Sofia Samodurova | Page 20 | Golden Skate

Sofia Samodurova

SkateSkates

Medalist
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
Good for Sofia for working on it! Yes it’s very UR but still a good attempt and she has to start from somewhere. Hopefully she will continue to post progress videos throughout the off season.

Also, maybe working on the 3A will help her to jump bigger on her other triples?
 

anonymoose_au

Insert weird opinion here
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Country
Australia
How exciting! I have to admit I didn't realise she was attempting a 3A - I thought she was working on getting more height in her jumps.

Either way, I'm happy Sofia is fighting back, her scores this season have been very demoralising, but she's here to say "No-one puts Sofia in the (Lutz) corner!" :cheer:
 

Edwin

СделаноВХрустальном!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
"I am inspired to work on my triple Axel and quadruple Toeloop." Sof'ya Samodurova completed her season and looks back in a 'Match TV' interview

About her plans to increase difficulty, problems of growth and dependence on opinions on the Internet.

A year ago, Sof'ya Samodurova became European champion - she was ahead of Olympic Champion Alina Zagitova. This was Sof'ya’s first season at adult level, and successful: error-free skating at every tournament, medals at her debut stages of the Grand Prix, a high result at the Russian Championship, which guaranteed her a ticket to the main starts. It would seem that everything was growing in the right direction.

But in the summer, Samodurova began to have problems with physical fitness. She did not get into the national team for the European Championship and is now not even listed as a substitute for the World Championships, ending her season ahead of schedule.

Around the days of the European Championship, Match TV met last year’s winner and found out what was happening in her life.

Read in this interview:

* how Sof'ya overcomes the inevitable process of growing up
* how she changed her dress for a short program under the pressure of Internet critics
* about her plans for learning difficult jumps
* why she didn't exchange January training camp for New Year's shows

-- Sonya, let's fast rewind to year ago when you competed in the European Championships in Minsk. What were your goals for that tournament?

- I went to show myself and my clean skating. What I've learned in the first half of the season. That was the only goal.

-- You expected to win?

- There was hope somewhere deep down. Any athlete hopes before the start: you want to perform as best as possible, show your maximum and be highly appreciated. Like an abstract light at the end of a tunnel. But there was no obvious mood of “victory and only victory!” Last year. I didn’t even count on a medal.

-- I remember your bright emotions in Minsk, after it became certain you were the champion.

- I had mixed feelings: both joy from a high title, and fatigue from the accumulated tension. More tears of happiness, of course.

-- Can you recall other valuable medals in your career? Not necessarily gold, but those won after hard trials. Those that are valuable more as a result of victory over circumstances.

- Perhaps, my appearances at the 2019 World Championship in Saitama. In a personal tournament, a priori they expected a high result from me, and at the team world championship I felt responsibility for the team, for my friends. The girls were the last to ride, so Lisa Tuktamysheva and I had no right to make a mistake. I was afraid to let them down. I can also highlight my first stage of the Grand Prix at senior level - Skate America. It was hard to overcome the excitement. But in the end, I managed and was able to win the Bronze.

-- How did you manage to ride so stably all last season? You are the only top skater who accurately performed all the declared content at every start.

- It seems to me that my internal mood helped. I am often too self-confident on the eve of the start, and it turns out that this thought materializes on ice. It happens the other way around - you don’t think about anything before your skating run, you just go out like a machine. For me, it’s still a mystery what helped me last season. Apart from this, I generally skate cleanly. True, at the Open Test Skates I didn't deliver both my programs, and at the Lombardia Trophy I did a poor job with my short program. All subsequent tournaments I completed without any special errors.

-- Speaking about the current season, I want to ask how you rate yourself in it? How do you overcome difficulties?

- Each girl sooner or later has to undergo this process of growing up, and each must precisely pass this period. Yes, it is reflected in my competitive form, there were difficulties. I am pleased that I gradually overcame everything - with self-confidence and without any fear.

-- I suppose that participation in “B” series competitions gave you this inner confidence?

- Of course, those starts helped a lot. Lombardia Trophy was important before the Grand Prix series, so that I could feel the competitive drive in advance. Our group begins the season in Bergamo with pleasure every year. There is a pleasant atmosphere, even more training, because there are few spectators. Accordingly, it is easier to perform. I went to Golden Spin in Zagreb to shorten the break between starts. There was a lot of time after the Grand Prix and before the championship of Russia, and it was important for me not to lose my competitive form. We need constantly phased motivation throughout the season.

-- What was it like to return to the ice palace in Minsk, where you won your biggest title till now?

- It gave a lot of positive emotions. The audience immediately remembered me, already at the warm-up the applause began. I managed to take a walk around the city and realise I can do a lot.

