SOCHI, February 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Back pain has forced two-times Olympic figure-skating champion Evgeni Plushenko to withdraw from the individual Olympic figure-skating tournament, Plushenko’s coach Alexei Mishin said on Thursday.

“Sharp pain in the back prevented Evgeni from performing all the elements declared in the team event in individual competitions,” Mishin explained, adding that the recent fall on a quad Tulup at a training session the day before made Plushenko’s condition even worse.

“Until the very last minute, we had hoped that Evgeni would be able to recover. But, unfortunately, he had to withdraw from the individual skating tournament,” Mishin said.

According to Mishin, it was impossible to replace Evgeni with any other figure-skater. “At the time when we still could apply for replacement, Evgeni was feeling well. According to the tournament’s regulations, an athlete can be replaced only if the trauma is fresh. The time for replacement expired when Evgeni still felt ready to compete,” Mishin said.

He added that Plushenko was unlikely to link his future with amateur skating.

“After the victory in the team event we spoke about the possibility of competing in the 2018 Olympics. We were overwhelmed by emotions. But modern men’s figure-skating is so complicated that it is hard for trauma-plagued Plushenko to compete with young figure-skaters,” Mishin explained.