Figure Skating in Russia
Skating has a long and rich tradition in Russia, from early skating on bone blades for recreation and transit to the development of elaborate tracings on the ice, known as figures, in the late 19th century, to the elite figure skaters we see today.
Skating in the Russian Empire (1721-1917)
Figure skating historian James R. Hines writes that, as a mode of transportation, skating on early bone blades is at least 3000 years old. Early skaters used bone blades with poles as a form of transportation and recreation. The development of edged iron blades in the Netherlands in the 13th or 14th century revolutionized skating as skaters could now push off with the edge instead of poles, leaving their hands free and providing more control. This bladed technology was later brought to the Russian Empire by Peter the Great (1672-1725) and was adopted as a popular pastime of the aristocracy.
St. Petersburg hosted the first figure skating World Championships in 1896 . Four skaters representing three countries participated. Early competitive figure skating in the late 19th century was limited by geographic location, a problem in equity and representation we still see today with ISU (International Skating Union) membership leaning heavily towards European countries. The Neva Skating Association was founded in 1863 by a group of English skaters living in St. Petersburg. The club would skate on the Neva River and at the Yusupov Gardens. The Neva Skating Association was the earliest predecessor to today’s St. Petersburg Figure Skating Club.
Skating was a popular pastime among the aristocracy during the Imperial Period. Princess Dagmar of Denmark, wife of Tsar Alexander III, was an active skater and arrived at her father-in-law’s (Tsar Alexander II) deathbed in skating attire as she had been preparing to go skating when she received the news of his attack. The Anchikov Imperial Palace in St. Petersburg had its own ice rink where Tsar Nicholas II, an active skater and hockey player, and his wife, Alexandra Fyodorovna (formerly Alix of Hesse), skated with their children. Their initial courtship also took place while skating, something very common for the period.
Works such as Lev Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1878) and Alexander Pushkin’s Evgeni Onegin (1833) feature the role of figure skating as an aristocratic social activity. In Anna Karenina, two of the central characters, Nikolai Levin and Kitty Sherbatsky, connect and socialize at the skating rink, where Levin, a usually awkward and flustered character, impresses the Princess Sherbatsky with his skating prowess.
Helpful Definitions
Figure Skating Disciplines
Both men and women’s singles in figure skating consists of two events. The short program and the free skate. In both the junior and senior levels the short program lasts 2 minutes and 40 seconds and has a set of required elements the skater must perform. Both the Senior level men’s and women’s short programs consist of three jumping passes, three spins, and a leveled step sequence. An axel type jump (either double or triple), a solo jump pass ( triple for women, triple or quadruple for men), and a combination jump ( for women either a double/triple or a triple/triple and for men a double/triple, triple/triple, quadruple/double, or quadruple/triple). Women are prohibited from attempting quadruple jumps in the short program, a decision that has drawn ire from the international skating community as the technical gap between elite male and female skaters diminishes. The short program also requires a flying spin, a spin combination with only one change of foot, and for men a Camel or Sit Spin with one change of foot and for women Layback/sideways leaning spin or sit or camel spin without change of foot (men historically do not perform layback/attitude spins). The short program is generally considered to showcase the skaters individual style, although technical components still play a central role in scoring, the limited variation in elements makes skating skills, artistry and presentation integral to this event
The free skate or ‘long program’ gives athletes the opportunity to showcase the full arsenal of their skills as well as test their endurance, mental strength, and skating skills. At the Senior level both Men and Women’s Free Skate consists of seven jump elements (one of which must be an axel type jump), 3 spins (one of which must be a spin combination, one a flying spin or a spin with a flying entrance and one a spin with only one position), one step sequence, and one choreographic sequence. The women’s freeskate is 4 minutes +/- 10 seconds and the mens’s freeskate is 4:30 +/- 10 seconds.
In pairs skating partners perform lifts, twist lifts, throws, side by side spins, death spirals, spin combinations, and choreographic and step sequences. The basic jump and spin elements remain the same but skaters are also evaluated on synchronicity. Athletes in pairs competitions also skate a 'short' and a 'long' program.
