Russian figure skater Adeliia Petrosian says she's feeling 'excellent' at Olympic practice

MILAN (AP) — Russian figure skater Adeliia Petrosian said she is feeling “excellent” after a practice session at the Winter Olympics on Monday with her controversial coach, seemingly dispelling injury concerns.

Petrosian was joined by coach Eteri Tutberidze for a half-hour session at the practice rink next to the venue where she will compete in the women's short program Tuesday against the likes of Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu.

“Mood is excellent,” Petrosian said when asked how she was feeling after the skate.

Petrosian seemed comfortable on the ice as she rehearsed her free skate routine and landed numerous clean triple jumps. After finishing her program she had a couple falls on jumps late in the session but seemed unshaken.

Petrosian is due to compete as an “individual neutral athlete” at the Milan Cortina Olympics due to restrictions on Russia's participation during its war in Ukraine.

She's only competed once in a senior competition outside of Russia and her fitness had been uncertain following comments about injuries last month in a recent Russian documentary.

The International Skating Union vetted Petrosian before granting her neutral status for the Olympic qualifier she won in September, when Tutberidze wasn't listed in her entourage.

The International Olympic Committee manages coaches' accreditations for the Olympics, where Tutberidze is also present as a coach for a Georgian men's skater.

The ISU said in a statement issued during Petrosian's practice that it had “a robust series of protocols” covering the vetting of athletes and coaches for the qualifiers.

“The Olympic Winter Games and related rules are the responsibility of the IOC,” the ISU added.

The IOC said Tutberidze was at the Games as a coach for Georgia and indicated she won't be rink-side when Petrosian skates in competition.

“As at all Olympic Games, during training, figure skating athletes are able to seek guidance from other coaches that they know well,” the IOC said in an e-mailed statement. “During the actual competition, the athletes may only be coached by their accredited team officials.”

Tutberidze has coached numerous Russian women’s skating champions including Kamila Valieva, whose doping case overshadowed the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Then-IOC President Thomas Bach was critical of the “coldness” displayed by Valieva's entourage toward the skater, who was 15 at the time, when she missed the podium.

The World Anti-Doping Agency's president said this month that an investigation found no evidence Tutberidze was implicated in Valieva's doping case but that he was personally not “comfortable with her presence here in the Olympic Games.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Individual Neutral Athlete Adeliia Petrosian, right, speaks with coach Eteri Tutberidze, center, and choreographer Daniil Gleikhengauz, during a figure skating practice session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Individual Neutral Athlete Adeliia Petrosian performs during a figure skating practice session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Individual Neutral Athlete Adeliia Petrosian skates during a figure skating practice session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Individual Neutral Athlete Adeliia Petrosian skates during a figure skating practice session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Individual Neutral Athlete Adeliia Petrosian, left, speaks with choreographer Daniil Gleikhengauz, center, and coach Eteri Tutberidze, during a figure skating practice session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Individual Neutral Athlete Adeliia Petrosian skates during a figure skating practice session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A man whose teenage son is accused of killing two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school should be held responsible for providing the weapon despite warnings about alleged threats his son made, a prosecutor said Monday.

The trial of Colin Gray began Monday in one of several cases around the country where prosecutors are trying to hold parents responsible after their children are accused in fatal shootings.

Gray faces 29 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and numerous counts of second-degree cruelty to children related to the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder.

“This is not a case about holding parents accountable for what their children do," Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said in his opening statement. “This case is about this defendant and his actions in allowing a child that he has custody over access to a firearm and ammunition after being warned that that child was going to harm others.”

Prosecutors argue that amounts to cruelty to children, and second-degree murder is defined in Georgia law as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children.

Investigators have said Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time, carefully planned the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at the school northeast of Atlanta that is attended by 1,900 students.

But Brian Hobbs, an attorney for Colin Gray, said the shooting's planning and timing "were hidden by Colt Gray from his father. That’s the difference between tragedy and criminal liability. You cannot hold someone criminally responsible for failing to predict what was intentionally hidden from them.”

With a semiautomatic rifle in his book bag, the barrel sticking out and wrapped in poster board, Colt Gray boarded the school bus, investigators said. He left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the gun and then shot people in a classroom and hallways, they said.

Smith told the jury that Colin Gray’s daughter was in lockdown at her middle school and texted her father that there had been a shooting at the high school. When law enforcement arrived at Gray’s home, he met them in the garage and “without any prompting, he blurts out, ‘I knew it,’” Smith said.

Sixteen months before the shooting, in May 2023, law enforcement acted on a tip from the FBI after a shooting threat was made online concerning an elementary school. The threat was traced to a computer at Gray’s home, Smith said.

Colin Gray was told about the threat and was asked whether his son had access to guns. Gray replied that he and his son “take this school shooting stuff very seriously,” according to Smith. Colt Gray denied that he made the threat and said that his online account had been hacked, Smith said.

That Christmas, Colin Gray gave his son the gun as a gift and continued to buy accessories after that, including “a lot of ammunition,” Smith said.

Colin Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters, even having a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, prosecutors have said. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent had testified that the teen’s parents had discussed their son’s fascination with school shooters but decided that it was in a joking context and not a serious issue.

Three weeks before the shooting, Gray received a chilling text from his son: “Whenever something happens, just know the blood is on your hands,” according to Smith.

Colin Gray was also aware his son’s mental health had deteriorated and had sought help from a counseling service weeks before the shooting, an investigator testified.

“We have had a very difficult past couple of years and he needs help. Anger, anxiety, quick to be volatile. I don’t know what to do,” Colin Gray wrote about his son.

But Smith said Colin Gray never followed through on concerns about getting his son admitted to an in-patient facility.

The trial is being held in Winder, in Barrow County, where the shooting happened. The defense asked for a change of venue because of pretrial publicity, and prosecutors agreed. The judge kept the trial in Winder but decided to bring in jurors from nearby Hall County to hear the case. Jurors were selected last week.

Raby reported from Charleston, West Virginia.

FILE - Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, sits in the courtroom at the Barrow County courthouse, on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Winder,Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

FILE - Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, arrives to the courtroom at the Barrow County courthouse on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Winder,Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)