Daniil Gleikhengauz: “Adeliia had a back injury; her back seized up. She came in one day after a day off and said her back hurt so much she could barely move. We had to stop training and preparing for two weeks.”

Daniil Gleikhengauz discussed Adeliia Petrosian’s challenging road to the 2026 Olympics, her injury setbacks, and the difficult decisions regarding her technical content, emphasizing that her performance was affected by training instability and a recent back injury.

original source: Sport24

Daniil Gleikhengauz on Adeliia Petrosian’s difficult path to the 2026 Olympics – what happened before the trip to Italy, how she reacted to her performance, and what’s next for Adelia. Here’s a translation of his comment.

“Q: In training, the quad toe loop was hit-or-miss – sometimes 30 percent, sometimes 50. In warm-up, she landed two great ones. What was missing in the actual program?

Daniil Glekhengauz: The numbers you mentioned weren’t directly related to the number of attempts made to music in the program. That’s a bit different. When she came off the ice very upset, I discussed everything with her and told her there was no blame or complaint about missing it in the program. It’s not a situation where she was 100% ready, fully prepared, and then made her only mistake in two weeks. This is part of the training process.

If the toe loop had been consistent in training, there would have been a better chance of landing it to music. We understood it could go either way. There was never 100% confidence.

Of course, even knowing how tough the training process was and what problems there were, once you’re here and see how focused she is and how well she trained overall, you still hope for a miracle. But it didn’t happen. That’s how it goes. It’s not that everything was in our hands and we let it slip. The odds were still just 40–50%.

Should we have skipped quads altogether? Some people say that if she hadn’t attempted any quads, maybe she would have made the podium. But that’s easy to say after the competition. You can’t count on everyone else making mistakes or falling behind. We knew that to fight for first place, she needed to land two clean quads. To make the podium, landing the first toe loop and maybe making a mistake on the second would have been enough. But if you fall on the first, you get about as many points as we did.

Q: Some say she should have gone all-in and tried the second quad. Did you consider that?

Daniil Gleikhengauz: That’s illogical, because you risk a repeated element, and then the element is worth nothing. A fall on the second toe loop, after all the deductions, would have been worth less than one point. Then, as Adeliia said, she could have ended up much lower than sixth.

Plus, it’s a matter of training. If it had been a fluke fall on the first and she was 100% sure she could do the second, she would have gone for it. But if the first didn’t work, the chances for the second are even lower.

Q: We asked Adeliia in the mixed zone about what happened in January. She said she’d ask the coaches. Can you share what happened?

Daniil Gleikhengauz: I won’t go into too much detail. She had a back injury; her back seized up. It wasn’t like she fell on the ice and couldn’t get up. She came in one day after a day off, I think, and said her back hurt so much she could barely move. We had to stop training and preparing for two weeks – she resumed around January 17–18. Two weeks is a long time for an athlete at peak form. You have to start over. Everyone is different. Some can come back and jump everything after two weeks, others have to rebuild their triples. We never really got back the axel she showed at Russian Nationals, which she landed well there.

Her short program at Nationals made me feel we were on the right track. Even though the free skate didn’t go well, we knew we’d work on it more. Before and after New Year’s, it was clear she was getting into good shape – the axel was calm and stable, and the only question with the toe loops was how to put three ultra-c elements into the free skate. We thought, if anything, we’d do two. Then suddenly, everything stopped, and we had to start from scratch again. We did what we could. It wasn’t her peak, not her best form, so we didn’t come here 100% aiming for gold.

Q: After her performance, Adeliia said she was ashamed to return to Russia. Has her mood settled now?

Daniil Gleikhengauz: I think those were just initial emotions. She hasn’t said anything like that since. Now, I think her mood is much calmer. Not necessarily better – she’s not exactly happy, which is understandable. But it’s not the end of the world. I think she’s coping emotionally with how things turned out.”

Related topics: Adeliia Petrosian, Daniil Gleikhengauz, Olympic Games