Figure skater Medvedeva returns to coach Tutberidze

MOSCOW – Olympic silver medallist Evgenia Medvedeva said Wednesday she has returned to working with Eteri Tutberidze, the Russian figure skating coach who first took her to stardom.

Medvedeva and Tutberidze appeared together in a televised training session. Medvedeva left Tutberidze for Canadian coach Brian Orser in May 2018, three months after losing out to another Tutberidze skater, Alina Zagitova, at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Medvedeva won world championship bronze with Orser’s help in 2019 but has since struggled to challenge for top places amid competition from a new wave of younger Russian skaters, some of them performing hitherto rarely seen quadruple jumps.

She hasn’t been able to train with Orser in Toronto for several months because of the coronavirus pandemic, which for a time left her stranded in Japan after travelling there for a show. Medvedeva said Orser had no objection to the change of coach.

“We still have a good, warm relationship and no conflicts or anything,” Medvedeva said of Orser in comments to state TV.

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