Sochi’s Iceberg Sports Palace "was put through its paces" by Russian figure skaters in the Federation Cup over the weekend, according to Evgeniya Chaykovskaya of the MOSCOW NEWS. The Cup "allowed organizers to evaluate the readiness of the systems" in the 12,000-seater arena for the Grand Prix Final on Dec. 6 and then the 2014 Winter Olympics. Overall, the figure skaters decided that the arena's ice "is of good quality." Skater Artur Gachinskiy told R-Sport, “The conditions are absolutely great, the changing room are very comfortable, the ice is neither hard nor soft.” Officials were also "happy with the competition." Russian Figure Skating Federation Head Alexander Gorshkov said that "whatever rough edges remain will be smoothed out by December." The construction company "insists that the arena is fully ready, and all that remains is to clean it." However, int'l officials see "more things that need to be done." Int'l Skating Union Head of Sports Peter Krick told R-Sport, "The building is not yet ready, a lot is to be done." Krick said that higher floors "had to be finished and the territory outside the arena must be fixed" (MOSCOW NEWS, 10/8).
