Sergei Davydov: “Everyone already understands that without quadruple jumps, there is basically no life in women’s figure skating.”

Translation of coach Sergei Davydov’s comments about quads and raising the age minimum in women’s single skating.

original source: RT dd. 9th November 2023 by Elena Vaitsekhovskaya

Here’s translation of Sergei Davydov’s comments made in an interview for RT.

“Q: Do you ever feel regret when a certain prominent figure skater leaves the sport?

Sergei Davydov: Of course, it happens. Every time you think: for example, Anya Shcherbakova could have continued skating. Why not continue? Nothing has really changed, after all. But, apparently, the person got too tired of figure skating.

Q: In this regard, personally, I regret that Sasha Trusova left the sport. I think she could have retained if not all her jumps, then a significant part of them. Not to mention that the presence of such an athlete in Russian single skating could have served the sport quite well overall.

Sergei Davydov: It has already served that purpose. Everyone already understands that without quadruple jumps, there is basically no life in figure skating. Although, of course, with the raising of the age minimum, the situation may change.

Q: At one time, I had quite a lot of conversations with Leonid Raitsin, who was convinced that quintuple jumps in figure skating are a completely real story.

Sergei Davydov: Real.

Q: Probably the same can be said about quadruple jumps for adult women?

Sergei Davydov: The main difficulty here is that puberty affects everyone differently. Some gain so much weight that even skating becomes difficult, let alone jumping a quadruple. And some go through this period calmly. Even Liza Tuktamysheva, whom we admire so much now, had to take some time off when she went through a challenging period.

She didn’t skate, didn’t compete – took care of herself, met friends, lived a normal life. When it became easier, she came back. And with each passing year, she gradually gained shape. It wasn’t like a person stepped onto the ice and immediately – boom! – a triple Axel.

I mean, with this age rise, all of us will have to go through a challenging period of work. So, even now, I try to explain to my athletes that they shouldn’t be afraid of it. Even if we have to temporarily give up difficult jumps, we will fill this vacuum with some other work, get through this time, and find the right path together.” Davydov said.

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