Next week the Junior Grand Prix will continue with its next stop in Romania. Alexei Mishin never seems to run out of talent to teach and one of his students seems destined for success...Artur Arturovich Dmitriev or Artur Jr. as most call him makes his Junior Grand Prix debut next week. Yes, if you are wondering, Artur is the son of two-time Olympic Champion Artur Dmitriev (1992 with Natalia Mishkutenok and 1998 with Oksana Kazakova). Mom, Tatiana Druchinina, who was a former gymnast, is his choreographer. Dad, I think (read: I hope!) stays out of the way...wouldn't want any of that father pressure applied.
My guess is Artur applies some of that pressure upon himself...it can't be easing following in Olympic Gold footsteps. But the young Russian has some talent. His second place junior finish at Russian Nationals last season earned him a ticket to the Junior World Championships where he finished a decent 7th...not too shabby for your first major international outing. You can see in the video of his free skate at Junior Worlds he has some jumping ability (including a quad he made look easy!) and some moments of believability that he can be great.
At 18 years of age he needs to kick it in to gear. He's approaching an age when many male skaters start to hit their stride and he's just now making a Junior Grand Prix debut. There is time...just not a whole lot to spare. But, 21 years of age the time Sochi 2014 rolls into his home country...seems about perfect, eh?
Artur Jr., the next big thing out of Russia?
