Plushenko: “Adeliia didn’t go to Milan to place 5th or 6th; she was there to fight for a medal. She made the right decision by going for the quad. Without it, a place on the podium would have been impossible.”
Plushenko Reflects on Petrosian’s Performance and the Women’s Singles Event at the Milan Olympics
original source: Sport-Express
Evgeni Plushenko shared his reflections on the women’s figure skating event at the 2026 Milan Olympics, commending Adeliia Petrosian’s resilience in challenging circumstances. Here’s a translation.
“Before the start of the Olympics, I told my wife that Petr Gumennik would place 6th or 7th in Milan, and that Adeliia Petrosian would likely finish 5th or 6th. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.
Before the free skate, I had a bet with the coaches from my academy – Dima Mikhaylov and Nikita Trushkov. Both were convinced that Petrosian wouldn’t attempt a quad toe loop. But I believed otherwise.
Of course, I knew that her quad toe loop was unstable at the moment and that she didn’t land it consistently in practice. Still, I hoped that, in this critical moment, the three-time Russian champion would pull herself together and deliver.
She made the right decision by going for the quad. If she had landed it cleanly, she could have fought for a medal. Without ultra-difficult elements, a place on the podium would have been impossible. In this situation, the risk was entirely justified.
Her approach was correct – Adeliia didn’t go to Milan to settle for 5th or 6th place; she was there to fight for a medal. Besides, since she skated earlier than her main competitors in the free skate, the only option was to take risks.
But she approached the jump with hesitation. It lacked the rhythm it needed. She seemed tense, as if she were doubting herself right until the last moment – ‘Will I land it, or won’t I?’ Competitions don’t forgive such uncertainty. In the end, she pushed off a little weakly, fell backward, and ended up on the ice.
If she hadn’t made that mistake, I think we might have seen a second quad toe loop from her. That would have opened up a chance for gold. But after the first error, the chance of another quad faded entirely.
That said, the judges were quite generous to Petrosian and gave her decent scores. Usually, re-evaluations result in deductions, but in her case, her technical score even increased after they reviewed the jumps.
You know what’s most frustrating? Not so long ago, Adeliia was landing triple axels and quads – toe loop, flip, and loop – with amazing consistency, almost like it was second nature for her. If we had been able to bring her to the Olympics in that kind of form, it would have been a triumphant victory, no contest! But…
I remember a conversation I had with Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin. I was still skating under him, and at the time, he was also coaching female skaters. There was some tension with them over something, and I overheard him say, ‘Zhenya, it’s easier to train one boy than ten girls.’ I couldn’t understand and asked, ‘Why? Surely, out of so many girls, one is bound to shine.’ Mishin smiled and replied, ‘You’ll understand when you become a coach.’
He was alluding to puberty. When girls grow up, their bodies and their skating change. It’s a challenging phase for any female skater. Everyone goes through it, and Petrosyan is no exception.
Can Adeliia regain her former form and consistently land quads again? I believe it’s absolutely possible. What’s important now is to keep working, stay motivated, and not give up – it will come back.
Right now, however, the most important thing we can do is support her and say ‘thank you.’ Most fans can’t even imagine the kind of pressure this fragile girl endured: she’s only 18, competing in her debut Olympics without a flag or anthem, under additional restrictions, starting in the first warm-up group in the short program, without ranking advantages, and no room for error.
The amount of negativity was overwhelming. And yet Adeliia showed her character. First, she performed brilliantly in the short program, and in the free skate, even after a failure on the quad toe loop, she didn’t crumble. She delivered her program with precision and fought until the end. For that, she deserves respect.”
Related topics: Adeliia Petrosian, Evgeni Plushenko, Olympic Games
Well said. I’m very impressed by Plushy’s commentary and I appreciate his standing by Adeliya. I am very disappointed that she can’t go to Worlds though. Apparently no Russians are allowed even as AIN or whatever the “anonymous” acronym is.