Meet Alexandra “Sasha” Trusova, a Russian figure skater who won a silver medal at the Olympics in 2022. A video of her performance at the Skate Canada figure skating competition has gone viral on YouTube and has been watched 12 million times a year over the last three years.
Alexandra is a very talented skater who has been credited for spearheading the technical revolution in women’s figure skating. In the past, quadruple jumps were strictly in the domain of male skaters. Female skaters have traditionally lagged behind the men where jumps are concerned.
This is not necessarily because women could not perform the jumps but instead due to it being “inappropriate”. American skater Theresa Weld was reprimanded for including a single salchow jump in her performance. Amusingly, this was not for technical or safety reasons. Instead, the issue was when she performed the jump, her skirt rose above her knees, which was considered overly risqué. Times have changed a great deal since then, with jumps being an integral part of any figure skating program.
