This is the time of year when Russian skaters traditionally end their season. School finishes at the end of May with the popular “final bell” (a party that heralds a school graduation for some) and final exams.

While some athletes train or work on new programs until late in the month, most go on vacation earlier.

A number of skaters were not at their rinks at the time of my research for this article, but several athletes and coaches were still working and I caught up with them to talk about their plans for next season.

At the CSKA Club in Moscow, Elena Radionova was practicing hard in the final days before she went on a vacation; she planned to spend her time in New York and in Nice, France.

“I’m very interested in New York. I’ve never been there. I want to go to Broadway, walk around New York and maybe do some shopping,” she said. “In France I’ll go swimming and lie on the beach. I was there last year and I really enjoyed it.”

Radionova and her coach, Inna Goncharenko, took a long time before finally deciding on the music for next season. The free skate, set to a soundtrack (which is still a secret at this time), will be choreographed by Nikolai Morozov during summer training in Novogorsk.

The short program was still undecided at the time of my writing this article.

Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova, the most prominent skater at CSKA, was on a trip to Los Angeles with her “Dancing with the Stars” partner, Gleb Savchenko. The duo finished second.

“Doing this show was great for her; she moved so well. After she came back we decided to do a new short program right away,” her coach Elena Buianova (Vodorezova) explained.

Buianova confirmed that Sotnikova is determined to return to competition next season after sitting out the post-Olympic year due to an ankle injury that prohibited her from jumping.

Maxim Kovtun was on vacation as well. Artur Gachinski was still in town, working with his coach Alexander Uspenski on two new programs: a “dance” short (he didn’t recall the name of the music) and “Balada de la trompeta” by Raphael for the long program.

“Both programs were choreographed by Maxim Staviski and I went especially to Bulgaria to work with him,” Gachinski said. The 2011 World bronze medalist feels ready to attack again after a few unsuccessful seasons. He has not made the team for European and/or Worlds since 2012.

“All my injuries are healed now, and I’m feeling good,” Gachinsky added.

On the same ice, coach Svetlana Sokolovskaia was working with a promising young skater, Mark Kondratiuk, who, at 11 years old, is already close to mastering a triple Axel.

Alexander Zhulin and his team that includes, among others, coach Oleg Volkov and choreographer Sergei Petukhov, was hard at work.

The ice dancers in Zhulin’s group were still on the ice at the Olimpiski ice rink, finishing their programs before taking a break. Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev were polishing their new short dance to “Waltz Masquerade” and “Romeo and Juliet.”

Both said they could not wait to be back on competitive ice after missing last season completely while Soloviev dealt with a knee injury. (You can read the full story about their journey back and how they are approaching the new season in the next issue of IFS).

Following a successful season that took them to their first European and World Championships, Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin started working on new elements immediately following 2015 Worlds. At the time of my visit, they were trying out a new lift with the help of an acrobat, but they want to work on other aspects of their skating as well.

“The plan is to improve specific things. For example, the upper body movement is a specific goal for the beginning of the season that we’ll work on during the off-season and at training camps,” Khaliavin explained. “We also want to improve in other aspects like the lifts, the ease of lifts, the execution of spins and twizzles, and the footwork. This is what it is worth working on in the first place.”

World junior bronze medalists Alexandra Nazarova and Maxim Nikitin from Kharkiv, Ukraine are preparing for their first full senior season. Although still age-eligible for one more year in the junior ranks they decided to move up to seniors full-time. They competed at both levels last season.

“It was tough to switch from the Samba Latin Dance (junior short dance) to the Flamenco (and Paso Doble, senior short dance). It was also physically hard as we competed in many events,” Nikitin explained.

The duo told me that they have selected a classical theme for their new free dance.

Another promising team in Zhulin’s stable is Tiffany Zahorski and Jonathan Guerreiro, who only teamed up a year ago. They placed fifth in their debut at the Russian National Championships last December. Zahorski, who is originally from Great Britain and later moved to France, obtained French citizenship and previously competed for that nation.

