Talented 16-year-old quad builder and trixelist Sofya Samodelkina plans to move to the Kazakhstan national team and has already received citizenship of this country. Events are developing so rapidly that our Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) has not yet responded to the athlete’s wish. However, there are no serious reasons to refuse the release.
If everything goes well for the girl, then from the end of May she will be able to represent Kazakhstan at competitions. This means that she will have two more years to declare herself for the 2026 Olympic Games and collect medals from the most prestigious tournaments. And not only medals, also titles. Indeed, even with errors, Sonya can exceed the 200-point mark, and she makes mistakes, as a rule, in ultra-si elements.
It seems that the foreign skaters will soon have to make way for another former Russian woman on the podium. Last season, Anastasia Gubanova already took the gold of the European Championship under the Georgian flag. But Sony’s prospects are much greater.
Related Materials
Live
Samodelkina goes to the national team of Kazakhstan? The Federation does not comment
Up-and-coming single skater with five ultra-c
Sofya Samodelkina became famous while still young, training with Sergei Davydov at CSKA. Very nervous, courageous and at the same time emotional, she successfully performed at competitions and was a real competitor for the students of Eteri Tutberidze. By the age of 15, she had mastered five elements of ultra-c: a triple axis and four types of quads. For a complete set of super jumps, only one quadruple twist is missing from her arsenal.
Sonya has already tried all her ultra-si’s in one program. Last spring, she performed at the out-of-competition Sergei Grinkov Memorial Tournament, where she landed a free triple Axel, quadruple salchow and quadruple loop, and fell from a quadruple lutz and quadruple toe loop.
Despite the imperfect rent, the single skater made a very powerful impression. It seemed that in the new season he would destroy everyone in the domestic starts!
Impeded puberty. And, perhaps, partly a transition to another coach.
Related Materials
“The Princess of Quads and Trixels.” 66 elements of ultra-si Samodelkina in 20 starts
Why did Samodelkina fail in the internal competition?
The transition from Samodelkina to Svetlana Sokolovskaya from Sergey Davydov last year seemed a very illogical decision, because it was with the latter that she learned all her ultra-si. However, a more eminent coach, of course, should have added weight to the skater’s reputation in front of the judges. In addition, the 2022/2023 season was Sony’s debut at the adult level: naturally, she did not want to lose to rivals from Khrustalny and Plushenko’s Angels just because his mentors are popular people.
Unfortunately, puberty prevented Sonya from expressing herself to the fullest. There was no way she could implement the freeware with a quad, but she continued to log in steadily. The triple axel let her down. There were always some bugs that cost precious points.
Svetlana Sokolovskaya called a strong growth spurt the reason for student failures. Sonya really noticeably matured, which, on the one hand, added charm and expressiveness to her skating, and on the other hand, threw her back in the jumping part.
But it hasn’t been without progress either. Although Sonya’s number of quads was reduced to one in the freeware, she included in the content an expensive and very rare combination of a triple lutz, a triple rittberger. I jumped on it pretty stable and made it a permanent fixture on my skates.
And yet, the last season turned out to be somewhat wrinkled for the skater. He won the gold and silver stages of the Russian Grand Prix, but performed unsuccessfully in the decisive starts for the formation of the national team – the championship and the final of the Russian Grand Prix. The 11th place in both cases seemed like something of a misunderstanding. If it were not for the removal of our athletes from international tournaments, Sonya would not have gone anywhere with such results anyway.
And he never hid his desire to perform at the highest level. He even honestly admitted that he dreamed of postponing the Beijing Olympics until 2023.
“Of current dreams and goals… I don’t know. I think it’s the Olympics for everyone. “I’ll win the Olympic Games and that’s it”, I think it’s like that for everyone. In general, I just pray that the Games will be postponed to 2023, ”Samodelkina Match TV shared after the 2022 Russian Championship.
Related Materials
The talented Russian figure skater unexpectedly changed her coach. Why is Sofia?
Guaranteed entry to the Olympic Games
The Beijing Olympics were held, as planned, in 2022. But Sonya, of course, still has a dream of going to the Games. Both the ban on the Russians and the banally tough competition between our individual skaters may prevent it from being implemented for years to come. So, changing sports citizenship is the only option that practically guarantees that Sonya will make it to the Olympics and other major events.
The choice of the Kazakhstan national team is a great option for the transition. Previously, Tutberidze’s student Elisabeth Tursynbayeva played for this country, who was the first among adult girls to perform a quadruple jump in competitions and brought Kazakhstan the first silver medal in the history of the World Singles Championships.
Sofia Samodelkina also has every chance to glorify Kazakhstan in figure skating. She has already received a Kazakh passport, which is necessary to participate in the Olympic Games. She remains to wait for the approval of the FFKKR. They have no reason to refuse, and Sonya will probably be able to represent the new team from the end of May 2024.
Sofia Samodelkina
Photo: Elena Razina, Championship
If by that time the Russians are still not allowed into the international arena, Sonya will easily pick up medals and titles. And for this, she does not need to take risks with unstable ultra-si. A cascade of triple lutz and triple toe loop is enough to dodge the same Japanese Kaori Sakamoto, who has won the world championship with a 3-2 combination for the past two years. With a competitor in front of Samodelkina, such a trick will no longer work.
And if (and so be it) the unfortunate ban on our athletes is finally lifted, Sonya will still remain in the kings. She won’t have to fight for a ticket to the main starts with a dozen of the strongest single skaters: she’ll actually get it automatically. And her dream, if not her victory, then at least to participate in the Olympic Games, will surely come true for her.
For the sake of this, you can tolerate a hatred that will definitely fall on her. But there will be those who continue to sincerely encourage Sonya. Why not? We still know that she is ours.
