Sofia Samodelkina: "I really want to bring back my quads"

Sofia Samodelkina, a 2021 Junior Grand Prix medalist competing for Russia, made her international debut this season for Kazakhstan. After a fourth place at the JGP in Ankara, she went on to finish second at the Denis Ten Memorial Challenge.

The Russian version of this interview has been published at the Olympic Channel website.

Your return to the international arena started in Ankara at the ISU Junior Grand Prix. How did it feel?
Sofia: I am happy that I can compete. It's been quite a long time from my last event to the competition in Kazakhstan this summer. A lot of time has passed, a lot of things have happened: both good and bad. In Ankara I felt the atmosphere of an international competition - everything was as I remember it from three years ago at the Junior Grand Prix in Krasnoyarsk and Slovenia. I certainly enjoyed it very much, it is exciting. Especially when you do well. You go through the program and with each element you get better and better - the emotions are overwhelming.

How do you evaluate your performances in Ankara and at the Denis Ten Memorial?
Sofia: Both here and in Ankara my performances were successful. Although there were some mistakes. Moreover, both there and there the mistakes were mostly in spins and footwork, but not in jumps. Although I am jumping less now. I just healed my leg, and we try not to push too hard. Everything is going step by step. It was a good start in Ankara. I became fourth - for the first international competition after the break it is a decent result taking into account the performances. Here at the Denis Ten Memorial I won silver at the senior level. It was my international senior debut.

How nervous were you, performing here in Kazakhstan?
Sofia: I was nervous because it's a competition. The brain still adjusts differently to a competition. In Kazakhstan you feel the home audience. I saw familiar coaches with whom we train at the same rink. They said they would come to cheer for me. It was very nice.

You moved to Astana, didn't you?
Sofia: Yes. At the moment I am training here. Soon I will fly to America to see Rafael Arutiunian. I am very much looking forward to this trip: I have packed my suitcases, I will take two pairs of skates.

For how long will you go?
Sofia: I don’t know yet. I think we will discuss it with Rafael Vladimirovich.

You decided to change your coach, move to Kazakhstan and then go to work with Rafael Arutiunian. Why was this decision made and by whom?
Sofia: It was a common decision, a proposal from Kazakhstan. I really wanted to train abroad and the Kazakh Federation suggested this idea as well. When they came forward with this proposal, I started to think about international experts, looked at the results of the skaters of the coaches. Since I was little I had heard a lot of positive things about Rafael Vladimirovitch. Moreover, he coached Olympic Champion Nathan Chen and now he works with Ilia Malinin who sets the sport of figure skating on fire. I decided that I wanted to try to go to him. I spoke about my decision. They (Kazakh Federation) told me that this is not easy to realize but they’ll try to talk to him. From this moment on I lived with this possibility.

“I have changed a lot”

I remember interviewing you in 2020 at the Russian Cup Final in Novgorod. Since then you have come a long way. How do you feel you have changed?
Sofia: Naturally, I have changed a lot – almost five years have passed. In this time a lot of things happened thanks to which I have really grown up – in the sport and also in life. There were good competitions when I was in top shape. There were also bad competitions when the question ‘what for’ came up. But I love this sport very much and these thoughts went away the moment I stepped on to the ice. I tried to prove that everything will work out for me. During that time when I was not skating (competing) – this is one and a half, almost two years – I worked a lot with a woman that helped me on the mental side. She is not directly a psychologist. She helps me a lot. After working with her I started to look at many things differently and competing became a lot easier for me. I did two competitions and I skated clean. This is very good so far. This is obviously not only a result of my work but also of the work of the coaches and this expert. Of course, in the past I have changed physically - I grew and I put on weight – and mentally.

Who else especially supported you in the difficult times?
Sofia: Of course my parents, my grandmother, my younger sister – all these close people that never said to me when I had an emotional outbreak ‘stop (skating)!’ They only helped and supported me. Also my friends that I could write to at any time, my coaches supported me. In each separate period different coaches supported me, but they all helped me.

You said that you didn’t want to stop skating as you love it so much. What is it that you love about skating?
Sofia: I always said that I love the jumps. But I love this feeling when you skate at high speed, go around in circles, you feel some anxiety inside yourself. When you skate at high speed and jump, the jumps are very airy. Since the last season, I discovered for myself the skating skills. I still don’t like the spins but I think I will like them, too. The jumps always had priority.

