Elizabet Tursynbayeva

Personal life

Elizabet Tursynbayeva was born on 14 February 2000 in Moscow, Russia. She is the daughter of Pashakan Sultanalieva and Baitak Tursynbayev. Her family is originally from Kazakhstan. Her brother, Timur Tursynbayev, who is two years older than her, is a two-time Kazakhstan national figure skating champion. Tursynbaeva is a professional violinist and can also play the piano. She attended a special music school in Moscow. She and her mother settled in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in May 2015, where she is currently home-schooled. Tursynbaeva speaks Russian and English.

Career

Tursynbayeva started skating at the age of five after following her brother, Timur, into figure skating. Her figure skating idols are Kim Yuna, Mao Asada, and Carolina Kostner. As a child, she was coached by Natalia Dubinskaya and Alexander Shubin. She was also briefly coached by Elena Buianova and Svetlana Sokolovskaya from 2011 to 2012, before switching to Eteri Tutberidze.

Early career

Tursynbayeva made her first international appearance for Kazakhstan at the Rooster Cup in April 2011. After finishing 13th at the 2013 Russian Junior Championships, she decided to continue representing Kazakhstan. Her coaching relationship with Tutberidze ended in 2013 because Russian coaches no longer had the right to work with non-Russian skaters during the 2014 Olympic season. Having difficulty finding a coach in Russia, Tursynbaeva and her mother wrote a letter to Brian 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.

2013–14 season: Junior international debut

Before the 2013–14 season, Tursynbayeva began training under Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson in Toronto, Canada. In September 2013, she won the silver medal in her ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut, in Minsk, Belarus. She placed 5th at her second JGP event, in Tallinn, Estonia, and 11th at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. She ended her season with gold at the 2014 Triglav Trophy in Slovenia.

2014–15 season

During the 2014–15 JGP series, Tursynbayeva won bronze in Aichi, Japan and silver in Dresden, Germany, finishing as the second alternate for the JGP Final. She then won the junior ladies' titles at the International Cup of Nice, Merano Cup, and NRW Trophy. At the 2015 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, she placed seventh in the short program, fourth in the free skate, and fourth overall.

Most of this season, Tursynbayeva experienced visa problems, which meant that she spent only part of the season training in Toronto under Orser and instead trained mainly at a shopping mall ice rink in Moscow with her mother.

2015–16 season: Senior international debut

Tursynbayeva became eligible to compete internationally at the senior level for the first time in the 2015-16 season. She was invited to two Grand Prix events. 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.

Tursynbayeva began her season by winning silver at the 2015 U.S. Classic, her first ISU Challenger Series (CS) event, and gold at the 2015 Skate Canada Autumn Classic. Making her Grand Prix debut, she placed 4th at the 2015 Skate America and 7th at the 2015 Skate Canada International. She then won silver medals at the 2015 CS Tallinn Trophy and 2015 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb.

In February 2016, Tursynbayeva won the individual bronze medal, behind Russians Polina Tsurskaya and Maria Sotskova, at the Winter Youth Olympics in Hamar, Norway. In March, she rose from 14th after the short to finish fifth overall (4th in the free) at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. In April, she finished 12th at the 2016 World Championships in Boston after placing 12th in the short and 10th in the free. Later that month, she competed at her first team event, the 2016 Team Challenge Cup in Spokane, Washington.

2016–17 season

Tursynbayeva won the bronze medal at the 2016 CS Autumn Classic International. She appeared as a torch-bearer for the 2017 Winter Universiade but was too young to compete. At the 2017 Four Continents Championships in Gangneung, South Korea, she received a small bronze medal for her short program and finished 8th overall. Later that month, she placed third at the 2017 Asian Winter Games. Tursynbaeva would go on to finish 9th at the 2017 World Championships, scoring personal bests in the free skate and combined total scores. Her 9th place finish qualified two spots for the ladies' singles event for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and 2018 World Championships in Milan.

Competitive highlights

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