Sixth place at the European Championship and victory at the Russian championship at 11: what success did Plushenko's students achieve

Alexandra Trusova joined the list of students of the Academy Evgeni Plushenko. Previously, the specialist collaborated with such famous skaters as Adeline Sotnikova, Serafima Sakhanovich and Anastasia Tarakanova. However, to win the laurels with them, the two-time Olympic champion could not. None of the wards were selected in the national team. At the same time, Sofya Titova won the championship of Russia in the younger age group, and Ekaterina Ryabova managed to take sixth place in the European Championship, having changed her sports citizenship. RT recalls the successes of the athletes that Plushenko previously worked with.

Adeline Sotnikova

The most famous student of Evgeni Plushenko was and remains the Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova. She came to the academy of the former skater immediately after her opening in 2017, having finished working with former mentor Elena Buyanova. The new coach was sure that Sotnikova will be able to speak for several more years and will fight for the right to speak at the Olympics in 2022.

“We aim not only to perform this season, we want to go further, into the next Olympic cycle. Adeline is still young. Many have already written that our cooperation is a PR move, but we do not need to PR. Adeline came to me herself, it was her choice. I did not call anyone and did not ask for anything. I just supported Sotnikova, ”Plushenko said at a press conference on the athlete’s transition.

By that time, Sotnikova had not performed for six months, and her last tournament was the Russian Championship in December 2015, in which she took sixth place. Collaboration with Plushenko turned out to be short-term and not too fruitful. Due to numerous injuries, the skater was not able to take part in the competitions, but at the same time she continued to perform in various ice shows, including those organized by Plushenko. In March 2020, Sotnikova finally announced the end of her career, which had actually ended long ago.

Serafima Sakhanovich

The skater began working at the Plushenko Academy in the fall of 2017 at the age of 17, having had time to work with Eteri Tutberidze in Moscow and Yevgeny Rukavitsyn in his native St. Petersburg by then. She won silver twice at the junior world championships, but the transition to the adult level did not work out, and then the athlete turned to the two-time Olympic champion.

At the academy, Sakhanovich studied under the leadership of Julia Lavrenchuk and Alexei Vasilevsky. In the 2017/18 season, she performed at the stages of the Russian Cup, where she was twice a step away from medals, and at international starts, where success was more significant - Sakhanovich took second place at the Minsk Arena Ice Star and won the Warsaw Cup. The athlete’s main achievement during the collaboration with Plushenko was the fifth place at the Grand Prix in the United States with a modest result of 189.75 points.

At the pre-Olympic championship of Russia, Sakhanovich showed her best rentals for the season, although she could not do without a ripped axel in the free program. But her equipment and stability were not enough to seriously compete for a place in the national team with Alina Zagitova and Maria Sotskova. Sakhanovich took ninth place, and after the departure of her coaches from the academy, Plushenko began a new stage in her career, moving to Angelina Turenko.

Anastasia Tarakanova

One of the most promising students of Plushenko could be considered Anastasia Tarakanova. She came to the academy in the summer of 2018, having behind her a very successful experience of cooperation with Tutberidze. Under her leadership, Tarakanova won the junior Grand Prix stage and took third place in the final tournament, losing less than six points to Alexander Trusova and Alena Kostornaya.

At Plushenko’s school, the budding junior was led by Ksenia Ivanova and tried to learn quadruple jumps. In training, Tarakanova performed a four-turn sheepskin coat and tried other elements, but it didn’t come to a demonstration in competitions.

Nevertheless, she again ended up in the final of the Junior Grand Prix, having won gold and silver at the qualifying stages. This time, Tarakanova was content with fourth place, setting the personal record in the free program for international starts, which is still valid.

Debut at the adult championship of Russia at the student Plushenko failed. She failed the short program and ended up in 13th place. An attempt to qualify for the junior team also ended in failure. At the national championship, Tarakanova took third place after the first rental, but then fell on a triple flip and became the seventh in the end. Soon, the athlete left Plushenko’s Academy, as she was not satisfied with the training conditions in her, while she had to refute the accusations of her former coach of unprofessionalism.

Sofya Titova

One of the few skaters who Plushenko personally deals with is 11-year-old Sofia Titova. She also began her sports career in the Tutberidze group, but by April 2019 she was listed as a student of the two-time Olympic champion. Under his leadership, Titova mastered all triple jumps, including the axel. True, she showed it only in training, but all the other elements are already firmly in her arsenal.

The young skater already has the first titles. In January 2020, she won the Moscow championship in the younger age group, and two months later she became the best in the Russian championship. So far, Titova can safely be called the best student of Plushenko, but because of her age, her athletic prospects are still too early to assess. As you grow and mature, the results may change, which has happened more than once with other promising skaters.

Ekaterina Ryabova

Plushenko has been riding Ekaterina Ryabova for the longest time - since 2016 she has been working in his group under the leadership of Alexander Volkov. She failed to build a successful career in the Russian team, and then she decided to change her sports citizenship.

Since 2018, Ryabova has represented Azerbaijan and can appear in the international arena. After that, the skater became known to a wide range of fans. In the first season, under the new flag, she won the Minsk Arena Ice Star and selected for the European and World Championships, where she took 12th and 13th places, respectively.

Last season, Ryabova spent even better. She became the fifth at the Russian Grand Prix stage, and at the European Championships in Graz she achieved the best result in her career - she took sixth place. But at the same time, the arsenal of the Azerbaijani athlete does not have super-complex elements with which she could count on something more.

Vladimir Samoilov

The most prominent representative of men's single skating at Plushenko Academy was Vladimir Samoilov. Before the 2017/18 season, he was in the Tutberidze group, and after the change of coach he immediately announced himself quite loudly - he took second place at the junior Grand Prix stage and won the Russian Cup stage, showing twice the net quadruple salchow.

But on this takeoff ended. At the next Russian championship, Samoilov became the sixth, and a year later he dropped to 11th place, making mistakes on almost all jumps in four turns and triple axels. Without waiting for the end of the season, the skater left Plushenko's group and moved to the Moskvich school. Soon, he struck the fans with a video from a workout in which he performed five different quadruple jumps. True, at the competition Samoilov did not dare to repeat them all at once.