Ice dance, similarly to pairs, featured a team of two but the emphasis was placed on rhythm and intricate turns and maneuvers. In ice dance, teams do not jump and are restricted in the types of lifts they are allowed to perform. Instead their programs feature a required twizzle sequence as well as a step sequence taking place on one foot. Ice dancers instead of a short and long program skate a rhythm and free dance. The rhythm dance has an assigned theme while the free dance allows skaters a full range of artistic expression.
While women’s singles, men’s singles, pairs and ice dance are still the most popular disciplines of figure skating in the world, new disciplines such as synchronized skating, solo ice dance, and shadow dance are growing in popularity. Russia fields teams in both Junior and Senior level synchronized skating with Team Paradise of St. Petersburg being three time World Synchronized Skating Champions, however in total international medal count in the discipline, Russia falls behind Finland, Sweden, and Canada. Currently 22 countries field Junior and Senior Level teams, although 10 teams, representing five countries hold all World Titles since its inception in 2000. From the REE region Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Turkey also participate in the Synchronized Skating World Champions.
More opportunity for skaters post competitive careers exist now than even ten years ago. Collegiate and adult skating are on the rise in the US with both being contested at the national level. US Figure Skating has also developed an adaptive skating program designed for skaters with special needs.
Figure Skating Jumps
The toe loop is a pick-assisted jump that takes off from a right back outside edge for counter-clockwise rotating skaters. It is performed as a single, double, triple, and quadruple jump. It is often the first single jump that skaters learn.
The Salchow, named after its inventor, Ulrich Salchow, is a jump that takes off from a left back outside edge for counter-clockwise rotating skaters. It is performed as a single, double, triple, and quadruple jump.
The loop jump, also known as the Rittenberger jump, takes off from a right back outside edge for a counter-clockwise rotating skater. The jump is performed as a single, double, triple, and rarely quadruple jump.
The flip jump is a toe pick-assisted jump that, for a clockwise rotating skater, is a left back inside edge with the right toe pick in the ice. The jump is performed as a single, double, triple, and quadruple jump.
The Lutz jump is one of the highest value and technically difficult jumps because of the back outside edge required for takeoff. It is performed as a single, double, triple, and quadruple jump.
The Axel Paulsen Jump, colloquially referred to as the Axel, is one of the most difficult jumps for skaters to learn. Originally a single jump with one and a half rotations in the air, now double, triple, and, only recently, by Ilia Malinin, the three-time world champion, and son of Russian-Uzbek skating champions Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, a quadruple Axel is performed.
Watch Team USA skaters use Barbie to explain the triple Axel:
Skating in the Soviet Period (1922-1991)
Following the fall of the Russian Empire, the subsequent civil war, and the formation of the Soviet Union in 1922, skating as a sport grew rapidly despite lingering bourgeois associations. State investment in health and fitness led to broadening access to sports, and the Soviet Union, as a state, held its first national championship for figure skating in 1924.
Skating During the Soviet Period
Before World War II, the Soviet Union had declined to participate in the Olympic Games and international sport on ideological grounds, instead founding the International Workers Olympiad (1925-1937). From 1924 to 1948, the USSR was not a member of the International Skating Union (ISU), the governing body for all disciplines of figure skating as well as speed skating. In 1958, skaters in men's singles and pairs from Russia represented the Soviet State at the World Championships of Figure Skating for the first time since the Russian Empire; however, a Soviet skater did not medal in men’s singles until the European Championships in 1969 and women’s singles until the European Championships in 1978.
In the 1920s and 30s skaters began to develop double jumps, and jumping passes became a solidified part of singles and pairs skating. Whereas jumps were previously seen as flourishes, the Axel Paulsen jump was debuted in Vienna in 1882 as a special figure, rather than the required elements they are in singles and pairs skating today.
In the period immediately following WWII, North American athletes dominated the international figure skating scene. American athletes, most notably Dick Button, popularized a more athletic style of free skating with a heavier emphasis placed on jumping than in previous free skating programs. The post-war period continued jumping trends from the 1920s and 30s with Dick Button landing the first double Axel, as well as the first triple loop.
