Elizaveta Tuktamysheva: “I’ve competed at Nationals 15 times, and each one has been unique: ups and downs, medals and disappointments – I’ve experienced everything. Will there be a 16th? Anything is possible…”
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva about national championships in her career.
original source: Sports dd December 20th, 2024
In her blog on Sports, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva discussed the National Championships in which she has competed over the course of her career. Here’s a translation.
“Hello everyone!
The Russian Nationals has started in Omsk. This is one of the most important and exciting competitions of the season.
I’ve had the opportunity to participate in it 15 times, and each one has been unique: ups and downs, medals and disappointments – I’ve experienced everything. I will tell you some of the most interesting stories from my career.
The three most memorable tournaments
I have been to so many Russian Nationals in my career that it’s hard to pick just one.
Of course, the 2012/13 season championships, which I won, is very memorable to me. I still remember it well, even though it’s been a long time. It was the first time we skated at the Olympic arena in Sochi. It was great to come to Sochi from the St. Petersburg weather: it was warm in December, the climate is completely different. Even though I got sick there, it didn’t stop me from performing well and having a good time.
Competing in St. Petersburg has always been thrilling for me. But, for example, the pre-Olympic Russian Nationals in December 2021 was great. You enter the arena, and the stands are full. You perform in your favorite city, on your home ice – it gives additional motivation.
I will highlight one more championship – the 2022/23 season in Krasnoyarsk – the last one in which I participated. I took third place there. Then I liked the form I was in – probably one of the best. I enjoyed skating, especially in the free program – I wasn’t as nervous as usual. I had a lot of fun.
The skating I showed at that championship was close to what I always strive for. I usually am very critical of myself. When I now look at my programs without jumps, I understand that I can do much better acting, show more emotions.
But it seemed that this wasn’t always enough in the performances, but the free program “Loneliness” didn’t give me that feeling. Of course, there were things to work on, but at that championship, it was one of the few skates that I personally liked.
My first medal at the age of 12. Should such young skaters be allowed to compete at Nationals?
I remember the first medal of my entire career. It was in Chelyabinsk, I was 7 years old, I went to a competition with double jumps, even without an axel. And I took third place – it was my first medal.
I remember walking with the diploma and medal to show my parents. It started raining – and the name written with a marker on the diploma ran, my last name wasn’t even visible. But I didn’t care because the medal didn’t melt from the rain. That was a significant moment for me.
And I won my first Russian Nationals medal in the 2008/09 season when I was 12 – I took second place. There are both positive and negative aspects to competing with adults at such a young age. Adelina Sotnikova, who won then, and I were not worse than the other athletes. We rightfully qualified for the Russian Nationals.
I can’t say now whether it’s good or bad to allow such young athletes to compete. In my case, it worked for me. We started competing with seniors earlier, reached a high level earlier. Perhaps, we showed the new generation that it’s necessary to learn more complicated elements earlier.
On the other hand, you don’t want to force a child to learn super complicated elements from a very young age to avoid serious injuries.
You want the child to enjoy what they are doing. Moreover, the age minimum has been raised now. So I’m not sure if it makes much sense to admit 12-year-old girls to the Russian Nationals. Waiting 5 years to move up to seniors… Probably not as meaningful now.
Won with a temperature of 38, met the victory in the stands
Medals from such a big competition are perceived differently at different ages. When I took silver at 12, what I remember most was interacting with the press. Reporters approached me, and as a child, I was very afraid of giving interviews. I remember feeling uncomfortable. It was a strange interview. And what can a child say? Now looking back – it was funny, but then it was scary.
I was even more afraid of giving interviews than going out on the ice. At 12, you’re not as nervous, there’s no extra responsibility, no understanding of the significance of a Russian Nationals medal. Plus, the level of the Russian Nationals wasn’t as high as it is now.
Winning the championship gave me a storm of emotions. I was then 16 years old. The victory was unexpected because many girls were at the same level, there was no clear leader. I performed with a temperature of 38; it was hard to even hold a bottle of water before taking the ice.
Apparently, I just focused on what really mattered – just on the elements.
I skated decently and after the skate, I sat in the stands, watching the last warm-up with friends. I got changed, sat there, chatted, didn’t even worry about the result. When it became clear after the last participant’s skate, I remember standing up and saying: “Am I the Russian champion?” It was a genuine surprise, even a bit funny to recall how I reacted then.
It was cool, such sincere and unexpected joy. I think it’s always great. You could compare it with the silver at the World Championships in 2021.
The 2014/15 season was different – very exciting. Lena Radionova and I fought all season. I knew I couldn’t make mistakes: Lena didn’t allow herself to make big mistakes, I knew she was a very serious competitor. And I still made a mistake – I popped a jump.
