Sofia Samodelkina: “Arutyunyan gave me a second life in sport, reached out to me, and showed me who I could become. I deeply appreciate this chance.”
Kazakh figure skater Sofia Samodelkina stated that coach Rafael Arutyunyan gave her a second life in the sport.
original source: Maya Bagriantseva’s Telegram Channel “Vsem Lutz”
Kazakh skater Sofia Samodelkina credits coach Rafael Arutyunyan with giving her a second life in the sport after winning her first senior Grand Prix medal at NHK Trophy. Here’s a translation of her comments.
Since last season, Samodelkina has been training with Arutyunyan in the USA. On November 8, she won her first medal in the senior Grand Prix series – a silver at NHK Trophy.
“Right now, I’m in Kazakhstan; I need to sort out some paperwork and deal with my knee after the injury. I’m planning an MRI, various checkups, and rehabilitation.
I actually got injured not on a difficult jump, which was really frustrating: it was a regular practice, I had already finished all my jumps, landed a clean triple axel, did two clean run-throughs of my programs and then, on a simple exercise, on a counter turn, I suddenly twisted my knee. It even made a crunching sound.
It took almost a month to recover, but before the competitions in Japan, I even managed to work closely with Shae-Lynn (Bourne) on my short program.
I’m incredibly grateful to Rafael Vladimirovich (Arutyunyan) for coming with me to Japan. When he’s standing by the boards, it gives me a whole different level of confidence. He gave me a second life in sport, reached out to me, and showed me who I could become. I deeply appreciate this chance.
Of course, I’m happy that everything went so well at NHK Trophy. Yes, it wasn’t a perfect skate, but I showed the maximum I was capable of after my injury. I didn’t expect to win silver; after the scores, I rushed to call my parents and psychologist – and cried with happiness.
I really want to get back to training with Rafael Vladimirovich as soon as possible; we have so much to do.
If I get an invitation to the Finland Grand Prix, we’ll have to change plans urgently, of course. But I’m used to being ready for anything. I don’t even get jet lag anymore – night means sleep, day means training, it doesn’t matter what country I’m in.
We’re also planning for the December competition in Zagreb, so even if the Grand Prix doesn’t work out, I still have plenty to work on,” Samodelkina told journalist Maya Bagryantseva.”
Related topics: NHK Trophy, Sofia Samodelkina
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