She has not competed internationally for France since early 2012. At the time of writing this review, she is still awaiting a release from the French Federation.

For the free dance, Zahorski and Guerreiro will skate to “Nocturne” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.

“We had the option to actually skate to the original version by Freddy Mercury; it was very powerful with the words and the meaning. But, when we listened to the instrumental version, it felt more modern and we really liked it,” Guerreiro said.

Zahorski and Guerreiro have been through a lot of ups and downs waiting for her release. “We hope that everything will work out for next season,” said a wistful Zahorski.

“I really hope that the problems are solved in a positive manner, because this couple is distinctive in their western skating style which is now necessary for the technical score,” Zhulin told me. “In some things they are just unique, especially in their footwork sequences and steps. If they continue to work like they have since the middle of last season then this will bring a few surprises.”

Zhulin also has the Turkish dance team Alisa Agafonova and Alper Uçar and the hopeful juniors Eva Khatchaturian and Egor Bagin under his wing.

A few weeks ago, former singles skater Maria Stavitskaia from Saint Petersburg, who finishing 7th at Rostelecom Cup last fall, joined the dance school in Olimpiski and now is skating with Anton Shibnev.

The ice dance group of Elena Kustarova and Svetlana Alexeeva that includes national champions Elena Ilinykh and Ruslan Zhiganshin and World junior champions Anna Yanovskaya and Sergey Mozgov were on vacation in May.

Kustarova revealed in an interview on the Russian Federation website that Ilinykh and Zhiganshin will be performing to “Frida” for their free dance, which was choreographed by Flamenco dancer and choreographer Antonio Najarro.

Yanovskaya and Mozgov, who will move up to the senior level although they are still junior eligible, will perform to “The Great Gatsby.”

European bronze medalists Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, who train with Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin, had concluded their season during the time of my visit.

However, the pair skaters were still working at the Metchta rink in the north of Moscow.

Two-time Olympic champion Artur Dmitriev was polishing Kristina Astakhova and Alexei Rogonov's new short program to “The Artist.”

The long program is a story about a puppet, played by Astakhova, whose creator, Rogonov, falls in love with her and tries to bring her to life. They were also working on jumps; triple loop or triple toe-triple toe combination.

“We have simple goals for next season,” Dmitriev said. “We have to focus on the consistency of the elements. This goes for the lifts and the twist and we have to raise the level for all elements — for example for the death spiral. This will be easier now since they’ve gelled moreas a team.”

There are also a few other new teams in Dmitriev’s group, but it is not confirmed yet whether these pairs stay together.

Natalia Pavlova, who is also coaching pairs at this rink, has two junior teams ready for next season.

At the end of May, Egor Zakroev from Perm joined her group after he and Maria Vygalova decided to part ways. Vygalova, who is still junior age-eligible for three more seasons, went to Nina Mozer’s school. Zakroev is likely to begin training with Anastasia Martiusheva.

Nina Mozer and the top pairs from her group, Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov and Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov were absent, having left earlier in May for a training camp in the U.S.

Many of the skaters based in Saint Petersburg were also absent. World champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and her coach Alexei Mishin were in Switzerland working on two new programs with Stéphane Lambiel. (You can read the full story about Tuktamysheva and Mishin’s plans for next season in the upcoming issue of IFS).

Evgeni Plushenko, who has also been training hard, was on his way to Japan to perform in shows when I arrived at his rink.

Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov performed in Igor Bobrin’s “Theatre on Ice” in Korea and then went on vacation. Kavaguti also attended a Russian-Japanese sports conference in Japan.

The reigning European champions plan to continue their competitive career. “They came to me and said, we want to skate and to compete,” said their longtime coach, Tamara Moskvina.

At the end of 2014, Moskvina formed a new coaching team with choreographer Tatiana Druchinina and two young assistant coaches, Konstantin Bezmaternykh and Artur Minchuk. They are currently working with six new teams ranging from the novice level to seniors.