Alena Kostornaia

Kostornaia began learning to skate in 2007.[6] Her parents initially put her in skating as a way to channel her energy.[8] From 2012 to 2017, she was coached by Elena Zhgun in Moscow.[9]

Kostornaia had an injury in 2016. She finished 16th at the 2017 Russian Junior Championships. Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov became her coaches in 2017.[9]

Kostornaia's international debut came in early October 2017 at a 2017–18 ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) competition in Gdańsk, Poland; ranked first in the short program and second in the free skate, she won the gold medal by a margin of 1.36 points over the silver medalist, her teammate and training partner Daria Panenkova.[10] She won silver behind Sofia Samodurova at JGP Italy by a margin of 0.04 points.[11] Her placements qualified her for the 2017–18 Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, where she won silver, placing second in the short program, and first in the free skate. On the senior level, Kostornaia won bronze at the 2018 Russian Figure Skating Championships. She later won silver at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships behind teammate Alexandra Trusova by a margin of 0.58 points.

In March 2018, Kostornaia competed at the 2018 World Junior Championships. She placed second in the short program and the free skate, winning the silver medal behind Trusova.

Kostornaia (center) with her former coaches at the 2019 Russian Championships.

Kostornaia learned to perform a triple Axel in the preceding year, and originally planned to introduce it into competition. However, she lost the jump following growth during the offseason.[12] Kostornaia started her season by competing in the 2018 JGP series. At her first JGP event of the season, she won the gold medal in Linz, Austria. She was ranked first in both the short program and the free skate and won the gold medal by a margin of more than 11 points over the silver medalist, her teammate Alena Kanysheva.[13]

She skated her second JGP event of the season at JGP Ostrava, where she was again ranked first in both the short program and the free skate. She won the gold medal by a margin of about 2 points over the silver medalist, Kim Ye-lim.[14] With two JGP victories, she qualified for the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix Final, where she won the gold medal after placing first in both the short program and the free skate. She outscored her teammate and training partner Trusova by about 2.5 points. At this event, Kostornaia scored her personal best score of 217.98 points and she also set a new junior-level ladies' record for the short program (76.32 points).[15][12]

At the 2019 Russian Championships, Kostornaia placed third in the short program due to a fall during her step sequence, which she attributed to being "too relaxed" as she was nearing the end of the program and had already completed all of her jumping passes.[16] She then placed third in the free skate as well, winning her second consecutive national bronze medal.[17]

Kostornaia participated in the 2019 Russian Junior Championships, where she won the short program and placed second in the free skate. She was ranked second overall, winning her second consecutive junior national silver medal. After the event, she was named to the Russian team for the 2019 World Junior Championships along with training mates Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova. However, on March 4, the first day of the event, Kostornaia withdrew from the competition due to a medical condition, subsequently revealed by choreographer Daniil Gleikhengauz to be a leg inflammation that would require four weeks away from training. She was replaced by Ksenia Sinitsyna.[18]

Kostornaia (center) with Alina Zagitova (left) and Mariah Bell (right) at the 2019 Internationaux de France medal ceremony.

For her programs, Kostornaia retained her short program from the previous season and revised a Twilight–themed exhibition program from the previous year to serve as her free skate, citing how much she enjoyed skating it.[19] Shortly after debuting her programs at the Russian test skates, Kostornaia resumed training the triple Axel jump.[20] Kostornaia began her season at the 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy, marking her senior international debut, where she placed first in both the short program and free skate segments of the event. She incorporated two triple Axels in her free skate, becoming the tenth woman in history to land the jump in an international competition, and earned a total combined score of 234.84, 22.31 points ahead of silver medalist Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.[21]

Kostornaia performs her short program at the 2019 Internationaux de France.

Making her senior Grand Prix debut at the 2019 Internationaux de France, Kostornaia ranked first in the short program, incorporating a triple Axel into it for the first time.[22] She then became the fourth woman ever, after Mao Asada, Rika Kihira and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, to land two fully rotated triple Axels in a free skate, placing first in the segment with a personal best score of 159.45 points. She took the gold medal over training mate and reigning World and Olympic champion Alina Zagitova by a margin of 19.94 points.[19] At the 2019 NHK Trophy, Kostornaia performed a clean short program with a successful triple Axel to place first in that segment, 5.15 points over Rika Kihira, who also landed a triple Axel, and set a new world record score of 85.04 for the ladies' short program at the senior level.[23] In the free, she again placed first and became the champion with a personal best total score of 240.00. Kostornaia thus became the top qualifier for the Grand Prix Final in Torino, with two gold medal finishes and 30 points overall.[24]

At the 2019–20 Grand Prix Final, she topped her own world record by scoring 85.45 in the short program, placing first.[25] In spite of having the only clean free skate amongst the ladies, Kostornaia ranked second in that segment, 0.51 point behind teammate Anna Shcherbakova. However, her lead from the short program was enough not only to win her the title by almost 7 points over Shcherbakova, but also to help her break the world record for the combined total score in ladies' singles skating, previously held by Alexandra Trusova. She became the fifth figure skater in any discipline to win the Junior Grand Prix Final and Grand Prix Final in consecutive years.[26]

