MOSCOW, September 5, Anatoly Samokhvalov. Honored coach of Russia in figure skating Elena Buyanova stated in an interview that the health of the 2020 European champion Alena Kostornaya at the time of joining CSKA turned out to be worse than expected. Kostornaya moved to Buyanova in March 2022 from the group of Eteri Tutberidze. On Monday, the skater will be hospitalized for surgery for a hip injury. «It (health) turned out to be even worse than I expected,» said Buyanova. «We agreed with her — let's just try (work together). So that both I and she she was able to understand how she could work after two fractures in a row, which also happened for a reason. She came to me even more psychologically vulnerable, with a fear of jumping. She was afraid to land and break her arm again. There are many risks, but when you have such talent in front of you like Kostornaya, she needs to be given the opportunity to reboot. If a person has such a desire, of course.»
