The 2024 World Championships in Montreal began with a brilliant takeoff for Georgian single skater Nika Egadze, but ended in a traditional fiasco. Eteri Tutberidze, who accompanied the student on the main start, personally observed her skates and, after a clean short, was almost happier than the skater himself. Unfortunately, after the free program there was no reason to smile. Nika could not fully cope with her performance and set an anti-personal record this season. But she had excellent chances of being at least in the top ten and even getting a second place for Georgia.
What prevented the talented athlete from Khrustalny, because in training, according to him, everything turns out well for him? Obviously, the problems are not in the technique or in the lack of resistance.
Nika’s main problem lies in psychology. The individual player simply cannot believe in himself and wastes all his potential in vain. If the mental difficulties are not resolved, his career will eventually slide into the abyss.
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From triumph to disappointment
After Maurice Kvitelashvili stopped competing, Nika Egadze remained the only representative of the Georgian national team in the senior category among men’s singles. It’s time to show results, but for this you need to learn to skate cleanly. Nika really knows how to do this, but only during training. In the vast majority of cases, he makes errors in the outputs of both programs.
In three years, the senior skater only performed impeccably twice: in the short at the Challenger of the Lombardia Trophy in September 2022 and, more recently, in the short at the World Championships in 2024. The success of the Tutberidze student was really impressive. Nika not only confidently landed a quadruple Salchow waterfall: triple toe loop, quadruple toe loop and triple Axel, but also completed almost all jumps on the fourth highest difficulty level. I only made the last rotation in the third. After an unexpected show on the ice, his strict mentor greeted him with a warm smile and hugged him. The judges, however, put the brakes on Nike’s scores a little, but he already scored an unusually high 92.08 points and set a personal record. This was 7th place in the short, a fantastic jump from 29th place the previous year.
Nika Egadze
Photo: Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images
It seemed that Nika, for once, would not lose her goal in the free program either. But she fell apart from the first seconds. Having abandoned the first jump, a quadruple sheepskin coat, the athlete suddenly hit his side and fell on the ice. The unpleasant incident seemed to instantly bring down his entire mood. Nika doubled a triple loop cascade with a quad Salchow, fell off a quad Salchow solo, almost botched both triple axles, one of which was supposed to cascade with a double, messed up on a cascade of a triple Lutz, an oiler and a triple Salchow, and one performed only the second level of difficulty of the rotations. It’s a good thing I managed to place the snipe on the last triple Lutz and thus avoided missing the waterfall. Otherwise, the free program’s scores would have looked much sadder.
The streaming of the World Figure Skating Championships is available on Okko.
However, 149.47 points is still an extremely depressing result. Nika’s worst free skate scores this season. And she won them over at the main start, where, on the contrary, she should have shown his best form.
As a result, Nika finished the World Championship in 13th place in the standings with a total of 241.55 points.
Lost to competitors with noticeably weaker content. Or he could easily break into the top ten and even secure a second place for Georgia. To do this he needed to occupy at least eighth place, which, with his technical arsenal, is an absolutely achievable story. However, psychology, as always, failed.
Well, I accidentally hit the side and fell; that is only a negative point in the quality of the deduction. The loss is small compared to the errors in jumps and other elements. If this were Nika’s only flaw in the free show, she would now be celebrating the successful completion of the season and not suffer another disappointment. But as soon as something goes wrong in his performance, he loses all faith in himself. Great training work goes down the drain. It was as if she didn’t exist at all. This is very disappointing. Nika can and wants to skate with dignity in competitions and win medals at important tournaments. Tutberidze’s coaching staff believes in him. This season, the coach accompanies him to all the competitions, but he cannot control his excitement. It’s time to take control of your emotions. In two years, the Milan Olympic Games. It will be very sad if the constant storm of emotions prevents Nika from showing herself there in the best way.
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In the same European Championship, Nika manages to get on the podium, but in fact, for the second year he fails to be among the top five. He himself admits that he has problems with psychology. He tries to deal with them and at the same time self-flagellates. He is always the same: he trains hard, but it doesn’t help.
“I was very well prepared, but in every tournament I get nervous, as if it were the first time. I hope the day will come when I can go out to the skating rinks in peace, but for now it’s hard to believe.
I need to believe in myself. Knowing that because I do everything right in training, I can show the same to the judges. So right now there is a huge lack of trust.
It’s a shame, because everyone supports me a lot, many people write good words to me. My team believes in me so much that they are simply the best. And it turns out that for now I’m letting them down. I decided to try working with a sports psychologist; I hope he helps me.
Everything goes well for me on my home track, I just need to capture this feeling and take it with me to the outings,” Egadze told Sports.ru after the European Championship.
Nika Egadze
Photo: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
It’s a shame that Nika decided to work with a sports psychologist only now. The alarm has been ringing clearly for some time that he alone cannot cope with the pressure of the competition. The coaches ensure his physical preparation, but they cannot instill inner confidence. Including Tutberidze, although the mere presence of him behind the boards at first glance stimulates the skaters during the skate and gives them strength when they are getting exhausted.
Perhaps in the new season Nika Egadze will still have to deal with the demons in her head that constantly undermine her career. It’s very important. No amount of talent and diligence will be enough if the athlete subconsciously considers himself unworthy of success.