Kostornaia competed next at the 2020 Russian National championships, where she again won the short program, setting a ten-point lead over second-place Anna Shcherbakova.[27] However, she made mistakes in the free skate, with imperfect landings on her double Axel and triple flip-triple toe loop combination, and placed second in that segment to become the national silver medalist, two points behind Shcherbakova. This result secured her a spot in the European and World teams.[28]

At the 2020 European Championships, Kostornaia was in the lead following a clean short program.[29] She placed second in the free skate behind Shcherbakova, receiving a deduction for falling on her last jumping pass, a triple Lutz, but still scored enough to claim the European title by three points. Upon being interviewed after her victory, she expressed surprise at the results, as she had not expected to win in light of her mistake.[30]

After the 2020 World Championships were cancelled over concern about the COVID-19 pandemic, Kostornaia officially ended her season, having gone undefeated at every international competition of her senior debut.

Kostornaia with new coaches, Sergei Rozanov (left) and Evgeni Plushenko (center) at the 2020 Rostelecom Cup

On 31 July 2020, it was announced by Russian media outlet R-Sport that Kostornaia had chosen to part ways with coach Eteri Tutberidze to train in the camp of coach Evgeni Plushenko.[31] This news was first reported by Tutberidze herself via Instagram where she claimed that the split was due to Kostornaia's refusal to share the ice with other teammates.[32] Kostornaia herself initially declined to comment on her departure. Although she left Tutberidze with two new programs set, including a new free program to three variations of Lovely by Billie Eilish and Khalid, Plushenko stated in an interview with TASS that he and his team would set two more new programs for Kostornaia for the season, potentially with international choreographers.[33] While her new short program ended up being choreographed by her coach, Sergei Rozanov, her new free program was set remotely by Canadian former ice dancer and choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Kostornaia performs her Billie Eilish short program at the 2020 Rostelecom Cup

At the 2020 Russian test skate event, Kostornaia elected to only perform her short program as her free program had yet to be finalized due to limited training time.[34] Her coach, Evgeni Plushenko, also stated that Kostornaia was recovering from an unspecified injury and had not yet returned to top form. Due to the injury and late coaching change, Kostornaia was assigned to the final two events in the 2020–21 Russian Cup series, a domestic competition series used to determine qualification to the Russian Figure Skating Championships.[35] She was also assigned to compete at the 2020 Rostelecom Cup.

Kostornaia opened her competitive season at the fourth stage of the domestic Russian Cup series held in Kazan, Russia on November 8. She won the short program by a small margin over teammate Alexandra Trusova with a score of 78.15, despite a step-out on her triple flip-triple toe loop combination and a loss of control on her Biellmann spin. In the free skate, she placed second behind Trusova to win the silver medal overall.[36]

At the 2020 Rostelecom Cup, Kostornaia cleanly skated her short program and placed first in that segment with a score of 78.84 points, four points ahead of Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who performed a triple Axel but made an error executing her combination.[37] She dropped to the silver medal position behind Tuktamysheva in the free skate, after underrotating three triple jumps and losing levels on several non-jump elements. She remarked afterward: "you need jumps like the triple Axel and quads to compete at the highest level, so it is in my plans and I'm working towards that."[38]

On December 4, it was announced that Kostornaia had withdrawn from the fifth stage of the Russian Cup after contracting COVID-19.[39] Kostornaia later withdrew from the 2021 Russian Championships on December 22 due to lack of training time leading up to the event, and ongoing recovery from the virus.[40]

On January 19, 2021, it was announced that Kostornaia had been selected as one of the participants in the Channel One Russia Figure Skating Cup, a domestic team tournament featuring six skaters or teams in each discipline, competing against one another in teams of three.[41] Kostornaia earned her place in the event on the strength of her performance at the 2020 European Championships as she was unable to perform at the 2021 national championships, and was chosen to compete alongside fellow top contenders Anna Shcherbakova, Alexandra Trusova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Daria Usacheva, and Kamila Valieva. She later withdrew from the event on February 3 due to incomplete recovery from COVID-19.

Kostornaia posted on Instagram on January 28 announcing that she'd received an entirely new free program, again choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne, after receiving negative critiques on her original program from members of the Russian Figure Skating Federation. Vice President of the ISU Alexander Lakernik visited one of Kostornaia's training sessions to help polish the program.

Alena currently holds the senior world record for the short program and the total score.

Alena has set the junior world record scores 2 times under the current +5 / -5 GOE (Grade of Execution) system.

Note: Because of the introduction of the new +5 / -5 GOE (Grade of Execution) system which replaced the previous +3 / -3 GOE system, ISU has decided that all statistics start from zero for the season 2018–19. All previous records are now historical.[50]

Kostornaia at the 2020 Rostelecom Cup

Kostornaia at the medal ceremony at the 2019 Internationaux de France.

Personal bests highlighted in bold. World record scores are italicized.

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Current ISU world bests highlighted in bold and italic. Previous ISU world best highlighted in bold. Historical ISU world best highlighted in bold and italic. Personal bests highlighted in italic.

Kostornaia at the 2017–18 Junior Grand Prix Final.