Feb. 18--Russia's Elizaveta Tukhtamysheva is not standing pat after one of the most remarkable competitive seasons a figure skater ever has had.
After victories in the Grand Prix Final and European Championships, the 18-year-old from St. Petersburg is working on additions to her technical arsenal as possible program elements in next month's World Championships.
One is a triple axel jump, done this season by no other woman in the world.
The other is the triple lutz-triple toe loop jump combination, done by, among others, her primary rival, Elena Radionova of Russia. That combination has a base value 1.9 points higher than the triple toe-triple toe Tukhtamysheva has been doing.
Tukhtamysheva, the 2013 Russian champion, has come back with a vengeance from a disastrous Olympic year, when she failed to make Russia's team after finishing 10th at her national championships.
She has competed in what likely is an unprecedented 10 events this season, including nine international events recognized by the International Skating Union.
Tukhtamysheva won seven of the first nine and finished second in the other two. She dropped out after the short program of the 10th, last weekend's Bavarian Open, suffering from stomach problems related to menstrual cramps, according to the skater's coach, Alexei Mishin.
She had tried her first competitive triple axel in the Bavarian Open short program, getting full base credit for the jump but maximum negative grade of execution because she fell.
To show that she can land the jump cleanly -- and the new combination, which she had done as a younger skater -- Mishin sent along these videos of her doing them in practice.
