Alexandra Trusova

Alexandra "Sasha" Vyacheslavovna Trusova (['trusəvə]; Russian: Александра Вячеславовна Трусова; born 23 June 2004) is a Russian figure skater, who currently holds the world record for the free skate (166.62 points). She is the 2020 European Bronze Medalist, the 2019 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2019 Skate Canada champion, the 2019 Rostelecom Cup champion, the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela champion, the 2019 Russian national silver medalist, and the 2020 Russian national bronze medalist.

On the junior level, she is a two-time Junior World champion (2018, 2019), the 2017 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, the 2018 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist, and a two-time Russian junior national champion (2018, 2019).

Trusova is the first female skater to land the quad Lutz, flip, and toe loop jumps, the second to land the quad Salchow after Miki Ando, and the first to land two and three ratified quads in a free skate, achieved at the 2018 Junior World Championships and the 2019 Nepela Trophy, respectively.

Trusova also holds the junior world records for the free skate (150.40 points) and the overall score (222.89 points). Her technical score of 92.35 points in the free skate at the 2018 Junior Worlds was the highest ever recorded in women's figure skating on both the junior and senior level until the GOE (Grade of Execution) system was changed at the end of 2017–18 season.

At 13 years old, Trusova was the youngest lady to win the Junior World Championships and Junior Grand Prix Final. At the 2018 JGP Lithuania, Trusova set another milestone by becoming the first female skater to land a quad in combination (quad toe loop + triple toe loop). A few weeks later, at the 2018 JGP Armenia, her quad Lutz jump was deemed fully rotated, making her the first female skater to land the jump in international competition. Trusova is the first and currently only female skater competing with four different types of quadruple jumps—toe loop, Salchow, flip, and Lutz. She is the also first female skater in history to score above 100 in technical elements when she recorded 100.20 technical points in the free skate at the 2019 Skate Canada.

Personal life

Trusova was born on 23 June 2004 in Ryazan. The eldest of three children, she has two younger brothers named Egor and Ivan. As an avid animal lover, Trusova has a pet chihuahua named Tina, who often accompanies her to competitions. She also has a miniature royal poodle named Lana, which she received at Rostelecom Cup for winning the 2019 World Junior Figure Skating Championships and for landing her first triple axel in practice.

Career

Early career

Trusova began learning to skate in 2008. She trained in Ryazan under Olga Shevtsova until 2015; she then moved to Moscow where she was coached by Alexander Volkov. Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov became her coaches in 2016.

Trusova finished 4th at the 2017 Russian Junior Championships after placing 6th in the short program and 4th in the free skate.

2017–2018 season: Junior international debut and achievement of quad in competition

Trusova's international debut came in late August 2017 at a 2017–18 ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) competition in Brisbane, Australia. Ranked first in both segments, she won the gold medal ahead of teammate Anastasia Gulyakova. She landed an underrotated quad Salchow in her free program. Her total score at the event, 197.69 points, is the third highest ever achieved by a ladies' single skater on the junior level at the time, behind only Alina Zagitova and Marin Honda.

She then finished first at JGP Belarus, thus qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix Final.

At the 2017–18 Junior Grand Prix Final, Trusova scored 73.25 points, breaking the Junior Ladies World record for the short program. In the free skate, she scored 132.36 points, which was about 0.5 points less than what her teammate and training partner, Alena Kostornaia, scored. However, because of Trusova's 1.5 point lead after the short program, she won the competition by about 1 point.

In January 2018, Trusova won the gold medal at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships after placing first in the short program and third in the free skate. Again, she narrowly beat her training partner Alena Kostornaia, winner of the silver medal, by only about 0.6 points.

In March 2018, Trusova competed at the 2018 Junior Worlds where she won the gold medal after placing first in both the short program and the free skate. Her free skating score of 153.49 points was the new World record for the junior free program. Her total score of 225.52 points was the new World record for the junior combined total score. At this competition, Trusova became the first female skater to land the quad toe loop, the second to land the quad Salchow behind Miki Ando, and the first to land two ratified quads in a free skate. She landed the quadruple jump for the first time in 16 years since Miki Ando in 2002. Her technical score of 92.35 points in the free skate at the 2018 Junior World was the highest ever recorded in women's figure skating on both the junior and senior level. Interestingly, her total score of 225.52 would have placed her first in the senior women's World Championships that year as well, despite significantly lower program component scores and the absence of a choreographic sequence.

