Star who returned: Trusova brilliantly won the tournament in Kazakhstan

Triumph of the return: Alexandra Ignatova won the Denis Ten Memorial in Almaty.

On the evening of October 9, the international tournament of the Challenger series Memorial of Denis Ten ended in Almaty. The main event of the competition was the confident victory of silver medalist of the Olympic Games 2022 Alexandra Ignatova (Trusova). Not only did she win gold, she also proved that she regained her best form.

According to the results of two programs, the athlete from Russia scored 226.01 points, establishing personal and seasonal achievements. In the short program, she received 77.38 points, and in the free program - 148.62 points. The gap from the nearest pursuer was almost 17 points, or to be more precise – 16.81 points. The silver medal of the tournament was won by the representative of South Korea Kim Yoo Jae with a score of 209.20 points. The three winners were closed by Kazakhstani figure skater Sophia Samodelkina, who scored 204.36 points.

Arbitrary program wards Eteri Tutberidze, Daniil Gleikhenhaus and Sergey Dudakov rolled out powerfully and consciously. She opened the rent with a quadruple lutz. The jump was performed with a small buck and an imperfect exit, but the skater performed all other elements of the program to the maximum difficulty levels, receiving excellent quality bonuses from the judges. Her arsenal also included a triple rittberger, a triple salchy, a triple lutz cascade - triple toe loop and a complex triple lutz - oiler - triple salchy - double axel sequence, and a double axel jumped in the program finale. The judges highly appreciated the character, calmness and championship confidence of the athlete, who went ahead and clearly understood her actions on the ice.

This success was Ignatova’s second international award this season. In early September, she won the Kinoshita Group Cup in Tokyo with 221.06 points. In Kazakhstan, the skater improved her seasonal best result by five points.

The path to this triumph was not easy. In August 2025, the athlete gave birth to his son Michael. In the winter of 2026, she announced the resumption of her sports career and the return to the famous headquarters of Eteri Tutberidze. Not everyone believed in the successful return of the figure skater, who became a mother only a year ago, but with her performance in Almaty, she destroyed all stereotypes and showed that with a goal and desire, nothing is impossible. All Russian skaters perform in the international arena in a neutral status.

Other representatives of Russia successfully coped with the debut. Maria Zakharova, who trains under Anna Tsareva, finished her first international start in fifth place with a total of 187.77 points. In an arbitrary program, she unsuccessfully performed a quadruple toe loop, allowing a fall, but was able to gather and roll back the rest of the rental at the limit of possibilities. The final chords of the music caught the skater without strength: immediately after the end of the program, she fell on the ice, leaving all her emotions and energy in the arena.

Another debutante of international competitions Dina Khusnutdinova, also representing the Tutberidze school, finished seventh with a score of 185.70 points. In the free program, the athlete claimed two triple axels. The first jump she performed in a double toe loop cascade, but with the second attempt did not work out. In the second half of the rental skater doubled rittberger, but with the rest of the elements coped.

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Gold in Almaty became not just another medal for Alexandra Ignatova, but a symbol of overcoming and triumphing fortitude, an inspiring example for the whole world figure skating.