Elizaveta Tuktamysheva

Elizaveta Sergeyevna Tuktamysheva ( ; ; born 17 December 1996) is a Russian retired figure skater. She is the 2015 World champion, the 2021 World silver medalist, the 2015 European champion and the 2013 European bronze medalist. She has medaled 16 times on the Grand Prix series, including 5 gold medals and including gold at the 2014–15 Grand Prix Final and bronze at the 2018–19 Grand Prix Final. On national level she is an 8-time medalist in the Russian Championships and the 2013 Russian national champion, as well as 4-time medalist in the Russian Cup Finals. On the junior level, she is the 2012 Youth Olympic champion, 2011 World Junior silver medalist, and 2010–11 JGP Final silver medalist.

At the 2015 World Championships, she landed a triple axel in competition for the first time, making her the sixth woman, and second Russian woman to do so, and she became the first female skater to land four triple jumps in a short program (triple Axel, triple Lutz, and a triple toe-triple toe combination).

In July 2020, Tuktamysheva received her diploma from the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health in Saint Petersburg.

She dated fellow Russian figure skater Andrei Lazukin from 2015 to 2020. As of 2026, she is in a relationship with fellow Russian figure skater, Petr Gumennik.

Tuktamysheva is bilingual and able to communicate in Russian and English fluently. In addition, she is a staunch advocate of women's rights in Russia, having criticized the country's rhetoric and policies in pressuring women to give birth, abortion restrictions, and the lack of protective laws towards victims of domestic violence.

Sanctions In April 2023, Tuktamysheva was sanctioned by the Ukrainian government due to her her participating in a pro-war ice show, with all her assets in Ukraine frozen and a 50-year ban on entering the country. Tuktamysheva, herself, expressed disappointment about the ice show being used as a Russia propaganda tool, writing in an Instagram post, "I really wanted to believe that sports are outside of politics, but today it turned out not to be so. I love figure skating, I truly love what I do - I live it. I want to compete, I want to skate, I want to put on new programs, I want to participate in ice shows. But I don't want the performances of athletes to become a way of manipulation and beliefs. At a total loss..."

Competitive career Early years Tuktamysheva started skating at the age of four after meeting girls interested in the sport at a summer camp. She placed second with a margin of 0.67 points behind champion Adelina Sotnikova, who is half a year older than Tuktamysheva. At her next event, the 2014 Cup of China, she won the gold medal, beating teammate Yulia Lipnitskaya. The results qualified her to the Grand Prix Final, which she won with a new personal best combined total of 203.58, ahead of Radionova and American Ashley Wagner. At the 2015 Russian Championships, Tuktamysheva placed second in both programs, finishing with the silver behind Radionova. She subsequently won the 2015 European Championship by a slim margin of 0.86, finishing second in the short program and first in the free skate, posting personal bests in both segments.

At the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships, Tuktamysheva won the short program with a new personal best of 77.62, the third highest short program score under the ISU Judging System. She performed the triple Axel for the first time in major competition, becoming the sixth woman to complete the jump and the fourth to do so at the World Championships. She also completed a triple toe-triple toe combination and a triple Lutz, making her the first woman to land four triples in the short program. Tuktamysheva went on to win the free skate with a score of 132.74, for a total of 210.36. She decisively won the event, earning 16.76 points over silver medalist Satoko Miyahara, becoming the third Russian woman to win the World Championships (after Maria Butyrskaya in 1999 and Irina Slutskaya in 2002 and 2005).

After her victory, Tuktamysheva ended her season skating for team Russia at the 2015 World Team Trophy. She placed second in the short program, 0.33 points behind Gracie Gold, earning 11 points. She then won the free program with a score of 134.21 (including a triple Axel), winning 12 points, which greatly aided Team Russia in winning the silver medal.

2015–2020: Injury and comeback 2015–2016 season: Ankle injury and recovery In the spring of 2015, Tuktamysheva went to Switzerland to work with Stéphane Lambiel on new programs and spent time training with Carolina Kostner while she was there. Lambiel choreographed Peer Gynt, her free program, and I Put a Spell on You, intended as her short program but which she decided to use as her exhibition. Benoît Richaud created her new short program, Carmina Burana.

Tuktamysheva began her season by placing third in the individual competition of the Japan Open before winning the gold medal at the 2015 International Cup of Nice. Turning to the Grand Prix series, she won silver at Skate Canada International behind Ashley Wagner after placing seventh in the short program but winning the free skate.

2017–2018 season Tuktamysheva started her season by competing in two Challenger events. First, she competed at the 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy, where she placed sixth, and then she skated at the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy, where she won the bronze medal. In her Grand Prix events, she placed 7th at the 2017 Cup of China and ninth at the 2017 Internationaux de France. After the Grand Prix events, she skated her third Challenger event of the season at the 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where she won the bronze medal.

At the 2018 Russian Championships Tuktamysheva finished seventh.

2018–2019 season: Comeback

In the summer before the start of the 2018–19 season, Tuktamysheva began training both the triple Axel and the triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination again with the intention of adding both components back into her programs in competition. She expressed satisfaction with having successfully increased her program difficulty in press conferences at the event. Russian media outlet TASS reported that her recovery would take two weeks. After Russian Nationals, she was named to the 2019 Winter Universiade team and as first alternate to the 2019 European Figure Skating Championships team.

In February 2019, Tuktamysheva competed at the Russian Cup Final, going head-to-head with countrywomen Evgenia Medvedeva and Stanislava Konstantinova to earn a spot on the Russian 2019 World Figure Skating Championships team. Though she won the free skate, Tuktamysheva placed second overall behind Medvedeva. After several days of deliberation, the Russian Figure Skating Federation's board of coaches named Medvedeva to the team along with Alina Zagitova and Tuktamysheva's training mate Sofia Samodurova. Tuktamysheva was named first alternate. This decision was controversial, with some feeling that Tuktamysheva should have been selected based on her strong season. At the competition, she set new personal best scores in both programs as well as overall after skating both of her programs cleanly for the first time all season. With both programs cleanly performed, she became the first woman to land twelve clean triple jumps in one international competition. She competed as part of the Russian team for the 2021 World Team Trophy with a second place performance of the short program on the opening day within one point behind Russian teammate Anna Shcherbakova. She finished in third place following the free skate with her combined scores.

She did not compete in the 2024–25 season. At the 2025 Russian Challenge competition, Tuktamysheva performed to Asturias by Youn Sun Nah, scoring 28.27 and placing third.

She announced her retirement from competitive figure skating on 24 November 2025. She performed a farewell gala exhibition routine at the 2026 Russian Championships to the song "Hallelujah".

Post-competitive career Following her retirement, Tuktamysheva began working as an assistant coach to Alexei Mishin. In addition, she became a TV presenter for Russian television, often interviewing both Russian and English-speaking figure skaters.

Programs

Post-Competitive Career Programs SeasonExhibition2025–2026 Berghain Toxic 2024–2025 24 Préludes for Piano, Op. 28: No. 4 In e Minor - Largo Asturias / The Four Seasons: Winter 1 (2012)

Competitive Career Programs Season Short program Free skating Exhibition 2023–2024 Nebo Ya

Loneliness Nebo Ya 2022–2023 Feeling Good Toxic 2021–2022