2018–2019 season: Second Junior World title

Trusova started her season by competing in the 2018 Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series. At her first JGP event of the season she won the gold medal in Kaunas, Lithuania. She was ranked first in both the short program and the free skate and won the gold medal by a margin of about 30 points over the silver medalist, Kim Ye-lim. As of September 2018, her scores at this competition are the highest scores achieved in an international junior ladies competition. At this competition Trusova became the first female skater to land a quad in combination - a quad toe loop + triple toe loop; she received 16.14 points for this combination. She also became the first female skater to attempt a quad lutz in a competition. She landed the jump, but it was credited as under rotated.

At her second JGP event of the season she won another gold medal in Yerevan, Armenia. Again she was ranked first in both the short program and the free skate and won the gold medal by a margin of about 33 points over the silver medalist, her teammate Alena Kanysheva. Trusova also upgraded her earlier free skate world record score. At this competition Trusova became the first female skater to land a quadruple Lutz in international competition. A few days earlier Anna Shcherbakova had landed two quadruple Lutz jumps in a domestic competition. With two Junior Grand Prix gold medals Trusova qualified for the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix Final.

At the JGP Final she won the silver medal after placing second in both the short program and the free skate. She was outscored by the gold medalist, her teammate and training partner Alena Kostornaia, by about 2.5 points. In the free skate, Trusova landed a clean quad toe loop but she had a step-out on her first quad Lutz and fell on her second quad Lutz which was deemed under-rotated.

Competing next at the 2019 Russian Championships, Trusova placed second in the short program and second in the free skate to win the silver medal overall. In the free skate, she landed a quad lutz but fell on an under-rotated quad toe loop, finishing behind teammate Anna Shcherbakova by 0.07 points. Speaking afterward, Trusova said she planned to work more on her quad jumps prior to the 2019 Junior World Championships.

Trusova successfully defended her Junior World title at the 2019 World Junior Championships after placing second in the short program to teammate Anna Shcherbakova and winning the free program.

2019–2020 season: Senior international debut

Trusova made her international senior debut at the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial where she won the gold medal and set several new world records. In free skating she became the first lady ever to land three quadruples when she landed a quad Lutz and two quad toe loops, the second in combination. She set the new free skating record of 163.78 points and also the new combined total record of 238.69 points. Her technical element score (TES) of 98.34 points in free skating was also the new world record. She earned 14.72 points for her quadruple Lutz which was the new record for the highest valued single jump.

On October 5, Trusova skated in the team competition at the Japan Open, where she won the event with fours quads; quad Salchow, quad Lutz, quad toe-triple toe, and a quad toe-Euler-triple Salchow combination, scoring over 160 points. Since it was not an official ISU competition, her historic number of quads were not officially recognized as the first in international competition.

Trusova made her ISU Grand Prix debut at the 2019 Skate Canada International, where she won the gold medal after placing third in the short program and first in the free skate. At this competition she became the first lady ever to land two quad-triple jump combinations in one program in ISU sanctioned international competition with a quad toe loop-triple toe loop and quad toe loop-Euler-triple Salchow. She also became the first lady to land a quad-triple jump combination in the second half of the free skate. At the same competition she set the new free skating record of 166.62 points and also the new combined total record of 241.02 points. Her technical element score (TES) of 100.20 points in free skating was also the new world record. At her second Grand Prix, the 2019 Rostelecom Cup, Trusova placed second in the short program behind Evgenia Medvedeva. She was first in the free skate, despite again falling on her opening quad Salchow attempt and another fall on a triple combination later, winning her second Grand Prix gold medal.

Trusova's results qualified her for the Grand Prix Final in Torino. Skating in the short program, Trusova opted to attempt the triple Axel in competition for the first time, but underrotated and fell on it. Consequently, she placed fifth in that segment, fourteen points behind first-place Alena Kostornaia. Trusova said that the decision to introduce the triple Axel had been taken in light of its being landed "more or less consistently" in practices in the preceding week, and remarked "I like to risk, and without risking, I wouldn’t achieve what I have by this moment." In the free skate, Trusova attempted the quad flip in competition for the first time, landing it cleanly, alongside a quad Lutz and a quad toe loop, but doubled an intended quad Salchow and fell on a second quad toe attempt. She became the first female skater to attempt five quads in a free skate, as well as the first to attempt four different types of quads. Third in the free, she rose to the bronze medal position behind Kostornaia and Anna Shcherbakova.

