One of the most beautiful skaters in history has not entered the competitive ice since 2016, but still remains a prominent person in the public space. What does the «black swan» of the Sochi Olympics do and how does it live — in the material Sport on the day of the 28th anniversary of the champion.
Elena Ilinykh's career was interrupted by the standards of ice dancing quite early — at only 21 years old. She was left without a partner in the pre-Olympic season and did not continue to try to find a new one. What to do when you stop abruptly after running for a long, long time on a well-known route?
Athletes answer this question in different ways. Someone almost immediately begins to train the younger generation and so copes with the unknown. Someone first toils from inaction and is looking for a new place in the changed world. Elena went down an unusual path, combining these two approaches. At the same time, she did not have long idleness or stable work according to the schedule for these seven years.
Shcherbakova missed the season
After the Olympic gold, figure skater Eteri Tutberidze focused on restoring her health. She had knee surgery in Germany and missed the entire season. However, the year was definitely not boring for her. The girl became the main star in Tatyana Navka's New Year's shows, tried herself as the host of the «Ice Age» and doesn't seem to be stopping.
Shcherbakova was awarded the National Sports Award in the nomination «Athlete of the Year». Also, the figure skater was recognized as the best athlete of the Winter Olympic Games. Whether the skater will want to return to competition next season remains a mystery.
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Mystery Davis and Smolkina
The silver medalists of the Olympic Games and the leaders of the Russian team in ice dancing Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov also decided to take a break. Many experts believed that under such conditions, Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin would take one of the leading positions. However, strange circumstances did not allow the couple to take part in any start of the season.
There were rumors about the possible transfer of the duet to another team. We talked about the USA, Georgia and even Israel. At the same time, neither the athletes nor the federation have made any statements yet. br>
Usacheva and ice dancing
A new star may shine in ice dancing. 16-year-old Daria Usacheva, who trains under the guidance of Eteri Tutberidze, seriously thought about moving to another discipline.
In November 2021, before performing at the Grand Prix stage in Tokyo, Usacheva received a severe hip injury. She has not competed since then. The figure skater decided to try her hand at ice dancing and even auditioned with 2020 Youth Olympic Games winner Dario Chirizano.
Athletes did not fit each other in a number of ways. Only because of this final decision to change «direction» Usacheva has not yet accepted. >
Alexandra Stepanova's Secret
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Five-time winners of the European Championships in ice dancing Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin also took a break in their careers at the beginning of the season.
At the end of March, the athlete spoke about the birth of a child. Another sensation followed. Stepanova and Bukin announced the departure of Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin from the group after 16 years of working together.
Next season, athletes will train under the guidance of Alexander Zhulin.
4 of 16
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Sporty couples storm ultra-si
After the Olympic Games in Beijing, the leading pairs of the national team continued their careers. For them, a season without international tournaments has become an opportunity to experiment with technical content.
At the Russian Jumping Championships, Alexandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovsky first tried to perform a quadruple twist. Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Gallyamov went for broke after the second place in the national championship. They decided to insert a triple lutz into the short program. For skaters, this jump is akin to ultra-c elements in single skating.
In both cases, the attempts cannot be called flawless. However, such complications from the best pairs of the country make it clear that the figure skaters remain motivated to improve. Next season fans will see even more surprises.
5 of 16
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Kostornaya became "parnitsa"
The skater began the 2022 season under the guidance of a new coach Elena Buyanova. Their cooperation turned out to be short-lived.
Already in January, the specialist said that «she had let Alena go a long time ago.» The athlete made a choice in favor of pair skating. After performing in the show with Georgy Kunitsa, Kostornaya was imbued with joint work and decided to make drastic changes.
Now in social networks, the skater shares her successes in a new way. With Kunitsa, they have already learned various lifts, are trying out triple releases and are actively working on the backspin. The pair is helped by coach Sergey Roslyakov. br>
Trusova changed her coach again
Rumors about the departure of Alexandra Trusova from the group of Eteri Tutberidze began to appear immediately after the Olympics. To the surprise of many, in the new season, the skater was taken to the test skates by the former headquarters.
A few days later, the world of figure skating was blown up by the news. Trusova moved to the group of Svetlana Sokolovskaya. Some experts critically assessed the «transfer». The athlete herself seemed to be glad of such changes.
