Alexandra Trusova's partnership with coach Evgeni Plushenko has ended
After winning a bronze medal at the 2021 world championships in March, the quad-jumping teenager is switching coaches with less than a year to go until the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, after a 12-month spell with Evgeni Plushenko.
Figure Skating
Two-time World junior figure skating champion Alexandra 'Sasha' Trusova is no longer being coached by Evgeni Plushenko.
Plushenko announced the ‘separation’ in a post on his Instagram account in Russian on Saturday (1st May), saying "On May 1, our contract ended, and by mutual desire of the two sides, we did not renew it."
He also wished her well in the next stage of her career, and reflected on what the 16-year-old had achieved under his guidance over the past 12-months.
"With the wonderful Sasha Trusova, we went through a very fruitful season! We won 2 stages of the Russian Cup, the bronze of the Russian and World Championships," the two-time Olympic gold medallist added.
Trusova had joined the former skater’s team from coach Eteri Tutberidze’s school in May 2020**.**
She claimed bronze at the 2021 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in March for the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSR), after winning the free skate.
The quad-jumping 16-year-old told Olympic Channel afterwards that she prefers to skate with difficult content in her program.
The move comes less than a year before the start of the Beijing 2022 Games, and Trusova will be battling several other top skaters, including world champion Anna Shcherbakova, two-time medallist Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Alena Kostornaia as well as soon-to-be-age-eligible skaters like Kamila Valieva, Daria Usacheva, Maiia Kromykh, for the three places on the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team at the Winter Olympics.