Yelizaveta Tuktamysheva finished her gold medal-winning Rostelecom Cup free skate last month at center ice, punctuating a final combination spin with a smile and an enigmatic swirl of her pointer finger.
Choreographer Yuri Smekalov had told the 2015 world champion to conclude her Japanese-inspired program, set to “Chronicles of a Mischievous Bird,” as though she were writing a kanji character in the air.
To those watching the 23-year-old finish what would be her first win at a Grand Prix event in two years, she seemed to instead be saying, “I’m not done yet.