In this same period in Canada, several highly successful pairs teams developed full extension overhead lifts. We also see the distance between men’s and women’s skating growing during this period. Men’s singles skating developed a greater emphasis on multi-rotational jumps and athletic movements in comparison to women’s singles skating, which rewarded artistry.
The Soviet Union fielded athletes in men's and women’s singles, pairs, and ice dance. Sports became a way to portray a positive image of the Soviet Union abroad and demonstrate ideological strength. Sports historian James Riordan refers to these athletes competing abroad, representing the interests of communist countries, as “diplomats in tracksuits.” Athletes received training not only in their sport, but also in preparing to be representatives of their country. Soviet teams were particularly successful in the discipline of pairs. From 1964 on, starting with the Olympic gold medal, Soviet pairs teams won every Olympic gold medal. Soviet teams also dominated the discipline of ice dance in the 1970s, winning nearly every international competition in the decade.
Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov
In the Soviet Union, notes James Riordan in his book Sports, Politics and Communism, sports contributed to three major objectives: defense, health, and integration. The Soviet Union required strong, healthy soldiers and laborers to support the communist project. State funding of sports and the development of a sports culture aimed to reduce the impact of alcoholism and other social struggles in a rapidly industrializing economy. These sports programs also provided education in health, hygiene, and nutrition, the idea being that dividends would be paid in the form of a healthier, more productive, longer-lived labor force. Evelyn Mertin, in "Presenting Heroes: Athletes as Role Models for the New Soviet Person," argues that integration between Soviet Republics was another goal of sports culture in the USSR. Effectively dissolving existing sports infrastructure and rebuilding it according to the Soviet ideals, the policy intended to create a joint communist identity around athletics and individual athletes as new Soviet heroes (Mertin 471).
From 1964 until the fall of the Soviet Union, the Soviet team won the gold medal in Pairs Skating at the Olympic Games. In 1992, following the fall of the Soviet Union, the Unified Team of Former Soviet States took first and second place. In 1994 and 1996, the Russian pairs teams won gold, and again in 2002 with a controversial shared gold medal between the Russian and Canadian teams following a score-trading scandal in which French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne admitted to being pressured by her federation to overscore the Russian pair in exchange for preferential treatment towards the French ice dancing team. This scandal ultimately led to the development of the International Judging System (IJS), which allocates skaters a score based on the base values of elements, with an added positive or negative score called grade of execution (GOE) based on how the element is performed. Skaters also receive a components score that measures composition, presentation, and skating skills.
Several theories have been posited for the success of Soviet pairs during this period. As the third most populous country in the world at the time of its dissolution, the Soviet Union had access to a broad talent pool that, hypothetically, had equal access to potential training opportunities. However, except for Natalia Mishkutenok from Belarus and Anton Sikharudelidze whose father was from Georgia, although Sikharudelidze himself grew up in Leningrad, all of the Soviet and Post-Soviet pairs medalists from this period 1964-1998 were ethnically Russian and from either Moscow or Leningrad (St. Petersburg), highlighting inequity among the Soviet Republics and a flaw in the argument of a broader talent pool. Formal systems existed within the Soviet Union to identify talent early and “guide performers to take up the sport they are likely to do well in" (Riordan 85).
Ekaterina Gordeeva
Skaters, when accepted to academies, received ice time, training, cross-conditioning, and education free of charge, and training programs remained highly competitive. Athletes were required to test into institutes and maintain and progress their skills in a manner the State Committee on Physical Culture and Sport deemed appropriate. Incentives were built in, with athletes being able to earn titles from Candidate Master of Sport of the USSR to Merited Master of Sport of the USSR based on international and domestic victories. With these titles came increased pay, privileged applications to sports schools, and a higher standard of conduct, which included promoting Soviet ideology abroad.
The Soviet training system for athletes identified and funded talent at a young age. While today the early specialization in sports is often discouraged due to social, emotional, and injury-related factors, some researchers recognize the value in early specialization in figure skating due to the highly technical, multidisciplinary nature of the sport and the advantages associated with learning to rotate and stretch at a young age when inhibitions are low.