-- The Russian Championship was held in your hometown of Krasnoyarsk. Did the home walls help?

- It was nice to see the full stands, so many people came, the atmosphere was very warm! My main viewers were relatives: uncle, aunt, cousins. I really wanted to please them live, because my uncle's family only watches my performances on TV. By the way, for some reason there is an opinion that I started skating in Krasnoyarsk, but this is not true. My parents and sister left there in 2007, and I started with figure skating in Sankt Peterburg. I was five and a half years old, which is quite late. I learned on Vasiliyevsky Island on a hockey rink, then at the Figure Skating Academy, before I came to Yubileiniy.

-- At the Russian Championship, Tat'yana Anatolyevna Tarasova was very worried for you. She even affectionately called you “Sonyura” during your free program. Tat'yana Anatolyevna gives some advice, council? I remember she admired you from your first performances at senior level.

- Oh, honestly, I missed that word, I'll have to watch the recording. Tat'yana Anatolyevna came up to me after my skating rung, praised me for keeping up well in the season and not going anywhere. Not melted down, as it is fashionable to say now. She also recommended working more on the interpretation of programs.

-- Why did you change your dress for your short program “Bamboléo”? I do not mean the style, but the color. It seems to me that a bright outfit is suitable for such an incendiary gypsy song. But now the costume is very dark.

- Initially, a pink dress was made for me, and for some reason it was criticized by many. They wrote it was terrible. I read comments on the Internet, and was very upset. In this style, I only disliked the huge flower on the left shoulder, and the coaches and I decided to remove it. And in the process somehow it turned out that they changed the whole dress. I think this is the result of my mood changing by public opinion. Honestly, I’m still wondering why the audience did not appreciate the first option. Now the outfit is brown with a red tint, like there are no loud complaints.

-- It turns out that you read a lot about yourself on the Internet. In which social networks, public?

- I read all the comments on my posts on Instagram and in general the news feed on VKontakte. Sometimes I open some interviews with familiar athletes, coaches and experts. And I don’t specially go to any sites.

-- I saw a recording of your triple Axel. How long have you been learning it? What did you think about when it first turned out?

- Honestly, I haven't fully mastered the triksel yet, and therefore do not consider it ideal. Let’s not discuss this topic now, otherwise a lot of dirt will pour in again. After the video, there were a lot of angry comments along the lines “Why am I posting on the Internet?”.

-- Do you have quadruple jumps?

- I train the quad Toeloop. I made my first attempts at a recent training camp, and now I continue to work on it. Not yet jumped.

-- Tell us how you learn new elements? In documentaries and reports, I saw the wonders of technology invented by Mishin.

- Yes, we practice twisting on these devices and train on the vestibular apparatus. Every day after training, I go to the “spinner” - as we call this spinning disk, which is spinning. We also try jumping in a harness on a fishing rod - both on the floor and on ice.

-- Recently, your group went to the training camp in Tartu. Why in high season?

- We conduct training there three times a year for 10-15 days. In winter, we also always travel. There are good conditions in Tartu: a lot of ice without restrictions, ride as much as you want. Hotel in the same shopping center as the ice rink. That is, all the amenities for skaters, a relaxed atmosphere. Plus a new decor helps.

-- In the photos from the training camp, I noticed Aleksander Abt, a famous skater from the past (Champion of Russia-2003, vice-champion of the World-1991 among juniors. - “Match TV”). How is he doing?

- Alexander has been training at the training camp for several years, helping us with sliding. He used to live in the USA, and a few years ago he moved with his family to Tartu. I remember that Aleksander always praised me and said that I would achieve success.

-- What are your plans for the rest of the sports season?

- Now I'm getting ready for Ilya Averbukh's show tour in the regions. I will show two programs: the indicative of this season as a housewife and the new one, which Ilya will most likely stage for me. I will perform every weekendin the show, and spend my weekdays at Yubileiniy to keep fit. I am inspired by the work on the trixel and the quadruple Toeloop, so I do not want to miss workouts.

As for competitions this season, I am unlikely to participate. By the way, I’ll definitely perform at the Lisa Tuktamysheva show in March. Come!

-- Why didn’t you participate in any ice show during New Year’s holidays?

- We had training camps in Tartu, and it was very important for me to get in shape after the New Year. I am primarily an active athlete and until the end of my career I’m unlikely to ever spend the New Year holidays on shows.

-- Do you plan any ice shows in the offseason?

- I cannot guess right now. Until the end of March I skate on the Averbukh tour. And in May, our group traditionally begins to prepare for the next season. I plan at least to master the triple axel.

