Eteri Tutberidze: “To fight for the podium, Petrosian needs triple axel in the short program and a super clean skate with one quad or two ultra-c elements. At some point, we changed this world ourselves. Now, it seems we have to live up to that.”

Coach Eteri Tutberidze discusses Adelia Petrosian’s injury recovery, her training challenges, and her planned technical content for the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan.

original source: Sports / Sports

In a series “The Tutberidze Method,” Eteri Tutberidze talks about Adeliia Petrosian’s injury before Olympic Qualifier, experiencing pain during training in January and planned contend for the Olympics. Here’s a translation of her comments.

Petrosian will compete in the individual event at the 2026 Olympic Games. The women’s programs will be presented on February 17 and 19.

The qualifying tournament took place in September in Beijing, where Petrosian ultimately won. Later, the skater revealed she had been experiencing pain in her leg.

“After we discovered the injury, different doctors gave us completely different recommendations. Some said, ‘That’s it, stop skating,’ others said, ‘Three months in a cast.’ One doctor said, ‘What’s the problem? I can get her ready for the competition.’

That doctor was Schneider, based in Munich, Germany. We’ve been consulting him for years – Tsurskaya went to him for surgery, Shcherbakova went to him as well. He’s a sports doctor. He confidently said, ‘I’ll get her ready for China.’

They examined her, did some adjustments, and gave her exercises to gradually increase her range of motion over time. And that’s exactly what happened,” Tutberidze said in the Okko series “The Tutberidze Method.”

Tutberidze explained that Adeliia Petrosian began experiencing pain during training in January.

“When she returned after New Year’s – on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th – she was jumping well and assembling content with three ultra-c elements. We rearranged them a bit, and it became easier for her.

On the 5th, she came to morning practice – everything hurt, nothing helped. She said, ‘I can’t. I just can’t, my movements are restricted, everything hurts.’

Everyone experiences pain differently. We can’t tell how much it bothers her, whether it’s tolerable, whether she can take painkillers and train while also treating it. Professional athletes often treat injuries during the training process.

If an athlete says, ‘Everything hurts, nothing helps,’ and doesn’t go out on the ice, then you should expect at least two weeks off. After that, you start over, rebuilding the jumps,” the coach said.

Tutberidze described the technical content Petrosian plans to perform at the Olympics.

“To fight for the podium, it should be in the short program. The ultra-c jump should be a triple axel. With a triple axel, she’ll score close to 70 points.

That score will place her in the last or second-to-last warm-up group before the free skate. There, she needs to deliver at least a super clean skate with one quad – if she’s in the last warm-up – or ideally two ultra-c elements.

That could be one toe loop and one axel, or two toe loops. It’s a question – it’s all mathematics.

At some point, we changed this world ourselves. Maybe it was because of extraordinary athletes not maybe, but definitely. Naturally, we wanted to show what they could do. We brought it out of them and showed it. Now, it seems we have to live up to that,” the coach said in the Okko series “The Tutberidze Method.”

“I completely disagree with the statement that I’m used to my athletes always winning gold. No, it actually happens differently. That’s just what people expect. It’s complicated.

I don’t know yet how it will go. In any case, it’s all in the hands… (gestures upward). We’ll see. But it seems like it should be interesting. I told Adeliia – Adel, it seems like it should be interesting to see what happens, what the outcome will be,” Tutberidze said in the Okko series “The Tutberidze Method.”

Related topics: Adeliia Petrosian, Eteri Tutberidze, Olympic Games