Although Trusova missed half of the season for health reasons, throughout the year she amazed fans in the show. She flew under the ceiling, danced on pointe shoes and played the violin right during the performance of the branded cantilever. And admission to the faculty of journalism of Moscow State University, it seems, has opened up new endless possibilities.
7 of 16
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Valiyeva's monologue about drama in Beijing
After the events at the Olympic Games, everyone was looking forward to the start of the new season. I wanted to understand what form Kamila Valieva is in and whether she will be able to compete at the same level.
The skater went to the open skates collected. Before the start of the performance, she exchanged a few words with the coaches and stood up in the initial position.
Unexpectedly for everyone, an audio clip from the news, transferring to the days of the Beijing scandal, began to sound. Valieva's monologue began.
The figure skater seemed to openly share her emotions and experiences with the audience. From performance to performance, the mood inside what is happening. At the end of the season, Valieva no longer needed to hide under the hood from prying eyes. She survived this story and moves on.
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The world's first jumping championship
To keep the skaters motivated, the federation has created a tight performance schedule. New formats have also appeared.
The first experiment was the Russian Jumping Championship. The organizers divided it into two parts: team and individual tournaments. Before the start of the performances, many viewers regarded the innovation as a show, and not real competition. However, after the first attempts to perform ultra-si, a completely different atmosphere appeared.
Not only athletes competed, but also coaches. Evgeni Plushenko's team won in a fierce struggle. Eteri Tutberidze, who took second place, immediately indicated that she was eager for revenge.
In personal tournaments, the intrigue also kept to the last. The titles of the first in the history of Russian champions in jumping were won by Kamila Valieva, who restored the quadruple sheepskin coat for the competition, and Grigory Fedorov, who was considered a dark horse. The confident performance of the quadruple lutz made the attention of specialists and spectators riveted to the junior from the group of Svetlana Sokolovskaya.
9 of 16
Akatieva is the new champion of Russia
The main start of the season — the championship of Russia — was absolutely unpredictable. The girls put up a fierce fight, showing an endless stream of successfully completed ultra-si elements.
15-year-old Sofia Akatieva turned out to be stronger than her rivals. Although the beginning of the season did not go well for her.
At the summer training camp in Novogorsk, by an absurd accident, Akatieva cut her leg near the knee. The injury bothered her throughout the season, affecting her confidence. However, at the right moment, the skater pulled herself together and took the first important title in her career.
10 of 16
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Gold of Semenenko and Goumennik
The results of competitions among men can almost never be predicted in advance. Especially the situation in which, according to the results of two programs, Yevgeny Semenenko and Petr Gumennik will score the same 295.07 points.
It seems that this can happen with a probability of one in a million. Unfortunately, according to the rules, there is only one winner. According to additional indicators, Semenenko took the gold medal.
Perhaps next time the federation will heed the proposal of Gumennik and the fans. Then, with the same scores, both skaters will receive gold medals.
Red Car's third victory
The First Channel Cup is held for the third year in a row. At the same time, interest has not subsided so far.
The captain of the «Red Machine» again became Alina Zagitova. She already led the team in the first «season». Captain of the Blues appointed Kamila Valieva. The figure skater, due to illness, was unable to participate in the tournament as a participant. For the team, the athlete came up with the name «They won't catch up with us.» It soon became clear that they had to be in the catch-up.
During the performances of couples and men, the strengths of the opponents were on the same level. After the release of the girls "Red Machine" pulled ahead, leaving no chance to rivals. The cup again went to her.
12 out of 16 
Petrosyan wins the Russian Grand Prix Final
Adelia came to the competition in the best physical shape. Although formally, she had no right to participate in the tournament at all due to missing one of the stages.
The federation went to meet Petrosyan. The figure skater used the chance by 100%.
In the short program, the athlete successfully performed a triple axel, and in the free program she went straight to four ultra-si. Thanks to the unique technical content, Petrosyan received a gold medal. Well, Tutberidze's approving smile. br>
Brawler Plushenko
Evgeni Plushenko is known for his harsh statements. Last season, even the code of ethics did not stop him.
