limited number of Russians and Belarusians with neutral status at last year’s Summer Olympics in Paris.

“We feel really comfortable about the procedures and steps that we’ve taken,” Kim told The AP.

“In terms of reception, I have not spoken to athletes but, just looking at the fans, the fans just love watching good skating, regardless of where the skaters come from. And when any skaters perform well on the ice, the reception from the fans on the tribune is electrifying.”

Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia, the 2023 European champion coming off a 28th-place finish at the world championships this year, was second on 206.23. Belgium's Loena Hendrickx, 2024 European gold medalist coming back from injury, was third on 204.96. The top five spots are awarded places at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.

Another Russian skater is on track to qualify after Petr Gumennik led the men's short program on Saturday. His free skate is on Sunday.

Under the neutral athlete rules, Petrosian gets an individual spot for the Games. Typically, skaters earn a spot for their country which can be transferred to another skater if the national federation sets its own qualification system, for example using the national championships as trials.

The ISU followed other Olympic sports bodies in excluding Russian skaters from its competitions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine shortly after the 2022 Olympics.

In December, it announced up a pathway for Russians to receive “Individual Neutral Athlete” status to compete without symbols like the national flag and anthem. Similar rules apply to skaters from Russia's ally Belarus. Belarusian Viktoriia Safonova was fourth on Saturday.

The Russian skaters had to go through the final qualifying event in Beijing because most Olympic spots were awarded at last season's world championships in Boston, where neutral athletes weren't eligible.

Petrosian is the latest star skater trained by coach Eteri Tutberidze, whose skaters won women’s gold and silver at the last Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022. Her other skater, Kamila Valieva, who was 15 at the time, was at the center of a doping case which overshadowed the Games. The ISU has raised the minimum age to 17 ahead of these Olympics.

No Russian skaters took part in the pairs and ice dance events for the Olympic qualifiers, so they won't compete at Milan-Cortina. Both events are historically strong competitions for Russia.

Reports in Russian media indicated the national federation's preferred candidates did not pass an ISU-run vetting process, but the ISU hasn't commented on individual cases.

The ISU process involved checking skaters' public statements since 2022 for "any active support for the invasion of Ukraine or any contractual links to Russian or Belarusian military and other national security agencies.”

Also on Saturday, China's Zhang Jiaxuan and Huang Yihang won the qualifying event in pairs skating.

This story has been corrected. The “Individual Neutral Athlete” rules mean Petrosian’s Olympic place is for her as an individual athlete, not for her national skating federation.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics

Anastasiia Gubanova, of Georgia, performs during the women's free skating program at the ISU Skate to Milano figure skating qualifier, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Loena Hendrickx, of Belgium, performs during the women's free skating program at the ISU Skate to Milano figure skating qualifier, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Gold medalist Adeliia Petrosian of Russia, competing as a neutral athlete, centre, poses with silver medalist Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia, left, and bronze medalist Loena Hendrickx of Belgian, right, after competing in Women free skating at the ISU Skate to Milano figure skating qualifier 2025, in Beijing, China, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Gold medalist Adeliia Petrosian of Russia, competing as a neutral athlete, centre, poses with silver medalist Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia, left, and bronze medalist Loena Hendrickx of Belgian, right, after competing in Women free skating at the ISU Skate to Milano figure skating qualifier 2025, in Beijing, China, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Adeliia Petrosian of Russia, competing as a neutral athlete, with her Gold medal in Women free skating at the ISU Skate to Milano figure skating qualifier 2025, in Beijing, China, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Adeliia Petrosian of Russia, competing as a neutral athlete, performs during the Women short program at the ISU Skate to Milano figure skating qualifier 2025, in Beijing, China, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Adeliia Petrosian of Russia, competing as a neutral athlete, performs during the Women short program at the ISU Skate to Milano figure skating qualifier 2025, in Beijing, China, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

LONDON (AP) — London police say the stabbing of two Jewish men has been declared a terrorist incident.

Metropolitan Police say they are investigating whether Wednesday's attack specifically targeted the Jewish community.

The force says the attack in the Golders Green area left two men, aged 34 and 76, hospitalized with knife wounds. A 45-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

LONDON (AP) — Two Jewish men were stabbed and injured in a London street on Wednesday, in what politicians and community leaders called the city's latest antisemitic attack. Police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder.

Counterterror police are investigating whether the stabbings in the Golders Green neighborhood are linked to recent arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in the British capital. This attack has not been declared an act of terrorism.

“Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

The security organization Shomrim said a suspect “was seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife and attempting to stab Jewish members of the public." It said the suspect was detained by Shomrim members before being arrested by police, who used a stun gun on him.

Surveillance camera footage showed a man beside a bus stop donning a kippah, or traditional skullcap, before a passerby with a knife lunges at him.

The Metropolitan Police said the victims, a man in his 30s and one in his 70s, were hospitalized in stable condition. The force said the suspect also tried to stab police officers, but none was injured.

Police said they are working to establish the suspect's nationality and background, and Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said “investigators are considering all possible motives.”

Arson attacks in recent weeks targeted Jewish sites in London, including a charity's ambulances in Golders Green and a synagogue a few miles (kilometers) away.

“It happens in Israel, but happening on our own doorstep, of course it’s shocking,” said Golders Green resident Moishe Grunfeld. “I have kids, I have grandchildren.”

Britain’s Jewish community is long-established but tiny as a percentage of the population, numbering about 300,000. The northwest London suburb of Golders Green is one of its epicenters, home to kosher restaurants, Jewish schools and several dozen synagogues, as well as large Asian and Middle Eastern communities.

“There must be absolutely no place for antisemitism in society,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.

No one was injured in the arson incidents. Several people, ranging in age from teens to people in their 40s, have been arrested and charged.

Counterterror officers are investigating whether the arson attacks were the work of Iranian proxies. The U.K. has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to conduct attacks on European soil targeting opposition media outlets and the Jewish community. Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service says more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots were disrupted in the year ending in October.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said Jews face a campaign of violence and intimidation and that words of condemnation are no longer sufficient.

“This must be a moment that demands meaningful action from every institution, every community, every leader and every decent person in our country. This is a hatred that we must face down together," he said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the world must “wake up” to a rising wave of anti-Jewish hatred.

“In one of the great capital cities of the West, it has become dangerous to openly walk the streets as a Jew,” Herzog posted on X. “This is an unacceptable situation.”

The number of antisemitic incidents reported across the U.K. has soared since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel and the subsequent Gaza war, according to the Community Security Trust. The group recorded 3,700 incidents in 2025, up from 1,662 in 2022.

In October 2025, an attacker drove his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur and stabbed one person to death. Another person died during the attack after being inadvertently shot by police.

A Police officer talks with two boys at the scene where two people were stabbed Wednesday April 29, 2026 in a London neighborhood with a large Jewish community and a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over what authorities called an antisemitic attack. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

Members of the Jewish community at the scene where two people were stabbed Wednesday April 29, 2026 in a London neighborhood with a large Jewish community and a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over what authorities called an antisemitic attack. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

A police officer at the scene where two people were stabbed Wednesday April 29, 2026 in a London neighborhood with a large Jewish community and a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over what authorities called an antisemitic attack. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

Police at the scene where two people were stabbed Wednesday April 29, 2026 in a London neighborhood with a large Jewish community and a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over what authorities called an antisemitic attack. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

Police officers at the scene in Golders Green after two people were stabbed, in north-west London, Wednesday April 29, 2026. (Jamie Lashmar/PA via AP)

Police officers at the scene in Golders Green after two people were stabbed, in north-west London, Wednesday April 29, 2026. (Jamie Lashmar/PA via AP)