Elizabet Tursynbaeva

Tursynbaeva in 2019
Personal information
Native name	Элизабет Тұрсынбаева
Other names	Tursynbayeva Turzynbaeva
Born	(2000-02-14)14 February 2000 (age 25) Moscow, Russia
Height	1.58 m (5 ft 2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Kazakhstan
Skating club	Sambo 70
Began skating	2005
Retired	20 September 2021[1]
Medal record Representing Kazakhstan Figure skating:Ladies's singles World Championships 2019 Saitama Ladies' singles Four Continents Championships 2019 Anaheim Ladies' singles Kazakh Championships 2015 Kyzylorda Ladies’ Singles 2016 Kyzylorda Ladies’ Singles 2017 Almaty Ladies’ Singles Winter Universiade 2019 Krasnoyarsk Ladies' singles Asian Winter Games 2017 Sapporo Ladies' singles Winter Youth Olympics 2016 Lillehammer Ladies's singles

Elizabet Tursynbaeva (Kazakh:Элизабет Тұрсынбаева,Elizabet Tūrsynbaeva; born 14 February 2000) is aKazakh retiredfigure skater. She is the2019 World silver medalist, the2019 Four Continents silver medalist, the2017 CS Ice Star champion, the2018 CS Finlandia Trophy silver medalist, the2015 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb silver medalist, the2019 Winter Universiade silver medalist, and a three-timeKazakhstani national champion (2015–2017). She placed 12th at the2018 Winter Olympics. Having successfully landed a quadrupleSalchow at the2019 World Figure Skating Championships, Tursynbaeva is the first female skater to land aquadruple jump in senior international competition.

Competing in the junior ranks, Tursynbaeva won bronze at the2016 Winter Youth Olympics and silver at twoISU Junior Grand Prix events.

Tursynbaeva placed 12th at the2018 Winter Olympics and was the 20th highest rankedladies' singles skater in the world by theInternational Skating Union following the2019–20 figure skating season.

In September 2021, she announced her retirement due to a chronic back injury.^[2]

Tursynbaeva was born on 14 February 2000 inMoscow, Russia.^[3] She is the daughter of Padishakhan Sultanalieva^[4][5] and Baitak Tursynbaev.^[6] Her family is originally fromKazakhstan.^[5] Her brother, Timur Tursynbaev, who is two years older than her, is a two-time Kazakhstan national figure skating champion. Tursynbaeva is a professionalviolinist and can also play the piano. She attended a special music school in Moscow.^[7][5] She and her mother settled inToronto,Ontario, Canada, in May 2015, where she washome-schooled.^[5][8] In 2018 they relocated back to Moscow, Russia. Tursynbaeva speaks Russian and English.^{[citation needed]}

Because of her small stature, she is known to many of her fans as "Lilbet".

Tursynbaeva started skating at the age of five after following her brother, Timur, into figure skating.^[7] As a child, she was coached by Natalia Dubinskaya andAlexander Shubin. She was also briefly coached byElena Buianova andSvetlana Sokolovskaya from 2011 to 2012, before switching toEteri Tutberidze.^[6]

RepresentingKazakhstan, Tursynbaeva made her international debut in April 2011, placing fourth in the novice ladies' category at the Rooster Cup. She won the novice bronze medal at the 2011NRW Trophy. After finishing thirteenth at the2013 Russian Junior Championships, she decided to continue representing Kazakhstan.^[5] She made no international appearances for Russia.

Her coaching relationship with Tutberidze ended in 2013 because Russian coaches no longer had the right to work with non-Russian skaters during the2014 Olympic season. Having difficulty finding a coach in Russia, Tursynbaeva and her mother wrote a letter toBrian Orser, whom she had always wanted as a coach, and sent him videos of her, asking if he could coach her. Orser, impressed by her talent, responded that he would love to work with her.^[5]

Before the 2013–2014 season, Tursynbaeva began training underBrian Orser andTracy Wilson inToronto, Canada.^[9] In September 2013, she won the silver medal in herISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut, inMinsk, Belarus.^[10] She placed fifth at her second JGP event, inTallinn, Estonia, and eleventh at the2014 World Junior Championships inSofia, Bulgaria. She ended her season with gold at the2014 Triglav Trophy in Slovenia.^[11]

During the2014 JGP series, Tursynbaeva won bronze inAichi, Japan and silver inDresden, Germany, finishing as the second alternate for the JGP Final. She then won the junior ladies' titles at theInternational Cup of Nice,Merano Cup, andNRW Trophy.^[12][13][14] At the2015 World Junior Championships inTallinn, she placed seventh in the short program, fourth in the free skate, and fourth overall.

For most of this season, Tursynbaeva experienced visa problems, which meant that she spent only part of the season training inToronto under Orser and instead trained mainly at a shopping mall ice rink in Moscow with her mother.^[5][15]

Tursynbaeva became eligible to compete internationally at the senior level for the first time in the2015-16 season. She was invited to twoGrand Prix events.^[16] Due to her ongoing visa problem, her first short program,Send In the Clowns, was created in Russia. Her exhibition program,I Got Rhythm, became her short program later during the season.^[17]

Tursynbaeva began her season by winning silver at the2015 U.S. Classic, her firstISU Challenger Series (CS) event, and gold at the2015 Skate Canada Autumn Classic. Making herGrand Prix debut, she placed fourth at the2015 Skate America and seventh at the2015 Skate Canada International. She then won silver medals at the2015 CS Tallinn Trophy and2015 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb.

