Alena: When I was training during this season in the other school, I realized that I couldn't force myself to do certain things. So I could understand that if I was training with Eteri Georgievna, I would be able to do everything that was needed and even more.
(Showing her first training after her return, and background commentary about how difficult it was for her.)
Alena: Even during the warm-up, I was skating and felt like dying. For a long time I didn't have an intense warm-up like that. During the entire warm-up my pulse was 198 bpm, and I was thinking that if I survive this warm-up I'll survive everything else.
(Commentary about her Russian Cup Final performance.)
Alena: 6th place at Russian Cup Final isn't just a pity, it's... it gives you an understanding that it wasn't just one thing that went wrong, it means that everything in your life went wrong, and that needs to change. So you need to go and apologize, drop your ego and ask for forgiveness.
(Commentary about how she was accepted for a probation period until the end of this season.)
Eteri: She needs to fully commit to this process, without any weekends/holidays, without complaining about other people on ice, this should be decided by us. And she should get her 3A back.
(Commentary about the time when Alena said she's smiling more after she had transferred to AoP.)
Alena: I did smile more, but not in the right place. You can smile on the podium, and then cry somewhere in the corner after a training session, or you can smile anywhere but on the podium, because you just didn't get there.
(Apparently Eteri's daughter asked her to give Aliona a chance.)
Eteri: My daughter told me: "Mom, you should give her a chance!". I don't want to live with this thought that I could've given a chance and didn't. Then the person remains with this unfulfilled hope for the rest of their life, thinking that exactly then they could've done something, but weren't given the chance.
ess without any additional days off, without conditions that someone is interfering on the ice or a lot of people. Well, probably, we should define it anyway. And jump the triple axel.
The figure skating world has been discussing a possible comeback for Kostornaya for four days. The media reprint one after another insiders and rumors. After all, hardly anyone could even assume that Alena would knock on the doors of "Khrustalny" again. It was not even the loudest exit, but the escape from the group. During the training camp in Novogorsk. When the transfer window had already closed, when new programs were delivered, when she refused to go on the ice with some of the skaters.
This was followed by high-profile interviews about the new life and the reasons for the transition: "Maybe I should have moved, because now I smile more often?"
Alena Kostornaya: I may have begun to smile more, but not where it is necessary. You can smile on the pedestal, and cry somewhere in the corner and somewhere after training; or you can smile everywhere, except for the pedestal, because you just didn't get there.
Perhaps the most important question discussed by journalists and experts is why this transition is needed by Eteri Tutberidze herself? It turns out that her daughter Diana played an important role in this story.
Eteri Tutberidze: Diana was her lawyer. The daughter said: "Mom, you must give a chance." It seems to me that God ordered to give a chance after all. I do not want to keep this thought in my head, that I could give an opportunity; then the person remains, you know, with such unfulfilled hope. For the rest of my life. That is, it seems to you that you could have done something, but you were not given the opportunity.
In the Tutberidze group, Kostornaya became the European champion and the winner of the Grand Prix finals. Learned the triple axel that we admired all last season and set two estimated world records.
It seemed that in the new season the vampire Kostornaya would bite her rivals even more. But the triple axel could not be restored, then there were diseases and injuries. Evgeni Plushenko believes that he and Alena did not have enough time: "I have no doubts about her future ... we let go with a clear conscience."
Perhaps viewers will still see Alena on the ice this season. And it's not just that she is the first substitute for the World Cup. The coaches hinted that there is a chance that on the show of Eteri Tutberidze Kostornaya will show the same free program with Billie Eilish, fragments of which were laid out during the production.
Will they put programs together for the Olympic season? We will find out two months after the probationary period. In the meantime, Alena has very specific goals.
Alena Kostornaya: I have to prove that I am worthy to skate in this group and I am worthy of their attention.