Plushenko exchanged barbs and measured his former merits with his longtime rival Alexei Yagudin. Later, Evgeny got into a scandal after the junior championship of Russia. He was dissatisfied with the grades of the students and announced the possible transfer of the wards to other teams.
Coach Sofia Fedchenko stood up for figure skater Alina Gorbacheva, who won that championship. The specialist said that such statements are hysterical and inability to admit mistakes.
The case took an unexpected turn when the ethics commission decided to consider the statements of both coaches. In April, a final decision regarding their punishment will be made. In the meantime, Plushenko announced a one-year moratorium on communication with the press on the topic of refereeing.
14 of 16
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Channel One is at war with Tarasova
The Honored Coach of the USSR Tatyana Tarasova is a favorite commentator of many viewers. It seems that only she can evaluate the performances of skaters so vividly and variously.
To the surprise of many, Tarasova has not commented on the tournaments on Channel One for two years now. Often missed competitions were related to health. However, this year the reasons turned out to be completely different.
Tarasova said that she was sanctioned by the director of sports broadcasting Olga Chernosvitova because of the support of Evgeni Plushenko in his statements about refereeing. The press service of Channel One did not give an answer to a question about the situation. Let's hope that next year fans will be able to hear Tarasova's comments live.
15 of 16
Yagudin is the winner of the show program tournament
The next innovation of the season was the show program tournament "Russian Challenge" . As part of the competition, both active skaters and athletes who have long completed their careers met on ice.
Spectators have not seen so many diverse and vivid images at one tournament for a long time. There were also references to Soviet films, and deep dramatic stories, and funny parodies of the best figure skaters of our time.
But the whole audience stood up after the performance of the Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin, who showed a whole performance on the ice. His victory in the tournament can be called the perfect end to the season of skaters.
Shcherbakova missed the season
After the Olympic gold, figure skater Eteri Tutberidze focused on restoring her health. She had knee surgery in Germany and missed the entire season. However, the year was definitely not boring for her. The girl became the main star in Tatyana Navka's New Year's shows, tried herself as the host of the «Ice Age» and, it seems, is not going to stop.
Shcherbakova was awarded the National Sports Award in the nomination «Athlete of the Year». Also, the figure skater was recognized as the best athlete of the Winter Olympic Games. Whether the skater will want to return to competition next season remains a mystery.Taina Davis and Smolkina
The Olympic silver medalists and leaders of the Russian ice dancing team Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov also decided to take a break. Many experts believed that under such conditions, Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin would take one of the leading positions. However, strange circumstances did not allow the couple to take part in any start of the season.
There were rumors about the possible transition of the duo to another team. We talked about the USA, Georgia and even Israel. At the same time, neither the athletes nor the federation have made any statements yet. and ice dancing
A new star may shine in ice dancing. 16-year-old Daria Usacheva, who trains under the guidance of Eteri Tutberidze, is seriously thinking about moving to another discipline.
In November 2021, before performing at the Grand Prix stage in Tokyo, Usacheva received a severe hip injury. She has not competed since then. The figure skater decided to try her hand at ice dancing and even auditioned with the winner of the Youth Olympic Games 2020, Dario Chirizano.
The athletes did not fit each other in a number of ways. Only because of this final decision to change «direction» Usacheva has not yet accepted. /p>
Five-time winners of the European Championships in ice dancing Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin also took a break in their careers at the beginning of the season.
At the end of March, the athlete spoke about the birth of a child. Another sensation followed. Stepanova and Bukin announced the departure of Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin from the group after 16 years of working together.
Next season, athletes will train under the guidance of Alexander Zhulin.
4 of 16
Sporty couples storm ultra-c
After the Olympic Games in Beijing, the leading pairs of the national team continued their careers. For them, the season without international tournaments became an opportunity to experiment with technical content.
At the Russian Jumping Championships, Alexandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovsky first tried a quadruple twist. Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Gallyamov went for broke after the second place in the national championship. They decided to insert a triple lutz into the short program. For skaters, this jump is akin to ultra-c elements in single skating.