“I really want to get the quads back”

What are your programs about?
Sofia: The Short Program is Lara Croft – ‚Survivor‘ – this program suits my return to figure skating so to speak. It is a powerful piece, engaging, rhythmic, just what I wanted. I noticed it a long time ago, but before I wasn’t ready for it. Now I listened to it and suggested it to the coaches. Now I’m trying to show the character of Lara Croft and I’m working hard on this program.
We decided to change the Free Skating after the Kazakhstan Summer Championship. And we used a piece by Dimash who is very popular here. Also, when I was in the training group of Svetlana Vladimirovna Sokolovskaia, I used a small piece of this song of Dimash. This time we decided to take the whole song. It suits the program perfectly, the quad that I pan to include in the future. So we picked it and I really like it.

When you were in Juniors, you did quads and the triple Axel. Now you are saying you want to get them back. How difficult is that in your opinion?
Sofia: I really want to get the quads back, I want to get the Lutz back. But my right foot let me down a lot of time. Now it is fine, maybe it will work out to get it (4Lz) back. However, my first goal is to do the triple Axel and quad Salchow again. They were my most loyal jumps that I always did. I think first I need to lose some weight. That is not that easy to do, but it is possible. Now I am slowly adding height to the triples to have some room. Normally, when you go out in a good condition you can start “spinning”. In general, it won't be difficult for me to “spin up”. If I go out on the ice in a good condition and with a little adrenaline, I can land one on the ice on the fifth or sixth attempt. The question is to make the jump consistent. And just running around to recover quickly, I don't see the point. Again, I really want to get back the quads, but I don't want to rush into it yet.

I used to think that when you do a million quintuples, you’ll be on the podium. But it is not like that. It is not jump skating, but figure skating – with graceful positions, spirals, footwork. It is easy for me to work on that but now we try to work more on the skating skills than on the jumps. In the competitions I was nervous because I did in practice less jumps than usually. If I have done 50 jumps in practice before, I now do 20. My muscle memory that I have trained for 13 years is helping me. Thanks to my first coach, who built my muscle memory that how holds me together. Lilia Bigtagierova gave me a very good base.I had quite a few coaches: Lilia Airatovna Biktagirova, Sergei Dmitrievitch Davydov, Svetlana Vladimirovna Sokolovskaia, Evgeni Viktorovitch Plushenko. For me it was a life-lesson to go through these coaches. Each one of them gave me something, starting with the technique and ending with skating skills and presentation.

“The Olympic Games – my childhood dream”

When did you decide to switch to Kazakhstan?
Sofia: That was in March 2023. At this time I decided after a competition that I have to change something. I did well in practice and the thing was apparently not about my physical state, but about my mental state. I sat at home for about a week and did not go to practice. I was in a kind of depression. My mom suggested to me the idea with Kazakhstan (her mother was born in Kazakhstan, T.F.). I thought about it, analyzed it and felt that this could be a good chance to get to the Olympic Games where I wanted to get to since I was a child. We decided to try and it worked out.

So it was always your dream to get to the Olympic Games?
Sofia: Yes, when I was a child I told my mom that I wanted to get to the Olympic Games. This thought came up in 2014, when Adelina Sotnikova won. In my childhood I skated programs with the Olympic Games on my mind. While this was a fantasy when I was a kid, I now understand that it is realistic for me to make it to the Games. I need to work, put in effort, show my best and get there. Obviously, I watched the Games in PyeongChang (2018) and in Beijing. My dad is a big skating fan and he remembers how Tatiana Tarasova skated. He watched on TV how Natalia Filimonovna Bestemianova skated, with whom I worked.

Your dad is a bigger skating fan than your mom?
Sofia: My mom is only interested in her daughter in figure skating (laughs).

Do you have skaters that you are looking up to?
Sofia: Not now. I just look at the things they do very well. I used to really like Carolina Kostner, her program to "Ne me quitte pas" was my favorite. It is another little dream to maybe one day work with her.

What is your next competition?
Sofia: Probably the Challenger in Tallinn in November. At the senior level. For now I don’t plan to compete at the junior level anymore. The Junior Grand Prix was a competition to get back into it and to get a certain score. Maybe I’ll go to Junior Worlds this season. We’re thinking about it.

Interview & Photos: Tatjana Flade