Ekaterina Gordeeva writes of one of her early coaches:
“Zaharov was a great coach for beginning pairs skaters. He had been a pairs skater himself, from Sverdlovsk, which was the home of many very good pairs skaters. He knew the best way to do all the elements, the easiest way. We have a saying in Russia: It’s stupid to reinvent the bicycle. I think that’s one of the problems that pairs skaters have in the United States and Canada: they try to learn all the elements their own way, as if it’s the first time it’s ever been done” (Gordeeva 33).
The centralized control of the Soviet training apparatus is reflected in this statement. Pairs skaters could either conform to the standards or be replaced. While in the United States and similar capitalist economies, skating is a pay-to-play sport, meaning an unsuccessful skater could continue to skate as long as someone, usually parents, paid the bill, athlete-centered training is the gold standard.
Because of the importance placed on sports as a vehicle for communist ideology and as a social good, the Soviet system heavily emphasized results-based training and built in incentives for winning gold medals and titles. For example, Ekaterina Gordeeva, two-time Olympic Champion and four-time World Champion, details her experiences in the Soviet figure skating training system in her memoir/requiem to her late husband and figure skating partner, Sergei Grinkov. She describes being paid 350 rubles a month to train, including cash bonuses for medals, noting that as an elite skater, she made a higher salary than both of her parents. She recalls being handed $3,860 in cash after she and Grinkov won the Olympic gold medal in pairs skating in 1988, which, as a ‘hard currency’, had considerable value to Soviet citizens and allowed holders to purchase foreign goods while abroad.
Iconic Skaters From the Soviet Training Apparatus
Aleksandr Fadeyev
Fadeyev is the 1985 World Champion in men's singles as well as the four-time European Champion (1984, 1987, 1988, 1989). He is also a six-time Soviet National Champion. Fadeyev is known for his compulsory figures, a segment of the competition before the short program and freeskate where skaters create precise, preset patterns on the ice. Compulsory figures were eliminated in 1990.
Tamara Moskvina/Alexei Mishin
Moskvina and Mishin skated as a pair in the late 1960s. As a solo skater, Moskvina is a five-time Soviet National Champion in women's singles (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966) before pairing first with Alexander Gavrilov for the 1965 season, then with Alexei Mishin. Together, Moskvina and Mishin competed for four seasons, winning one Soviet national championship and earning three medals at the World and European Championships.Both Moskvina and Mishin have had successful coaching careers in their own right. Moskvina is best known for her work coaching pairs skaters with a roster including the teams of Elena Valova/Oleg Vasiliev, Natalia Mishkutenok/Artur Dmitriev, Elena Bechke/Denis Petrov, Elena Berezhnaya/Anton Sikharulidze, and, more recently, Anastasiia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov and Yasmina Kadyrova/Ilya Mironov. Mishin is best known for his work in men's singles with arguably his most successful skater, and now coach as well, Evgeni Plushenko. Mishin also coached decorated women's singles skater Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. As of 2026, both Moskvina (84 years old) and Mishin (85 years old) are actively coaching top-level athletes.
Irina Rodina
Tatiana Tarasova
Tatiana Tarasova, despite having a relatively short personal skating career, is a world-renowned coach of men's, women's, and pair skaters. Tarasova holds the record for the most World and Olympic champions coached. Some of her most famous athletes include Ekaterina Gordeeva/Sergei Grinkov, Ilia Kulik, Alexei Yagudin, Mao Asada, Sasha Cohen, in addition to choreographing for many more.Tarasova is known for her blunt commentary on the skating world and the status of the sport as a whole. She serves as an advisor to the Russian National Team and is an active coach as of 2026 at 79 years old.
Figure Skating in the Post-Soviet Space (1991-Present)
“Life at home had completely changed since our childhood. When the Soviet Union broke up, it was weird, but not a big change for me and Sergei since we spent so much time traveling in other countries. But for my parents and for Sergei’s mother and sister, the change was radical and touched them every day” (Gordeeva 196).
