Alena Kostornaia

Alena Sergeyevna Kostornaia (Алёна Сергеевна Косторная; her first name is properly pronounced Alyona as the Cyrillic ё is pronounced yo; born 24 August 2003) is a Russian figure skater.

Kostornaia was born on 24 August 2003 in Moscow to parents Sergei and Tatiana.

She has a younger brother, Stepan.

Although she registers her name as "Alena" with the ISU, Kostornaia uses the romanization of "Aliona" on her official Instagram account.

Kostornaia began learning to skate in 2007.

Her parents initially put her in skating as a way to channel her energy.

From 2012 to 2017, she was coached by Elena Zhgun in Moscow.

Kostornaia sustained an injury in 2016.

She finished 16th at the 2017 Russian Junior Championships.

Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov became her coaches in 2017.

Kostornaia's international debut was in early October 2017, at a 2017–18 ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) competition in Gdańsk, Poland; ranked first in the short program and second in the free skate, she won the gold medal by a margin of 1.36 points over the silver medalist, her training partner Daria Panenkova.

She won silver behind Sofia Samodurova at JGP Italy by a margin of 0.04 points.

Her placements qualified her for the 2017–18 Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, where she won silver, placing second in the short program and first in the free skate.

At the junior level, Kostornaia is the 2018 Junior World silver medalist, the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, the 2017–18 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist, and a two-time Russian junior national silver medalist (2018, 2019).

She currently holds the world record for the highest junior short program score in women's skating.

Kostornaia is the tenth woman in history to have landed the triple Axel jump in a senior international competition.

Kostornaia is the third woman after teammate Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Rika Kihira of Japan to attempt and land the maximum number of triple jumps allowed in one senior international competition: four in the short program and eight in the free skate (see Zayak rule).

At the senior level, Kostornaia won bronze at the 2018 Russian Figure Skating Championships.

She later won silver at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships behind teammate Alexandra Trusova by a margin of 0.58 points.

In March 2018, Kostornaia competed at the 2018 World Junior Championships.

She placed second in the short program and the free skate, winning the silver medal behind Trusova.

Kostornaia learned to perform a triple Axel in the preceding year, and originally planned to introduce it in competition.

However, she lost the jump following growth during the offseason.

Kostornaia started her season by competing in the 2018 JGP series.

She won the gold medal at her first JGP event of the season in Linz, Austria.

She was ranked first in both the short program and the free skate and won the gold medal by a margin of more than 11 points over the silver medalist, her teammate Alena Kanysheva.

She skated her second JGP event of the season at JGP Ostrava, where she again placed first in both the short program and the free skate.

She won the gold medal by a margin of about 2 points over the silver medalist, Kim Ye-lim.

With two JGP victories, she qualified for the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix Final, where she won the gold medal after placing first in both the short program and the free skate.

She outscored her teammate and training partner Trusova by about 2.5 points.

At this event, Kostornaia scored her personal best score of 217.98 points, and also set a new junior record for the short program (76.32 points).

She first accomplished this at the 2019 Internationaux de France, and later landed all twelve triples cleanly at the 2019–20 Grand Prix Final.

She is the 2020 European champion, the 2019–20 Grand Prix Final champion, a six-time Grand Prix medalist (including gold at the 2019 Internationaux de France and the 2019 NHK Trophy), and the 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy champion.

Competing domestically, she is a three-time Russian senior national medalist (silver 2020, bronze 2018 and 2019).

She previously held the world record for the highest senior short program score in women's skating.

In a May 2020 Q&A with former teammate Anna Shcherbakova, Kostornaia stated that she wants to become a neurosurgeon once she retires from figure skating.

In her free time, Kostornaia enjoys horseback riding and as such often receives horse and unicorn stuffed toys from fans.

She also has a number of pets, including a rabbit gifted to her by her fans, a cat, and a Maltipoo named Audrey.

As of September 2021, Kostornaia is a student at the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism where she is studying psychology.

Kostornaia married her skating partner, Georgy Kunitsa, on 11 August 2023 following a brief engagement.