In both cases, the attempts cannot be called flawless. However, such complications from the best pairs of the country make it clear that the figure skaters remain motivated to improve. Next season, fans will see even more surprises. hotbed"
The skater began the 2022 season under the guidance of a new coach Elena Buyanova. Their collaboration turned out to be short-lived.
Already in January, the specialist said that «she had let Alena go a long time ago.» The athlete made a choice in favor of pair skating. After performing in the show with Georgy Kunitsa, Kostornaya was imbued with joint work and decided to make drastic changes.
Now the skater shares her successes in a new form on social networks. With Kunitsa, they have already learned various lifts, are trying out triple releases and are actively working on the backspin. The pair is helped by coach Sergey Roslyakov. >
Rumors about the departure of Alexandra Trusova from the group of Eteri Tutberidze began to appear immediately after the Olympics. To the surprise of many, in the new season, the former headquarters took the figure skater to the test skates.
A few days later, the world of figure skating was blown up by the news. Trusova moved to the group of Svetlana Sokolovskaya. Some experts critically assessed the «transfer». The athlete herself seemed to be glad of such changes.
Although Trusova missed half of the season for health reasons, throughout the year she amazed fans in the show. She flew under the ceiling, danced on pointe shoes and played the violin right during the performance of the branded cantilever. And entering the faculty of journalism of Moscow State University, it seems, has opened up new boundless opportunities. >Valiyeva's monologue about the drama in Beijing
After the events at the Olympic Games, everyone was looking forward to the start of the new season. I wanted to understand what form Kamila Valieva is in and whether she will be able to compete at the same level.
The figure skater came to the open skates collected. Before the start of the performance, she exchanged a few words with the coaches and stood up in the initial position.
Unexpectedly for everyone, an audio clip from the news, transferring to the days of the Beijing scandal, began to sound. Valieva's monologue began.
The figure skater seemed to openly share her emotions and experiences with the audience. From performance to performance, the mood inside what is happening. At the end of the season, Valieva no longer needed to hide under the hood from prying eyes. She survived this story and is moving on. jumping
To keep the skaters motivated, the federation has created a tight schedule of performances. New formats have also appeared.
The first experiment was the Russian Jumping Championship. The organizers divided it into two parts: team and individual tournaments. Before the start of the performances, many viewers regarded the innovation as a show, and not real competition. However, after the first attempts to perform ultra-si, a completely different atmosphere appeared.
Not only athletes competed, but also coaches. Evgeni Plushenko's team won in a fierce struggle. Eteri Tutberidze, who took second place, immediately indicated that she was eager for revenge.
In personal tournaments, the intrigue also kept to the last. The titles of the first in the history of Russian champions in jumping were won by Kamila Valieva, who restored the quadruple sheepskin coat for the competition, and Grigory Fedorov, who was considered a dark horse. The confident performance of the quadruple lutz made the attention of experts and spectators riveted to the junior from the group of Svetlana Sokolovskaya.
9 of 16
Akatyeva is the new champion of Russia
The main start of the season — the Russian Championship — was absolutely unpredictable. The girls put up a fierce fight, showing an endless stream of successfully completed ultra-c elements.
15-year-old Sofia Akatieva turned out to be stronger than her rivals. Although the beginning of the season did not go well for her.
At the summer training camp in Novogorsk, by an absurd accident, Akatieva cut her leg near the knee. The injury bothered her throughout the season, affecting her confidence. However, at the right moment, the skater pulled herself together and took the first important title in her career. >Gold of Semenenko and Goose
The results of competitions among men can almost never be predicted in advance. Especially the situation in which, according to the results of two programs, Yevgeny Semenenko and Petr Gumennik will score the same 295.07 points.
It seems that this can happen with a probability of one in a million. Unfortunately, according to the rules, there is only one winner. According to additional indicators, Semenenko took the gold medal.
Perhaps next time the federation will listen to the proposal of Gumennik and the fans. Then, with the same points, both skaters will receive gold medals.
11 out of 16
The third victory ;Red Machine"
Channel One Cup is held for the third year in a row. At the same time, interest has not subsided so far.
Captain of the «Red Machine» again became Alina Zagitova. She already led the team in the first «season». Captain of the Blues appointed Kamila Valieva. The figure skater, due to illness, was unable to participate in the tournament as a participant. For the team, the athlete came up with the name «They won't catch up with us.» It soon became clear that they had to be the ones who were catching up.
