The recognition of Tuktamysheva, the collection of Trusova and the reaction of mom Billy Elish: what they say the day before the European Figure Skating Championships

An example of Tuktamysheva and the issue of naturalization

The dominance of yesterday’s juniors Anna Shcherbakova, Alena Kostornaya and Alexandra Trusova in the first half of the season made experts again begin to talk about the need to introduce an age qualification in figure skating. In their opinion, “rejuvenation” negatively affects the entertainment of female skating. At the same time, there are enough people who positively assess the influence of Eteri Tutberidze’s students on the development and promotion of one of the most elegant sports.

This position is held by the 2015 world champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who is currently one of the oldest singles in official competitions. She noted that it is still difficult to imagine how the careers of younger colleagues will turn out, but stressed that their success partly contributes to her own progress.

“If this leap forward hadn’t happened for us, I think the plan to fulfill the quadruple would not even have appeared in my head. And so - I prove to myself, and probably to others, that thanks to a well-established technique, good preparation, good emotional state, a quadruple can be learned at any age, ”Esquire quotes Tuktamysheva.

Some time ago, a student of Alexei Mishin began to practice salchow in four turns. And at the Russian championship, the 2015 world champion even tried to perform a quadruple sheepskin coat, but she did not achieve success.

The failure of a number of strong skaters to join the Russian national team at the European and World Championships made the voices of naturalization supporters sound even louder. In their opinion, Tuktamysheva, Evgenia Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova will be able to count on a successful career continuation only if they decide to change their sports citizenship. At the same time, the famous journalist Philip Hersh suggested that the athletes check if they have Canadian ancestors in order to be able to play for this country.

Zagitova’s childhood and praise for Medvedeva

Meanwhile, Trusova demonstrated to her Instagram followers, where her many awards are stored. This season, she won twice at the stages of the Grand Prix, became the bronze medalist of the tournament finals and took third place in the Russian championship. In the comments, users of the social network suggested that the collection would soon be replenished with the main trophy of the continental championship. In addition, an unusual “keeper” of medals and cups attracted their attention.

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Posted by Sasha Trusova (@avtrusova) Jan 18, 2020 at 4:16 PST

Skipping the main starts of the second half of the 2019/20 season, Alina Zagitova decided to recall her childhood and also pleased fans with an unusual photo. On it, the future Olympic champion poses in fashionable sunglasses.

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Publication by Alina Zagitova's Fanpage 💕 (@teamzagitova) Jan 18, 2020 at 3:15 PST

On New Year's holidays, Zagitova took part in the play “Sleeping Beauty. The Secret of Two Kingdoms ”, directed by Tatyana Navka. In April, the skater will join the Champions on Ice show. The best students of Tutberidze traditionally present their numbers in it - Trusova, Kostornaya, Shcherbakova, Elizabeth Tursynbaeva, Maurice Kvitelashvili, Kamila Valieva, Daniil Samsonov and others. Compared to last year, the geography of performances will expand: they will be held in St. Petersburg, Kazan and Perm.

One of the most memorable demonstrations of this season was the number of two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva, in which she went on the ice to the song of the popular singer Billy Ailish idontwannabeyouanymore. The skill of the Russian woman was appreciated by the mother of the singer Maggie Baird. First, the administrators of the Twitter account figureskating_moonlife reported this, and then the actress put a “like” mark under the video with a rehearsal for the program of the two-time Olympic medalist in Pyeongchang.

Training sports couples and the secret weapon of singles

There are two days left before the start of the European Championship, and the skaters are gradually arriving in Austrian Graz. A long journey will have to be done by the sports pair of Evgeny Tarasov - Vladimir Morozov, whose preparatory process took place in Miami.

“Volodya and Zhenya arrive in Graz with transfers from Miami. Acclimatization fee they have not provided for this time. They will arrive at the European Championship in accordance with the schedule for receiving teams for the tournament, ”RIA Novosti quotes representatives of the duo team.

Another Russian couple, Daria Pavlyuchenko, Denis Khodykin, took part in the control rental at the base near Moscow in Novogorsk. According to their mentor Sergei Dobroskokov, technical experts positively assessed the shape of the athletes.

“We ourselves asked to see the guys in order to make adjustments. This is our usual practice. Errors were recorded minor, we were recommended to pay attention to them at the European Championship. But in general, it was concluded that the couple is ready for the tournament, ”said Dobroskokov.

The continental championship starts on January 22 with short programs of men and sports couples. The official part of the competition will end on January 25, and the next day demonstrations will take place.

In addition, it is already known what jumps the Russian figure skaters will please their fans. In a free program, Trusova will try to quadruple flip, salchow, lutz, sheepskin and sheepskin in a cascade with a triple salchow, Shcherbakova - quadruple lutz, flip and lutz in a cascade with a triple sheepskin, and Kostornaya - two triple axels. In the short program, Trusova and Kostornaya will count on trixels.