ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Sofya Samodelkina finished fifth at the Skate Canada Grand Prix, scoring a total of 206.89 points across the short and free programs.
Sofya Samodelkina. Photo credit: NOC.
Samodelkina earned 71.84 points for her short program and 135.05 for her free skate, securing a place in the top five among 12 competitors.
Japan’s Mao Shimada won the event with 235.44 points, followed by Estonia’s Nina Petrykina with 221.07. American Isabeau Levito took third place with 212.22, while Japan’s Saki Miyake finished fourth with 210.09.
Samodelkina, 19, has been training in the United States since 2025 under renowned coach Rafael Arutyunyan. She won bronze at the Denis Ten Memorial in Almaty earlier this season.
In a recent online meeting with Kazakh journalists, Samodelkina said her daily routine largely revolves around training, which typically takes six to seven hours a day, including three to three and a half hours on the ice, with the remaining time devoted to physical conditioning, running and walking, reported the Kazinform news agency.
She said Arutyunyan’s experience and attention to detail have changed her understanding of figure skating, including how seemingly small technical issues can affect a jump. According to Samodelkina, one of the defining features of his coaching is his ability to identify details other coaches might overlook.
“You can skate a program perfectly cleanly, and he will point out three things that need to be improved completely. So when a coach like that says ‘well done,’ it means you really have done well,” she said.
Samodelkina also cited American figure skater Nathan Chen, the 2022 Olympic champion and another of Arutyunyan’s students, as an example of the coach’s influence.
“He worked with Rafael Vladimirovich for 12 years, and I don’t have that much time anymore. Rafael Vladimirovich always says: he learned this in 12 years, and your task is to learn it in two years, otherwise you won’t make it in time,” she said.
Samodelkina said she hopes to continue competing through the 2030 Winter Olympics.
“I will definitely keep skating for another four years, and then we’ll see,” she said.
Learning Kazakh and staying connected to home
Despite her demanding schedule in California, Samodelkina said returning to Kazakhstan gives her an opportunity to relax, spend time with loved ones and feel at home. She described California primarily as a place for training, with much of her routine limited to travelling to the rink, practising and returning home.
The skater said she has seen little of California during her two years there because of her training commitments. She usually spends time at home only between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. and rarely gets the chance to go out with friends.
Samodelkina is also studying Kazakh through online lessons. She said representing Kazakhstan at international competitions and carrying the country’s flag have encouraged her to learn more about its language and culture.
Learning the language has not always been easy, she acknowledged, particularly because of differences in pronunciation and sounds that do not exist in Russian. Nevertheless, she continues to study and enjoys using Kazakh to greet supporters and thank them for their encouragement.
Following the Grand Prix events, Samodelkina is expected to return to Kazakhstan to perform in the ice show “Alice in Wonderland on Ice” in Almaty on Dec. 26. She may also compete at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, scheduled to take place in Almaty in February 2027.
