MOSCOW, December 28 (R-Sport) – Elizaveta Tuktamysheva battled through a heavy cold to win Russian national figure skating title in Sochi.
Tuktamysheva, 16, was leading after the short program and performed a near-flawless free skate to accrue 196.57 points for gold.
The 13-year-old starlet Elena Radionova claimed the silver five points adrift, while three-time Russian champion Adelina Sotnikova had to settle for bronze.
Tuktamysheva's participation in the free skate was in doubt right up to the last minute due to illness.
“I decided to skate, because if you start fighting then you should fight till the end,” Tuktamysheva said. “To be honest, I feel bad. Of course, my will played its role.”
Both Tuktamysheva and Sotnikova qualified for the European Championships, while Radionova who is still too young for the tournament will be replaced by Nikol Gosviani, who finished sixth.
Tuktamysheva took the figure skating world by storm on her breakthrough year last season, winning two Grand Prix stages and finishing fourth in the Grand Prix final. She also won the Winter Youth Olympics in January.
The championships at the Iceberg Skating Palace, which is to be used for next winter's Olympic Games, also witnessed the competitive return of Evgeni Plushenko to claim his 10th national title.
In the pairs, Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov marched on through their unbeaten season, while Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Soloviev triumphed in ice dance.
