Russian Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who won the 2015 World Championship in the most dominant female performance this side of Yuna Kim, will not defend her title in two months, her coach said, according to Russian media.
The absence from the to-be-named three-woman Russian team at Worlds in Boston would be no surprise.
Tuktamysheva, who rebounded from finishing 10th at the Russian Championships two seasons ago to sweep the Grand Prix Final and Worlds last season, fell to eighth at this season’s Nationals.
The 19-year-old also failed to qualify for the six-skater Grand Prix Final in December, where countrywomen Yevgenia Medvedeva and Yelena Radionova finished first and third.