slots were the Rostelecom Cup and Trophée Bompard in Paris. At Rostelecom, he withdrew after the short program after re-aggravating his ACL, which he had injured a month earlier in practice during a fall. He made several mistakes, finished in 10th place, and decided that he was not in good enough physical condition to participate in the free skate. A few days later, he announced that he would withdraw from Trophée Bompard due to a hip injury, putting his comeback attempt on hold. He also did not compete at the 2013 U.S. Nationals, but still hoped to make the U.S. Olympic team in 2014. Weir did not register for a qualifying event that would have made him eligible for the 2014 U.S. Nationals, ending his bid to compete in Sochi. He was not eligible for a bye into Nationals because he did not place in the top five at the 2013 Nationals or medaled at the 2010 Olympics or 2013 World Championships. The Associated Press conjectured that it likely marked the end of Weir's amateur figure skating career. In October 2013, he retired from competition and joined NBC as a figure skating analyst at the Sochi Olympics. Skating technique and influence Weir had two coaches in his competitive figure skating career, Priscilla Hill, who was, unlike many figure skating coaches, was "nurturing and gentle" and Russian Galina Zmievskaya, who had a different approach to coaching than Hill. Hill trained Weir in pair skating to strengthen his skating and to focus on skills other than jumps. Zmievskaya had a more Russian approach and focused on "drill sergeant-like demands for discipline and rigor". Weir considered his style of figure skating artistic and classical and was known for his lyricism. He believed that his style was "a hybrid of Russian and American skating", which was brought out by hiring coaches from those countries and often caused conflicts with U.S. Figure Skating, as did many of his costume choices. He was instructed by Yuri Sergeev, a dancer for the St. Petersburg Ballet, taught himself the Russian language, conversing with Zmievskaya in Russian, and compared himself to Russian skater Evgeni Plushenko. In 2014, Weir designed Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu's costume for his free skating program, worn during the Sochi Olympics. Weir's outspokenness caused conflict between him and U.S. Figure Skating. Weir was praised for being one of the few figure skaters who spoke his