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited the major training academies of the Soviet apparatus that were centralized primarily in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The economic turmoil of the 90s meant massive cuts to state spending and the privatization of sports. Public training academies still exist, such as CSKA, Sambo-70, and Dynamo. The Russian Skating Federation also retains notable Soviet coaches such as Tamara Moskvina, world-renowned pairs coach to Natalia Mishkutenok/Artur Dmitriev, Elena Valova/Oleg Vasiliev, Elena Berezhnaya/Anton Sikharulidze, and Elena Bechke/Denis Petrov, as well as Tatiana Tarasova, whose students have won eight Olympic golds in three disciplines. Alexei Mishin, former partner to Tamara Moskvina and coach to former skater now renowned coach in his own right, Evgeni Plushenko, and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, still coaches in St. Petersburg at age eighty-four. Because of these advantages, and the comparative wealth of Russia to funnel money into existing sports structures, many conversations of skating in the post-Soviet space will tend to center around Russian trainers and athletes.
Quad Revolution
Emphasis on Ultra-C elements is one of the defining characteristics of women’s singles in the region, particularly in Russia at the academies of Eteri Tutberidze at Khrustalny and Evgeni Plushenko at Angels of Plushenko, although they are not the only coaches to train athletes to achieve these elements. Ultra-C elements refer to the triple Axel and the quadruple toe loop, Salchow, loop, flip, and Lutz jumps. While Russian athletes are not the only figure skaters to successfully perform these elements, of the 170 women documented landing ultra-C elements, 106 represent Russia. This figure does not include skaters who formerly represented Russia and have transferred their sports citizenship, nor does it represent athletes from other countries that train in Russia.
This emphasis on the jumping component of skating has drawn criticism for compromising technique, inability to sustain elements past puberty, and potential for injury. Skating critics have also expressed concern that skating is becoming a ‘jumping competition’ and abandoning artistry and edge work in favor of high-value jumping passes concentrated in the second half of programs to maximize point value.
Russian skater Alexandra (Sasha) Trusova was frequently criticized for her lack of artistry despite landing four and five quads in her programs, including in combination, the first to do so. Since Midori Ito became the first woman to land a triple Axel in 1988, only seven other women have performed the jump through 2017. From 2018 on, 51 more women would complete the jump. Similarly, while Surya Bonaly, Sasha Cohen, and Mao Asada would train and document executing the quadruple Salchow in 1991, 2001, and 2007, respectively, Miki Ando of Japan would become the first woman to execute a non-negative grade of execution (GOE) quadruple Salchow in international competition in 2002. It wouldn’t be until 2018 that Alexandra Trusova landed the next non-negative grade of execution quadruple jump in international competition. Since 2018, 47 more women have landed non-negative GOE quadruple jumps in international and nationally recognized domestic competitions.
Sasha Trusova's 2022 Olympic Freeskate program with five attempted and landed quads, three of which she landed cleanly without deductions:
Sanctions
The idea of sports functioning as another front on which to battle ideological differences and to prove a nation's legitimacy is also not novel. Films such as Miracle and Dvizhenie Vverkh highlight the role of sports in national sentiment, both in the nations’ attachment to sports heroes and to the ideological meaning imposed on sports victories. Olympic boycotts, for example, the 1980 Olympic boycott in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the 1984 Soviet led boycott of the Los Angeles games, have been a way for the international community to use sports to express ideological concerns. The International Olympic Committee has also issued bans to countries related to human rights abuses and state-sanctioned doping.
The ISU has historically avoided “interference in sports based on political or any other grounds,” controversially voting twice against the exclusion of South Africa during Apartheid, although they were banned from the Olympics for twenty-eight years (Hines 195, 2002). However, following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, the ISU banned Russia and Belarus from international competition in addition to the IOC’s 2017 Olympic ban of Russian athletes amid state-sponsored doping scandals, although athletes could still compete as neutral athletes. The IOC issued an additional ban in 2023 in response to the full-scale invasion. The IOC ruled that athletes from Russia and Belarus could compete, provided they had not supported the war in Ukraine. The criteria set by the ISU for athletes to compete as neutral athletes in qualifying events, and subsequently the Olympics, provide that “Athletes and their Support Personnel will undergo careful examination of public statements and appearances to see if individuals may have supported the invasion of Ukraine. Athletes and their support personnel shall not be contractually linked with the Russian or Belarusian military or with any other national security agency” (ISU, 2024). The individual neutral athletes from Russia and Belarus qualified for three 2026 Winter Olympic spots at the ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating qualifier hosted this year in Beijing. Petr Gumennik (Russia), Adeliia Petrosian (Russia), and Vikoriia Safonova (Belarus) qualified. Ice dancers Aleksandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin were nominated by Russia to compete at the Olympic qualifiers; however, their application was denied by the ISU, and they were consequently unable to qualify for the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. ISU rules prohibited the skating federation from nominating an alternate pair.
