Kostyleva's mother cites reason for leaving Plushenko's academy
Elena Kostyleva spent less than two years under Evgeni Plushenko«s tutelage.
On 21 December 2025, the conclusion of the high-profile scandal between the mother of 14-year-old Voronezh figure skater Elena Kostyleva and the young athlete«s coach Evgeni Plushenko became known. Lena will now be trained by another specialist — Sofia Fedchenko. We have already reported on this in detail.
Now, Kostyleva Sr. has given a final explanation for why she decided to change coaches for her daughter. Irina also named the main reason for leaving Plushenko: a lack of focus on achieving results.
«I am very sorry that everyone thinks Plushenko had to negotiate with me. No. No. And no. He just needed to train Lena, at least as in the last season. And not to lead to injuries, which were endless. … We until the last moment did not want to leave… But when I asked the [academy] administration to prepare a crisis plan for returning the athlete to a normal training process from 22 December, … I received an answer that they have many projects and no time to deal with this. We made the decision to leave on the day of the answer. I packed Lena«s sports bag and suitcase with things. I brought Lena to Fedchenko»s home,» — shared Kostyleva Sr.
Also, according to Irina, if she had not taken this step now, Lena would have had to say goodbye to her sports career.
«Sweet heaven in Gorki (where Plushenko«s academy is located — Ed.), where Lena doesn»t need to work hard, won«t yield the results for which we spent 10 years of our lives together. I don»t know. Perhaps Plushenko did pity Lena, sincerely. Didn«t make her kill herself. He saw a different fate for her. Not a disabled person with braces in her spine. But a beautiful star of his show, who would skate in the show until she»s 35. Marry someone from the sons of their circle, have a bunch of children, with good data for figure skating. Now we«ll never know. And for now, Lena is having a very hard time,» — explained the skater»s mother.
The conflict flared up in the 20s of November. Plushenko and his wife, Yana Rudkovskaya, accused Kostyleva Sr. of cruel treatment of her daughter, and even a video appeared showing Irina allegedly hitting her daughter. The skater«s mother, in turn, denied the accusations of beating and stated: Lena»s career is being ruined, and her parents are being forced to sign a terrible contract. At the peak of the conflict, the Kostylevs left Moscow for Voronezh due to the young skater«s illness. On 11 December 2025, they returned to the capital so that Lena could prepare for a performance in Minsk. After all the ice show performances were over, the renowned athlete made a statement on the conflict. Details can be found in our materials.