During the performances of couples and men, the strength of the rivals was on the same level. After the release of the girls "Red Machine" pulled ahead, leaving no chance to rivals. The cup went to her again.
Adelia came to the competition in the best physical shape. Although formally, she had no right to participate in the tournament at all due to missing one of the stages.
The federation went to meet Petrosyan. The figure skater used the chance by 100%.
In the short program, the athlete successfully performed a triple axel, and in the free program she went straight to four ultra-si. Thanks to the unique technical content, Petrosyan received a gold medal. Well, Tutberidze's approving smile. /p>
Evgeni Plushenko is known for his harsh statements. Last season, even the code of ethics did not stop him.
Plushenko exchanged barbs and measured his former merits with his longtime rival Alexei Yagudin. Later, Evgeny got into a scandal after the junior championship of Russia. He was dissatisfied with the grades of the students and announced the possible transfer of the wards to other teams.
Coach Sofia Fedchenko stood up for figure skater Alina Gorbacheva, who won that championship. The specialist said that such statements are hysterical and inability to admit mistakes.
The case took an unexpected turn when the ethics commission decided to consider the statements of both coaches. In April, a final decision regarding their punishment will be made. In the meantime, Plushenko announced a one-year moratorium on communication with the press on the topic of refereeing.
14 of 16
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Channel One is at war with Tarasova
Honored coach of the USSR Tatyana Tarasova is a favorite commentator of many viewers. It seems that only she can evaluate the performances of skaters in such a bright and varied way.
To the surprise of many, Tarasova has not commented on the tournaments on Channel One for two years now. Often missed competitions were related to health. However, this year the reasons were completely different.
Tarasova said that sanctions were imposed on her by the director of sports broadcasting, Olga Chernosvitova, because of the support of Evgeni Plushenko in his statements about refereeing. The press service of Channel One did not give an answer to a question about the situation. Let's hope that next year fans will be able to hear Tarasova's comments live. Yagudin is the winner of the show program tournament
The next innovation of the season was the Russian Challenge show program tournament. As part of the competition, both active skaters and athletes who have long completed their careers met on ice.
Spectators have not seen so many diverse and vivid images at one tournament for a long time. There were also references to Soviet films, and deep dramatic stories, and funny parodies of the best figure skaters of our time.
But the whole audience stood up after the performance of the Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin, who showed a whole performance on the ice. His victory in the tournament can be called the perfect end to the season of skaters.
Returning from the training camp in Mexico, Elena Ilinykh met the dancer and artist Sergei Polunin. It was love, if not at first sight, then at the second, for sure. Interestingly, Elena and Sergey immediately began to grow roots in each other's favorite business. The figure skater invited the dancer to choreographic master classes at her academy, Sergei invited Elena to his own charitable foundation and to the Rasputin ballet. It was a very bold decision, since many things had to be mastered from scratch, besides, Elena was already pregnant then.
Now the couple has two sons — Mir and Dar. For the last year, Elena and Sergey have been living in Moscow, especially not moving around the planet. The exception is a tour of Russia with ballets by Sergei Polunin, in which he enthusiastically invites his beloved. Most recently, the premiere of «The Master and Margarita» with her participation took place.In addition, Elena twice performed in the television show «Ice Age». Her partners were Vlad Topalov and Yegor Beroev — the numbers suggested the development of acting abilities.
The way Elena Ilinykh's life looks now may be close to her dream. Family, children and love in the presence and in the first place, creativity and the possibility of realization, a fairly rich social life while maintaining the personal and secret. Ilinykh, with her temperament, it would be difficult to withstand the tedious routine of purely coaching work, so she does it from time to time and on her own inspiration. At the same time, she obviously didn’t say everything as an athlete, she didn’t manage to get all the audience love she deserved because of the early end of her career. Therefore, now she dances with pleasure already on the ballet stage.
About her roles in «Rasputin» and «The Master and Margarita» they always speak passionately. Some people like it, others don't. But what is absolutely true in relation to the person of Elena Ilinykh both before and now is the lack of indifference. Such an option for the perception of others in her personality is simply not provided.