Eteri Tutberidze is a woman thanks to whom Russian figure skaters are some of the best in the world. In 2020, the International Skating Union recognized her as the best coach. The careers of her students are short, but spectacular.
We wrote in detail how a single mother, without money or connections, became one of the legends of the Russian coaching school of figure skating in just ten years here. Now, let’s have a closer look at the decorated students she was behind.
Yulia was just 15 years old when she became a global sensation. In 2014, the figure skater appeared on a Time magazine cover as the youngest Olympic champion in the history of female single skating. At the Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi, she was the first in the world to successfully perform the most complex jumps – the triple Lutz and the triple toe loop – and went down in the history of figure skating.
However, after that, the career of Lipnitskaya quickly went downhill. Unable to overcome the consequences of her old injuries and her disagreements with Tutberidze, she left the sport and now coaches children.
This is another star among teenage figure skaters. Evgenia Medvedeva started skating at the age of three; at fifteen, she won her first adult Grand Prix at Skate America. According to Evgenia, her parents pushed her into figure skating to fix the little girl’s figure (as her parents believed, her shoulder blades stuck out too much). But, it all escalated – and Medvedeva became a two-time world champion and a silver medalist at the 2018 Olympic Games. Her trademark is to perform already complex jumps (double Axel jumps, Lutzes, flip jumps and loop jumps) with a raised hand.
Alina once broke her arm and leg in a short span of time and she had to re-learn how to skate and jump, but her big goals helped her achieve greatness. Zagitova became the first Russian figure skater who won all the main trophies of figure skating: the Gran Prix finals (2017), the European Championships (2018), the Olympic Games 2018 in Pyeongchang and the World Championships (2019). But, although she started raking in “adult” prizes at 15 years old, at 17, she already lagged behind the younger students of Tutberidze. In 2019, the young woman announced her retirement from the sport. However, her popularity converted well into her partnerships with major brands.
At 13 years old, Anna broke her leg before the preparation for her first international season in 2017-2018 and even her parents doubted that the girl would ever return to the sport. Several months prior to the World Championship, Shcherbakova caught pneumonia – and, despite that, won gold. She is the youngest three-time Russian champion in figure skating (she was 16 at the moment of receiving her third title). In 2022, the sportswoman also became an Olympic champion.
Kamila was born in Kazan in 2006 and started doing figure skating at the age of three and a half. In 2012, her family moved to Moscow, where she continued doing figure skating. In 2018, at 12 years old, Kamila was chosen as Eteri Tutberidze’s student.
In the 2019/2020 season, Kamila became a star of junior figure skating. She won every start and won the two most prestigious titles – the Gran Prix finals and the World Championships. Also, Kamila set a world record – she successfully performed a quadruple toe loop for the first time in competition.
‘The Girl Who Defies Gravity’ – such is the name of the book about Alexandra Trusova. Trusova got into Tutberidze’s group when she was 12. She’s the second two-time world champion in history among juniors (2018, 2019), a silver medalist at both the 2022 World Championships and the Olympic Games. Despite the fact that Trusova performed the most complex five quadruple jumps at the Olympic Games, she lost to Anna Shcherbakova, due to which a true sports drama erupted at the award ceremony. “I don’t want anything! I hate it! I hate this sport!” Trusova shouted then, overcome with emotions. Of course, Trusova remained in professional sport and still plans to set some kind of new world record.
One of the most popular figure skaters in Russia (European champion of 2020 and a winner of the World Gran Prix finals), Kostornaia announced in January 2023 that she would be ending her career as a singles skater and begin pair skating with Georgy Kunitsa (in their private life, they’re also a couple).
Kostornaia did not achieve her main dream – to perform at the Olympics – and she admitted with regret that she let the moment slip in singles skating. “It’s very simple, figure skating is not a sport where you can skate for 30 years and win. Yes, you can skate, you can please the audience, participate in shows, but you won’t be first, since there’s 15-year-old girls who perform a bunch of quadruple jumps. They have a lot of strength and energy. There’s no stopping them,” Kostornaia said. Nonetheless, in pair skating, she still hopes to reach the Olympic Games some day.
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