Pic of the Week

This season, I find myself pulling for certain skaters. I find myself seeing talent in many who haven't had the spotlight as much and something inside me is saying, "shine the light over there...on that skater!"

One of those skaters is Fedor Andreev, who represents...Azerbaijan?

Some of you are saying, "No no no, you mean Canada." Well, Fedor has competed for Canada for much of his career, but recently switched his affiliation to Azerbaijan.

He's a talented skater! Talent I first noticed way back in 1996 under rather tragic circumstances. Following the death of pairs skater Sergei Grinkov, CBS Aired Sergei Grinkov: Celebration of a Life. As Fedor's mother, Marina Zoueva, was one of Gordeeva and Grinkov's choreographers, Fedor was very close to Sergei and was aksed to participate in the celebration of his life. At the tender age of 13, I saw Fedor skate for the first time (see the video below) and have been impressed ever since.

Fedor is a rather diversified individual, after a back injury forced him to temporarily leave the sport, he found success in drift racing and as an Abercrombie and Fitch and US Vogue Model on runways around the world.

Lucky for us, he's made his way back to the ice and his stock is on the rise! He just won the Skate Detroit Competition and looks to be skating as well as ever. He has to jump through the same hoops that Lambiel has to in order to compete at the Olympics but I suspect he'll have no problem doing so.

Good luck Fedor...go get em'! And if you wanna keep tabs on him, follow him on Twitter @FedorAndreev.