The transfer season this offseason began not with Matvey Vetlugin, who practically went from Alexey Mishin to Evgeny Rukavitsyn, but with Elena Kostyleva, a 12-year-old figure skater who, due to her age, cannot yet compete even in juniors. but he is already known even among wide circles of figure skating fans.
In January, Lena performed at the Russian jumping championship together with adult figure skaters and took third place, losing only to Tutberidze stars Margarita Bazylyuk and Adelia Petrosyan. The young athlete was also remembered for her incredible courage when she bravely attempted the jump after a hard fall.
Read more about Lena Kostyleva’s courage:
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Terrible fall in the Russian jumping championship! But the tears didn’t stop Lena from entering the quad.
And in March it became known about the transfer of Kostyleva to Evgeni Plushenko from Igor Lyutikov. This is not her first transfer: Lena also trained with Eteri Tutberidze (this is where the meme “the story with yogurt” comes from), she also visited CSKA with Sergei Davydov, as well as Moskvich, the figure skating army and more.
The fact is that Kostyleva’s mother is very demanding of mentors, so it is very interesting how Irina Kostyleva, who allows herself to make quite bold statements on social networks, and the same “rebel” Plushenko, with the support of Yana Rudkovskaya , they will get along.
At the time of the transition, everything was going well on both sides.
“On the second day, Lena is trained by Evgeniy Viktorovich himself. It had been a long time since she had such a complete day of training. Training conditions at Angels are at the highest level. The accommodation is the same. Evgeny Viktorovich is generous and hospitable,” Kostyleva Sr. shared with RIA Novosti Sport.
“Lenochka, welcome to our club “Plushenko’s Angels”. “I’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” Plushenko wrote and posted a photo with the figure skater.
Elena Kostyleva and Evgeni Plushenko
Photo: t.me/evgeniplushenkoofficial
Plushenko has already personally taken Kostyleva to the ice
But the youth season is not over yet, so a few weeks after the transfer, Plushenko already had to take Kostyleva to the ice at the Russian championship between boys and girls in Kazan. Yes, yes, she was present in person!
But not everything went as planned, already in the short program. Lena came ninth, losing to Agata Petrova, Nadezhda Ponteleenko, Valeria Lukashova, Polina Solntseva, Elizaveta Labutina, Taisiya Korobitsyna, Alisa Yurova and Anna Lyashenko.
Elena received 66.75 points compared to 72.93 for Petrova, and managed to fall not from a jump, but from touching the ice with her hands in the final rotation. The item was reinstated and a deduction was added: negative point. A “pure” rotation of the fourth level with bonuses could give the skater about 4.5 points, plus the loss due to the penalty. And the components would probably be larger. Consequently, with a flawless performance, Kostyleva would surely have entered the middle three.
Kostyleva’s stain on the rotation
Photo: frame of the transmission.
Well, how can we not remember Bazylyuk’s feat in the recent Junior Grand Prix final? Rita came completely last, losing to the leader by more than 10 points, but she recovered in the free skate thanks to the quadruple jumps and lost only to her partner Alisa Dvoeglazova. Therefore, Kostyleva’s failed short program could not ruin absolutely everything.
Promotion from ninth to first and first victory at the new headquarters
At the Kazan stadium, Kostyleva was welcomed as the main star, as loudly as the local girls. She was prepared for rent by Dmitry Mikhailov and Evgeni Plushenko himself.
At the box office, Lena managed to brilliantly perform absolutely all the elements. The skater started with two ultra-Cs, landed two quadruple Salchows (single and in sequence), receiving a bonus point for each. All other jumping elements were also well developed. Unlike the short program, there were no problems with the rotations, only in one of them Kostyleva lost her level. In total, Lena earned 218.40 points in two performances, moving from ninth intermediate place to first place in the final. In the same style, Margarita Bazylyuk got into the top three during the final of the Russian Grand Prix among juniors: from 12th place she moved to second.
How Bazylyuk failed and recovered:
At the championship in Kazan, Plushenko’s Angels achieved double success: second place among girls was taken by Alisa Yurova, who finally achieved the triple Axel. The first three winners were completed by Nadezhda Ponteleenko from St. Petersburg: a student of Oleg Tataurov was able to make two quadruple sheepskin coats. Valeria Lukashova from Eteri Tutberidze’s group came fourth due to a fall on a quadruple Lutz and insufficient rotation on the Salchow.
Tournament results:
Elena Kostyleva won the Russian Senior Championship