At the 2020 Russian Championships, Trusova placed third in the short program, opting not to attempt the triple Axel. The free skate proved a struggle, with two falls on her quad Lutz and quad flip attempts, and doubling out on her first attempted quad toe loop. She went on to land her second quad toe attempt, as well as her remaining triple jumps, and remained in third place. She described herself as "not pleased" with the performance, but said she hoped to master the quad loop by the end of the season.

Competing at the 2020 European Championships, Trusova doubled a planned triple axel and turned out of it. She scored 74.95 points and placed 3rd in that segment behind Alena Kostornaia and Anna Shcherbakova. In the free skate, she fell on two planned quads, but landed her quad toe-triple toe combination successfully. She placed third overall behind her two teammates, winning the bronze medal.

Programs

Records and achievements

• Set the junior-level ladies' record of the new +5 / -5 GOE (Grade of Execution) system for the short program with a score of 74.74 points at the 2018 JGP Lithuania, previously held by Russian teammate Anna Shcherbakova.
• Set the junior-level ladies' record of the new +5 / -5 GOE (Grade of Execution) system for the free program with a score of 146.81 points at the 2018 JGP Armenia.
• Set the junior-level ladies' record of the new +5 / -5 GOE (Grade of Execution) system for the free program with a score of 146.70 points at the 2018 JGP Lithuania, previously held by Russian teammate Alena Kostornaia.
• Set the junior-level ladies' record of the new +5 / -5 GOE (Grade of Execution) system for the total score with a score of 221.44 points at the 2018 JGP Lithuania, previously held by Russian teammate Anna Shcherbakova.
• At 13 years old, born on the 23rd of June, she is the youngest lady to win at the Junior World Championships and Junior Grand Prix Final, a distinction previously held by then 13 year old Yulia Lipnitskaya who was born on June 5th.
• First lady to land a quad lutz jump in international competition.
• First lady to land a quad in combination (the quad toe loop + triple toe loop).
• First lady to land a quad toe loop.
• First lady to land two quads in the free skate.
• First lady to land two different types of quads.
• First lady to land three different triple jumping pass combinations in the free skate with the second jump ending in a 3Salchow, 3Loop, and 3Toe.
• Second lady to land a clean quad Salchow behind Miki Ando.
• First lady to land three quad jumps in one program on the test skating on the 8th of September 2019.

• At the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial she became the first lady ever to land three quadruples in ISU sanctioned international competition when she landed 4Lz, 4T+3T and 4T. At the same competition she set the new free skating record of 163.78 points and also the new combined total record of 238.69 points. Her technical element score (TES) of 98.34 points in free skating was also the new world record. She earned 14.72 points for her quadruple lutz which was the new record for the highest valued single jump.

• At the 2019 Japan Open she became the first lady to land four quads, and also the first lady to land three different quads, when she landed 4S, 4Lz, 4T+3T, and a 4T+1Eu+3S in free skate. She also became the first lady to land two quad jump and a triple jump combinations in one program and the first lady to land a quad jump and a triple jump combination in the second half of the free skate.

• At the 2019 Skate Canada she became the first lady ever to land two quad jump and a triple jump combinations in one program in ISU sanctioned international competition when she jumped 4T+3T and 4T+1Eu+3S. She also became the first lady to land a quad jump and a triple jump combination in the second half of the free skate. At the same competition she set the new free skating record of 166.62 points and also the new combined total record of 241.02 points. Her technical element score (TES) of 100.20 points in free skating was also the new world record.
• At the 2019–20 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, she was the first lady to attempt 5 quads in her free skate.
• At the 2019–20 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, she became the first lady to land a quad flip in a competition.

Historical records

• Held a technical score of 92.35 points in the free skate, the highest ever recorded in women's figure skating on both the junior and senior level until the GOE system were changed.
• Set the junior-level ladies' record for the short program with a score of 73.25 points at the 2017–18 Junior Grand Prix Final, previously held by Russian teammate Alena Kostornaia.
• Set the junior-level ladies' record for the free skating with a score of 153.49 points at the 2018 World Junior Championships, previously held by Russian teammate Alina Zagitova.
• Set the junior-level ladies' record for the total score with a score of 225.52 points at the 2018 World Junior Championships, previously held by Russian teammate Alina Zagitova.

List of Trusova's world record scores

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 starts from zero starting from season 2018–19 and all previous statistics are historical.

World record scores

Trusova has set four world record scores.

Junior world record scores

Trusova has set six junior world record scores under the new +5 / -5 GOE (Grade of Execution) system.

Historical junior world record scores

Trusova had set three junior world record scores before season 2018–19.

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results

Senior level

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. Personal bests highlighted in italic.

Junior level

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 with a * mark.