The Future of Skating in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia
Women’s singles, men’s singles, pairs, and ice dance are still the most popular disciplines of figure skating in the world, although new disciplines such as synchronized skating, solo ice dance, and shadow dance are growing in popularity.
Russia fields teams in both Junior and Senior level synchronized skating, with Team Paradise of St. Petersburg being three-time World Synchronized Skating Champions; however, in total international medal count in the discipline, Russia falls behind Finland, Sweden, and Canada. Currently, 22 countries field Junior and Senior Level teams, although 10 teams, representing five countries, hold all World Titles since its inception in 2000. From the REE region, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Turkey also participate in the Synchronized Skating World Championships.
In contrast to the Soviet period, the most prominent discipline in the region today is, by and large, women’s singles, although men’s singles, pairs, and ice dance remain competitive. Other developing disciplines are less popular, and it is unclear whether the skating federations will devote resources to these novel disciplines.
Alisa Dvoeglazova (RUS)
Anastasiia Gubanova (GEO)
Ekaterina Kurakova (POL)
Niina Petrokina (EST)
Adeliia Petrosian (RUS)/(AIN)
Sofia Samodelkina (KAZ)
Skaters to Watch (Women's Singles)
Dvoeglazova is the 2026 Russian Grand Prix Champion and the 2026 Russian national silver medalist. She competes domestically with two quadruple jumps, the quad Lutz and quad toe loop. She skates at Sambo-70, where she trains under coach Eteri Tutberidze with choreographer Daniil Gleikhengauz. She made her domestic senior debut in the 2025-2026 season.
Gubanova is a Russian-Georgian skater who represents Georgia following her 2021 transfer. Gubanova won the European Championships in 2023, becoming the first woman representing Georgia to win the title. She is also the first skater representing Georgia to win an ISU Grand Prix Medal. Gubanova represented Georgia at both the 2022 and 2026 Olympics, where she placed 10th and 9th, respectively. Gubanova trains in St. Petersburg under coach Evgeni Rukavicin
Kurakova is a Russian-Polish skater representing Poland since 2018. Kurakova competed representing Russia from 2013 to 2017 and then for Poland internationally from 2019 on. She is an eight-time Polish National Champion. Kurakova represented Poland at both the 2022 and 2026 Olympic Games. In 2022, she finished twelfth overall despite nearly not qualifying for the freeskate (only the top 24 skaters advance). In 2026, she finished 20th overall. Kurakova is currently coached by Florent Amodio and Dmitri Ignatenko, although her previous coaches include Inna Goncharenko and Brian Orser. She speaks fluent English, Polish, and Russian.
Petrokina is a four-time Estonian National Champion and two-time European Champion; she is the first Estonian woman to ever win the title. Petrokina, after her eighth-place finish at the 2025 World Championships in Boston, she earned a 2026 Olympic spot,
Petrosian is a three-time Russian National Champion. She competed as a neutral athlete at the 2026 Olympic Games, where she placed sixth after falling on her quadruple toe loop. She trains at Sambo-70 under coach Eteri Tutberidze.
Samodelkina is a Russian-Kazakhstani skater. Born in Moscow, Samodelkina represented Russia as a junior-level skater, debuting with triple Axel and quad attempts. After the ban of Russian athletes following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and a weak season for Samodelkina due to a growth spurt, she moved to Kazakhstan and initiated the process for a transfer. Initially, the Russian Skating Federation was hesitant to release her, but ultimately, the transfer was approved. Samodelkina, formerly trained with Eteri Tutberidze and later with Evgeni Plushenko at Angels of Plushenko after her transfer, however, she currently trains in Los Angeles with Rafael Arutyunyan. She is the second woman, after Alexandra Trusova, to be documented landing all types of quads other than quad Axel in practice. She competed representing Kazakhstan at the 2026 Olympics, finishing tenth overall.
