Russian figure skater Alena Kostornaia explained why she left coach Eteri Tutberidze in 2020. She shared this in the documentary film "Parallel Spins."
Kostornaia mentioned that at that time she had matured and wanted to be listened to. "But I continued to be treated like a child. The work was not based on mutual trust or dialogue; it was built solely with a heavy hand," she expressed.
In July 2020, Kostornaia left Tutberidze's group and began training under two-time Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko. In March 2021, she returned to "Sambo-70," and a year later moved to CSKA with coach Elena Buyanova.
Kostornaia has a gold medal from the 2020 European Championships and the Grand Prix Final in singles. Starting from the 2023/2024 season, she competes in pair skating with Georgy Kunitsyn.