Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, a former world and European champion, challenged the idea that progress in international figure skating depends solely on Russian athletes. Her remarks appeared on the program “Sports day by day.”
She noted that growth is evident in several areas. In men’s singles, she observed remarkable progress, describing the current skater as performing at a near-transcendent level of complexity and skill.
In ice dance, Tuktamysheva acknowledged strong competition and praised the talent on the floor. She also commented on the women’s segments, mentioning that there are growing numbers of ultra-demanding programs, though the field might not feel a uniform surge in dominance. She added that the season has seen fewer ultra-high-difficulty attempts among the female skaters, yet she stressed that this has not diminished the excitement and quality of the events.
American skater Ilya Malinin achieved a historic milestone, landing a clean quad axle during the season’s competitions, setting a new standard for the element. Previously, attempts to land the quad axle were pursued by multiple top skaters, including two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu, but those efforts had not succeeded until Malinin’s performance.
The International Skating Union (ISU) suspended Russian skaters from participating in events held under its umbrella in response to Russia’s military actions abroad. This led to Russian athletes missing the 2022/23 international season.
Tuktamysheva, who claimed the world and European titles in 2015 and earned a silver medal at the 2021 World Championships, won two stages of the Russian Grand Prix in the 2022/23 season and placed third at the final event. She also secured a bronze at the national championships that year.
Throughout her career, Tuktamysheva did not manage to qualify for the Olympic Games. During the 2021/22 Russian Championship, the qualifying event for the 2022 Olympics, she initially finished seventh and later rose to sixth after the top result was affected by a doping-related decision involving Kamila Valieva.
In later remarks, she addressed whether she would pursue the quad axle, reflecting on the technical debates that continue to shape the sport’s evolution.