But I was also happy with the second place, then the most important thing was that I qualified for the main competitions. Moreover, I already had gold.
But last season I was just happy to have made it to the podium after such a long break. And it was emotional too. There were four contenders for the medals, I wasn’t sure that even with a good skate I would make the podium.
Is the selection to the main competitions through the Russian Nationals fair?
At the Russian Championship, participants of the European and World Championships are determined: the gold and silver medalists go to the main starts, and the federation and coaching council can choose the third participant.
There are exceptions: for instance, a skater is an obvious leader and misses the Russian Nationals (or withdraws from the free program), when it’s clear that no one will surpass them. And still, they automatically end up in the national team.
But in any case, the Russian Nationals takes place in the middle of the season, everyone is already gaining form. The judges know how everyone performed at the start of the season. Of course, there are surprises, but in big sports, there is practically no room for mistake.
Moreover, there’s not much time until the European Championships. There are no competitions between the Europeans and the Russian Nationals, accordingly, there’s no chance to show that you’re ready for the European Championships. But the opportunity to qualify for the World Championships remains in the final of the Russian Cup.
This is a working system of selection. Of course, there are exceptions, the main thing is that everything is as fair as possible.
Why did I attempt a quadruple at Nationals?
In the 2019/20 season, I decided to jump a quadruple toe loop in competition for the first time.
It’s simple. Then there was the legendary trio of Trusova, Shcherbakova, and Kostornaia, I understood that I wouldn’t be higher than them with a good skate from Sasha, Anya, and Alena. That season I just learned the toe loop, and my coaches and I thought that there was nothing to lose. Fourth place was mine – those who were below did not jump ultra-c, so I had a margin of safety.
It was a good chance to try the quadruple. There was nothing to lose. Since Sasha and Anya – with quadruples, Alena – with beautiful skating and triple axels. During the season, it was clear that even with my perfect skating, I would most likely be fourth.
Jumping a quadruple in competition is very difficult, so we abandoned this idea later. I couldn’t bring it to a consistent execution because covid started. And when the season started, in which it was really possible to fight for a trip to the World Championships, we decided to do without experiments.
In Krasnoyarsk, I was terribly nervous because for me, a quadruple is a big stress. Why did I consistently jump a triple axel? Because I analyzed it thoroughly, worked painstakingly on it for several years. To perform a jump in competitions, I need to understand it completely: how it’s done, what to focus on. It takes time to develop my actions from the beginning to the end of the element. It’s very difficult for me to skate if I understand that I don’t control everything.
And I didn’t spend so much time on the quadruple. I entered this jump like into an abyss – there was no control at all. Nerves exacerbated the situation – when the whole body is tense, the task becomes much more complicated. I did the quadruple only when I was in top form and when I was in a free but toned state.
It wasn’t like that at the Russian Nationals – I was nervous, anxious about trying a quadruple in competition for the first time. During training there, I made a lot of mistakes, popped it a lot, there was a small percentage of execution.
But we still wanted to take this risk because we aimed to overcome ourselves. If it weren’t for covid, perhaps I would have perfected the quadruple, because there wouldn’t have been such a long break.
Then I restore the quad for the Jumping Championship, but didn’t dare to add it to the programs because every competition was very important – I wanted to skate clean.
And the quadruple was knocking me off so much that after I did it, I went to the axel and started making silly mistakes and pop it. Within a minute I was doing the axel perfectly, but in the program, the quad threw me off: I lost confidence not only on the toe loop but also on the axel. So even I don’t know how at the Russian Nationals I managed to perform the axel after falling from the toe loop.
But I’m glad I tried.
Competed 15 times – the record of Russian Nationals, but I’m also at the event this year
The Russian Nationals is a special competition: a colorful draw in the New Year atmosphere. I always used to choose: what should I wear?
But in recent years, I’ve approached the draw calmly. As for me, it’s not very important for athletes that the beginning of the competition should be so pompous. At the draw, the main thing is to pull a good starting number.
I’ve competed at the Russian Nationals 15 times, we share the record with Konstantin Menshov and Sergei Voronov. Professional sports is tough: the excitement before the start, the tension with which you work during the season, you focus only on sports. Will there be a 16th Nationals? Anything is possible…
Maybe I even underestimate how many times I’ve competed at Russian Nationals. If it weren’t for pneumonia in December 2018, there would have already been 16, and then I would have broken the record. In any case, so many performances – that’s cool. There were many great moments! Now I want to find them not only in sports.
This year I am also at the Russian Nationals, but in a different role. I opened the competitions with an exhibition program, and I’m also helping with the training of Gleb Lutfullin.”
Related topics: Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
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