Figure skater Samsonov talks about his first training session with Tutberidze: “Gleikhengauz came up to me and told me that we don’t do double jumps here.”

Figure skater Daniel Samsonov in an interview with he talked about the first training session in the coach’s group Eteri Tutberidze and I also remembered how the choreographer Daniel Gleikhengauz advised him not to perform double jumps.

Samsonov has been training with Tutberidze since 2015, he is a two-time Russian junior champion.

— Remember the first training session in Khrustalny. What impression did Tutberidze make on you?

— I joined the group on March 25, 2015. A few days before, he took part in the Russian Junior Championships, to which he went with Alexander Alexandrovich Shubin. I took about 15th place, my technical content was low and the coach counted the elements incorrectly, so my jumps failed due to repetitions.

At that time I already knew Daniil Markovich [Глейхенгаузом], we worked on the program. Mom called him and asked if he could come see Eteri Georgievna’s group. I was taken to the senior group, it was scary: Seryozha Voronov and other stars were skating nearby.

He started doing double jumps. Gleikhengauz came to me and said that they don’t do double jumps here, they say, do triple jumps, you can fall, underrotate, but try. For the first time, I managed a few triple toe loops and fear flips.

After training, my mother talked to Eteri Georgievna. She said I was talented, but the most important thing was working together on the characters. I had a month of probation and at the end of the season I went with the group to Novogorsk. I was 10 years old, I lived there alone, it was Eteri Georgievna’s initiative. There I have already started to jump all the triples, ”Samsonov told .