Over Christmas Tchepalova won the 10km skate race in the Russian championships, beating out Evgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova and Natalia Baranova-Masolkina.
For the men Evgeni Dementiev was the victor with Artem Norin finishing second and Vjadimir Vilissov coming in third.
The Russians also held a sprint race where Alena Sidko won for the women and Vassili Rochev for the men.