Skaters to Watch (Women's Juniors)
Sofia Dzepka competes domestically in Russia as a junior. She is the three-time Russian Junior Grand Prix Champion. Dzepka is documented landing the quadruple toe loop and quadruple Salchow jumps. She trains at CSKA under coach Ekaterina Moiseeva.
Click to Watch Dzepka's Freeskate at the Russian Grand Prix Final 2026
Inga Gurgenidze grew up in Kazan, coached by Liudmila Gafarova. In 2022, Gurgenidze announced her transfer to Georgia. She is the twenty-third woman to land the triple Axel in international competition.
Click to Watch Gurgenidze's Freeskate at Junior Women's Worlds 2026
Arina Kalugina is a junior skater representing Azerbaijan. She has landed a quadruple Salchow in international competition.
Click to Watch Kalugina's Freeskate at Junior Women's Worlds 2025
Sofya Titova is a junior skater who transferred from Russia to Armenia in 2024, where she is the 2025 Junior National Champion. She trains in Moscow with Evgeni Plushenko.
Veronika Zhilina is a Russian domestic junior competitor who is attempting to transfer to Azerbaijan. She trains with Evgeni Plushenko at Angels of Plushenko. She has been documented landing the quadruple toe loop, quadruple Salchow, quadruple Lutz, and triple Axel jumps.
Click to Watch Veronika Zhilina's Freeskate at Russia's Junior Nationals 2021
Skaters to Watch (Men's Singles)
Petr Gumennik (RUS)/(AIN)
Gumennik is the 2026 Russian National Champion. He competed at the 2026 Olympics as a neutral athlete, placing sixth. He trains in St. Petersburg with Veronika Daineko at the FS Sport Club of Tamara Moskvina.
Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ)
Shaidorov is the 2026 Olympic Champion from Kazakhstan. He is the first figure skater from Kazakhstan to do so. He is also the first skater to land a triple Axel-quad toe loop and triple Axel-Euler-quad Salchow jumps in an ISU competition.Unexpected Victory
Shaidorov won the 2026 Olympic gold following uncharacteristic errors from heavy Olympic favorite, Ilia Malinin. Shaidorov skated to one of Kazakh musician Dimash Qudaibergen’s songs as his free skate. Following his Olympic victory, Qudaibergen gifted Shaidorov a car.
On his victory, "It would have probably meant a lot to Denis [Ten] because he paved the road for us. He paved the road for young athletes, not only for me. Perhaps this road was very thorny for him and for me, but that's the way things turned out, and I want to thank Denis for what he did for our sport, for our country. It means a lot for me and for my country because I really want to see our sport to grow in Kazakhstan. I will do everything to make that happen, and I hope that little kids will sign up for this sport, that there will be conditions that encourage that, and that this medal will bring a lot of motivation to young athletes who will now know that there are no limits at all."
Works Cited/Further Reading
Gordeeva, Ekaterina, with E.M. Swift. My Sergei: A Love Story. Warner Books, 1996
Hines, James R. Figure Skating: A History. University of Illinois Press and the World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame, 2006.
Hines, James R. Figure Skating in the Formative Years: Singles, Pairs, and the Expanding Role of Women. University of Illinois Press, 2015.
Kestenbaum, Ellyn. Culture on Ice: Figure Skating and Cultural Meaning. Wesleyan University Press, 2003
Riordan, James. "The Impact of Communism on Sport." Historical Social Research, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2007, pp. 110-115.
Riordan, James. "Sport, Politics, and Communism". International Studies in the History of Sport. New York. Manchester University Press, 1991.
Ryan, Joan. Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters. Warner Books, 1995.
Mertin, Evelyn. "Presenting Heroes: Athletes as Role Models for the New Soviet Person." The International Journal of the History of Sport, vol. 26, no. 4, 2009, pp. 469-483.
Milton, Steve. Skate Talk: Figure Skating in the Words of the Stars. Firefly Books, 1997.
Plushenkooffical, Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/plushenkoofficial/