In February 2016, Tursynbaeva won the individual bronze medal, behind RussiansPolina Tsurskaya andMaria Sotskova, at theWinter Youth Olympics inHamar, Norway. In March, she rose from fourteenth after the short to finish fifth overall (fourth in the free) at the2016 World Junior Championships inDebrecen, Hungary. In April, she finished twelfth at the2016 World Championships inBoston after placing twelfth in the short and tenth in the free. Later that month, she competed at her first team event, the2016 Team Challenge Cup inSpokane, Washington.

Tursynbaeva won the bronze medal at the2016 CS Autumn Classic International. She appeared as a torch-bearer for the2017 Winter Universiade but was too young to compete.^[18] At the2017 Four Continents Championships inGangneung, South Korea, she received a small bronze medal for her short program and finished eighth overall. Later that month, she placed third at the2017 Asian Winter Games. Tursynbaeva would go on to finish ninth at the2017 World Championships, scoring personal bests in the free skate and combined total scores. Her ninth-place finish qualified two spots for the ladies' singles event for the2018 Winter Olympics inPyeongchang and2018 World Championships inMilan. During the season, videos surfaced of Tursynbaeva completing fully rotatedquadSalchow jumps, along with quadruple Salchows in combination with double and triple toe-loops.

Tursynbaeva won the bronze medal at the2017 CS Autumn Classic International and then placed eighth at the2017 Rostelecom Cup. She went on to win the2017 CS Minsk-Arena Ice Star. She scored a personal best, placing fifth, at the2017 Internationaux de France. At her next competition, the2018 Four Continents Championships, she received her lowest scores of the season and finished twelfth. She went on to place twelfth at the2018 Winter Olympics, and eleventh at the2018 World Figure Skating Championships.

In June, Tursynbaeva announced that she had changed coaches fromBrian Orser andTracy Wilson back to her previous coach,Eteri Tutberidze.^[19] Beginning on theChallenger series, Tursynbaeva won silver medals at both theFinlandia Trophy and theOndrej Nepela Trophy. Assigned to twoGrand Prix events, she finished fifth at the2018 Skate Canada International and sixth at the2018 Rostelecom Cup.

At the2019 Four Continents Championships, she placed sixth in the short program after turning out of her double Axel.^[20] She placed third in the free skate, which included an attempted quad Salchow that she fully rotated but fell on, and won the silver medal overall. This was only the second Four Continents medal for a Kazakh skater (afterDenis Ten) and the first for a lady. Speaking afterward, Tursynbaeva admitted that she did not expect to make the podium. Regarding the quad, she said, "I still have work to do on it, but it wasn’t bad for a first time in competition."^[21]

Tursynbaeva next competed in the2019 Winter Universiade. She placed fourth after the short program and first in the free skate. Her free skate included an attempted quad Salchow that she fell on. She was able to deliver the rest of her program without any mistakes, winning the silver medal. In doing so, she became the second Kazakh skater (again after Denis Ten) to medal at a Winter Universiade and the first to medal in ladies' singles.^[22]

At the2019 World Championships, Tursynbaeva placed third in the short program after executing a triple Salchow-triple toe loop combination in the second half of the program, which earned a bonus 10% for the element's score.^[23] She then placed fourth in the free skate, where she successfully landed the quad Salchow, becoming the first woman to ever land a quadruple jump at the World Championships and the first senior female skater to ever land a quadruple jump in competition. She finished in second place overall, becoming the second Kazakh skater to medal at the World Championships and the first to do so in ladies' singles. In an interview, when asked about her performance and the quad, she said "I can't believe I landed it, it was good in practice this morning. I couldn't do it at the last two competitions so I was really glad to be able to do it here."^[24]

Tursynbaeva suffered from recurring injury issues that compelled her to withdraw from the2019 CS Lombardia Trophy.^[25] Although she was able to compete at the 2019Shanghai Trophy, where she won the silver medal, she again withdrew from competition, missing her firstGrand Prix assignment,2019 Skate America.^[26] She then subsequently withdrew from the2019 Cup of China as well, stating that she hoped to be well enough to participate in ice shows later in the year.^[27]

Following the season, Tursynvaeva announced her retirement from competition on September 20, 2021, through anInstagram post, citing difficulty in overcoming a persistent back injury.^[28]

Tursynbayeva, along with another Kazakh ice skater Kseniya Pankratova, went viral in 2021 for their Instagram video of their ice skating performances on a frozen lake in Kazakhstan.^[29]

GP:Grand Prix; CS:Challenger Series; JGP:Junior Grand Prix

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only atISU Championships. At team events, medals awarded for team results only.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toElizabet Tursynbayeva.

• Elizabet TURSYNBAEVA at theInternational Skating Union

• 2000 births
• Living people
• Figure skaters from Moscow
• Kazakhstani female single skaters
• Russian people of Kazakhstani descent
• Figure skaters at the 2017 Asian Winter Games
• Medalists at the 2017 Asian Winter Games
• Asian Games bronze medalists for Kazakhstan
• Figure skaters at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics
• Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics
• Olympic figure skaters for Kazakhstan
• Asian Games medalists in figure skating
• FISU World University Games silver medalists for Kazakhstan
• Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating
• Competitors at the 2019 Winter Universiade
• Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists

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