Yana Kostenko moves to next stage on Titans show
Four-time world sambo champion from Nakhodka Yana Kostenko successfully performed in the first episode of the fourth season of the show «Titans» on TNT and advanced to the second stage of the project. She not only handled the strength task but also defeated all athletes in her team.
«Titans» (16+) is a sports-entertainment show that is an experiment in which professional coaches, consultants, and artificial intelligence develop the most difficult challenges for participants. They test the participants« physical strength, endurance, and agility, and the winner receives the title »Titan« and a cash prize of 10 million rubles (approximately $110,000 at current rates).
Yana Kostenko is a Russian sambo wrestler, four-time world champion (2012, 2013, 2016, 2018), European Championship medalist (2012), champion of the 2013 Universiade in Kazan, champion of the 2015 European Games, multiple-time Russian champion, Honored Master of Sports of Russia, and photo model. She practiced sambo for ten years in Nakhodka under the guidance of coach Vasily Sotskov and later moved to Moscow, where she lives to this day.
The athletes faced the challenge «Endless Pull», and they had to do as many repetitions as possible of lifting a weight to the height of their own body at a sound signal. The weight of the apparatus was 30% of body mass for men and 25% for women.
Participants were divided into three teams of 37 people. The elimination scoring was individual, and the 12 worst athletes immediately left the show, while the team whose members performed best gained an advantage in the next stage.
Yana Kostenko was in the first team and surpassed many experienced athletes, entering the top three leaders who performed over 300 lifts. Her rivals were Russian kickboxing champion Maria Pytina and Russian MMA champion Zemfira Aliyeva.
The female athletes engaged in real rivalry, constantly glancing at each other, and at some point, eliminated athletes asked Yana Kostenko to stop, worried about her health, but she just brushed it off.
«What do you mean, I should give up? First of all, I look at the limit of my capabilities,» the Primorye native commented later.
At the same time, the sambo wrestler admitted that she indeed got into the zone and wanted to prove that she was the best among those remaining.
«We were down to three. We women compete very fiercely with each other. It»s already about who has more staying power,« said Kostenko.
In the end, Yana Kostenko turned out to be the best in her team and did 555 approaches. However, the best team in terms of performance was the second one – victory was brought by rower Alsu Minazova, as well as weightlifters Regina Mukhametshina, Albina Mukhametshina, and Svetlana Veselova, but the Primorye native was still satisfied with her result.
«I did it! My mom will watch this and rejoice. And the children will watch and be proud that their coach became the best in this challenge!» the athlete rejoiced.
With the worst results, the following were eliminated from the show:
bodybuilder Alexander Yashankin;
rugby player Andrey Garbuzov;
CrossFitter Dmitry Chernov;
gymnast Maria Paseka;
bodybuilder and blogger Nikita Serov;
Dmitry Zhemarkin;
weightlifter Alexander Povetkin;
gymnast Daria Dubova;
judo practitioner Alexander Mikhailin;
bodybuilder Maxim Shalypin;
wakeboarder Maxim Gromov;
blogger Son Leo.
Yana Kostenko also participated in the first season of «Titans», where she almost reached the final. She was eliminated at the 11th stage and took 24th place. The athlete«s return to the show was reported back on January 19.
