63 Facts About Alena Kostornaia

Alena Sergeyevna Kostornaia is a Russian figure skater.

Alena Kostornaia previously held the world record for the highest senior short program score in women's skating.

Alena Kostornaia currently holds the world record for the highest junior short program score in women's skating.

Alena Kostornaia is the tenth woman in history to have landed the triple Axel jump in a senior international competition.

Alena Kostornaia is the third woman after teammate Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Rika Kihira of Japan to attempt and land the maximum number of triple jumps allowed in one senior international competition: four in the short program and eight in the free skate.

Alena Kostornaia was born on 24 August 2003 in Moscow to parents Sergei and Tatiana.

Alena Kostornaia has a number of pets, including a rabbit gifted to her by her fans, a cat, and a Maltipoo named Audrey.

Alena Kostornaia finished 16th at the 2017 Russian Junior Championships.

Alena Kostornaia won silver behind Sofia Samodurova at JGP Italy by a margin of 0.04 points.

At the senior level, Alena Kostornaia won bronze at the 2018 Russian Figure Skating Championships.

Alena Kostornaia later won silver at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships behind teammate Alexandra Trusova by a margin of 0.58 points.

In March 2018, Alena Kostornaia competed at the 2018 World Junior Championships.

Alena Kostornaia placed second in the short program and the free skate, winning the silver medal behind Trusova.

Alena Kostornaia learned to perform a triple Axel in the preceding year, and originally planned to introduce it in competition.

Alena Kostornaia started her season by competing in the 2018 JGP series.

Alena Kostornaia won the gold medal at her first JGP event of the season in Linz, Austria.

Alena Kostornaia 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.

Alena Kostornaia skated her second JGP event of the season at JGP Ostrava, where she again placed first in both the short program and the free skate.

Alena Kostornaia won the gold medal by a margin of about 2 points over the silver medalist, Kim Ye-lim.

Alena Kostornaia outscored her teammate and training partner Trusova by about 2.5 points.

At this event, Alena Kostornaia scored her personal best score of 217.98 points, and set a new junior-level ladies' record for the short program.

At the 2019 Russian Championships, Alena 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.

Alena Kostornaia then placed third in the free skate as well, winning her second consecutive national bronze medal.

Alena Kostornaia participated in the 2019 Russian Junior Championships, winning the short program and placing second in the free skate.

Alena Kostornaia placed second overall, winning her second consecutive junior national silver medal.

Shortly after debuting her programs at the Russian test skates, Alena Kostornaia resumed training the triple Axel jump.

Alena Kostornaia debuted on the senior international level at the 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy, where she placing first in both the short program and free skate.

Alena Kostornaia 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.

Alena Kostornaia 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.

Alena Kostornaia took the gold medal over training mate and reigning World and Olympic champion Alina Zagitova by a margin of 19.94 points.

At the 2019 NHK Trophy, Alena Kostornaia performed a clean skate with a successful triple Axel to place first in the short program, 5.15 points over Rika Kihira, who landed a triple Axel, and set a new world record score of 85.04 for the ladies' short program at the senior level.

Alena Kostornaia became the top qualifier for the Grand Prix Final in Torino, with two gold medal finishes and 30 points overall.

In spite of having the only clean free skate amongst the ladies, Alena Kostornaia ranked second in that segment, 0.51 point behind teammate Anna Shcherbakova.

Alena Kostornaia became the fifth figure skater in any discipline to win the Junior Grand Prix Final and Grand Prix Final in consecutive years.

Alena 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.

Alena Kostornaia received the silver medal, two points behind Shcherbakova, and secured a spot on the European and World teams.

At the 2020 European Championships, Alena Kostornaia was in the lead following a clean short program.

Alena Kostornaia 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.

On 31 July 2020, it was announced by Russian media outlet R-Sport that Alena Kostornaia had chosen to part ways with coach Eteri Tutberidze to train in the camp of coach Evgeni Plushenko.

At the 2020 Russian test skate event, Alena Kostornaia only performed her short program as her free program was not finalized due to limited training time.

Alena Kostornaia was assigned to compete at the 2020 Rostelecom Cup.

Alena Kostornaia 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.

At the 2020 Rostelecom Cup, Alena 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.

Alena Kostornaia 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.

Alena Kostornaia later withdrew from the 2021 Russian Championships on 22 December due to lack of training time caused by her recovery from the virus.

On 19 January 2021, it was announced that Alena Kostornaia was selected to participate 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.

Alena Kostornaia earned her place in the event because of 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.

Alena Kostornaia struggled in the short at the event, only executing a tight double toe loop after a messy landing on the triple flip in her intended triple flip-triple-toe loop combination, placing sixth in the segment.

Alena Kostornaia maintained her standing in the free skate to finish sixth overall, two placements below Tuktamysheva.

At her first international assignment of the season, the 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy, Alena Kostornaia did not attempt the triple Axel in the short program, opting instead to skate cleanly under the advisement of her coaches, and placed second in the segment behind Russian teammate Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.

At Skate Canada, Alena Kostornaia placed third in the short program.

Alena Kostornaia attempted and landed her triple Axel, though it was called on the quarter, and trailed behind Valieva and Tuktamysheva.

Alena Kostornaia was fourth in the free skate, but remained in third place overall.

Alena Kostornaia attempted and fell on it in the free skate, but landed her other jumps, taking the silver medal.

Alena Kostornaia skated the free skate with dramatic makeup she cited as a tribute to Billie Eilish, "who is not afraid to look different than others, and I really relate to that".

Alena Kostornaia declined to comment on the injury, but her inability to compete was largely perceived by figures in Russian figure skating as the end to her bid to qualify to the Russian team for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Unlike her training-mates at Sambo-70, Alena Kostornaia is often considered a product of the Elena Tchaikovskaia school of figure skating as her first coach, Elena Zhgun, was a student of Tchaikovskaia's and passed her knowledge of strong skating basics on to Alena Kostornaia from a young age.

Alena Kostornaia is often compared to her training-mates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova as the three entered the international junior and senior competitive circuits together and for many seasons were considered one another's primary rivals by both fans and specialists.

Alena Kostornaia has a history of increasing the difficulty of the technical elements in her programs to remain at the top of the ladies field.

Alena Kostornaia has stated in the past that she hopes to eventually add a quad Salchow to her technical arsenal.

Alena Kostornaia is a two-time Silver Doe prize recipient for Best Sportsman of the Year.

Alena Kostornaia was nominated for the award through popular vote by figure skating fans and then selected as the winner by a committee of judges.

Alena Kostornaia currently holds the junior world record for the short program.