-- Now, while you have a forced break in the sport, what does Alexey Nikolayevich say? In due time, he supported Lisa Tuktamysheva when she went into the shadows after her winning season of 2014/2015.

- I don't think I need any incentives from my coach. I myself understand everything, learn from my mistakes. You shouldn’t dissolve yourself like that in the summer, when your body weight increased sharply. Somehow I did not see this coming, but I had to follow and predict everything. I have regained shape now, but have lost a lot of time and opportunities. Let it be a lesson to me.

-- Your coach is a professor, he teaches at the university (A.N. Mishin is the head of the department of speed skating and figure skating at the Sankt Peterburg State Academy of Physical Culture named after P. F. Lesgaft. - “Match TV”). Would you like to follow in the footsteps of your teacher after school? To develop science, invent new technologies in your sport?

- I don’t know about science and teaching, but I definitely decided that I would go to university, where my coach teaches. Perhaps I myself will someday become a coach. I love kids! When they, so small and charming, come to us on the ice, I immediately want to smile and help. But for now, these are all just thoughts, I remain in sports.

- Have you watched the European Championship 2020? There, after all, not only colleagues skated, but Lisa Tuktamysheva commentated.

- Of course, I watch all the broadcasts. Not always live, because I now live outside the city and need to get up very early. If the competition ran late, I tracked the results in the morning. I am a fan of all our skaters, no matter how trite it may sound. But for the Sankt Peterburg guys a little more, because I know them best of all.
-----
From: https://matchtv.ru/figure-skating/m...hno_zavershila_sezon_i_dala_intervju_Match_TV
 

Edwin

СделаноВХрустальном!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Sof'ya not letting the situation get to her: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_xPha3pzcP/

Nice plot outside the cramped city, wooden cottage, plenty of room to exercise, plenty of time to dance, sing, paint, draw, raise her spirit.

Hope for her the troubles that plagued her past season are over and forgotten. She looks almost a different person when relaxed and content. And has grown pretty :)
 

flanker

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 10, 2018
Country
Czech-Republic
I liked that Sofia put both Flip and Lutz into her short program. I hope she can do one of themwith combo. Why she couldn't after all, she did 3F-3T without a problem before, it looked more like a strategy that both Mishin's ladies didn't do a combo than that they would miss that.
 

anonymoose_au

Insert weird opinion here
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Country
Australia
I heard Sofya is still in Moscow, Doctors are caring for her.

Oh no...is it that serious? :eek:

I feel bad for Sofia, I'm going to assume that the fever must have developed after she arrived at the rink for the SP, perhaps she didn't even notice until later? (I find it a bit hard to believe she had a raging fever and everyone just ignored it, at least I hope so) Either way, I hope she gets well soon!
 

Scott512

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Oh no...is it that serious? :eek:

I feel bad for Sofia, I'm going to assume that the fever must have developed after she arrived at the rink for the SP, perhaps she didn't even notice until later? (I find it a bit hard to believe she had a raging fever and everyone just ignored it, at least I hope so) Either way, I hope she gets well soon!

Didn't they take her temperature before she entered the facility that day? They should do this for the athletes as well as the fans and obviously there are a lot less athletes than fans so it should be easy to do.

I hope Sofia is healthy and back on the ice soon.
 
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Vemvane

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 11, 2019
I really enjoyed Sofia's skate from yesterday - she was clearly having fun with her SP. Her opening combination looked really solid; I haven't seen the protocols yet, but I thought she had definitely got both jumps comfortably around, with a good bit of height and speed.

Video of the skate, from 1tv:

 

anonymoose_au

Insert weird opinion here
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Country
Australia
I really enjoyed Sofia's skate from yesterday - she was clearly having fun with her SP. Her opening combination looked really solid; I haven't seen the protocols yet, but I thought she had definitely got both jumps comfortably around, with a good bit of height and speed.

Video of the skate, from 1tv:


I loved it too! It was so out of the box and you're right about the opening combo I think! I was really happy for her :) I hope she has a fab FS, apparently the costume for it is really cool, there's pants involved!
 

Vemvane

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 11, 2019
Sofia's FP:



She looks so different with the high bun instead of the sassy ponytail, but it's always fun to see skaters play around with their looks and styles. Her spins were pretty good - at least two level 4s in real time scoring - and her jumps in the first half looked like she was getting them cleanly around, without hooking the landing. The pop on that axel seemed to take the wind from her sails, and she almost marked her step sequence directly after that, but once she got to the break in the music, she managed to regroup and performed well to the end. Here's to hoping that her next outing will see two clean skates for her!
 

Edwin

СделаноВХрустальном!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Nice photos with Sof'ya

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