Elizaveta Tuktamysheva: “Alysa Liu was very talented even as a child, doing quadruple jumps. That’s why today she can afford to skate with ease: when you’re confident in your content, you feel a sense of freedom.”
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva discussed how she maintained motivation amid intense competition and commented on the perception of foreign skaters’ attitudes, noting that not all are as relaxed as Alysa Liu.
original source: Forbes
World figure skating champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva spoke about how she kept her motivation in the face of high competition. Here’s a translation of her comment.
“Q: You had to compete with several generations of skaters at once. What was the most difficult: keeping up physically, technically, or psychologically accepting the constant change of leaders?
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva: At first, the main challenge was not to fall behind technically. But at some point, I realized that despite my consistency, I was still losing. Especially when athletes like Alexandra Trusova and Kamila Valieva, with multiple quadruple jumps, appeared at competitions. By default, I couldn’t be first in terms of points.
I accepted this quite calmly and understood that I have my own path. At some point, it becomes more important to find inner strength and do your best. If you always cling to the idea of “I must be first,” it’s very easy to give up. But when you work on being the best version of yourself, your foundation becomes much more stable. After a clean skate, you like how you look on the ice. That gives you the energy to keep going, even if you finish second, third, or fourth.
Q: That sounds like a very mature perspective. Sometimes it seems that foreign skaters have this attitude, that they skate more “for themselves” rather than to prove something to everyone.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva: Actually, that’s not entirely true. We just have a vivid example – Alysa Liu. She was very talented even as a child, doing quadruple jumps at a young age, keeping up with Russian skaters. That’s why today she can afford to skate with ease: when you’re confident in your content and know you’ll land all your jumps well, you feel a sense of freedom.
But that doesn’t mean all foreign athletes are like that. If you lack consistency, it’s impossible to go out and enjoy your performance, because you start to control yourself more and keep a huge number of details in your mind.”
Related topics: Alysa Liu, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
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