Alexei Vladimirovich Tikhonov (russian: link=no, Алексей Владимирович Тихонов; born 1 November 1971) is a Russian pair skater. With partner Maria Petrova, he is the 2000 World champion and a two-time (1999, 2000) European champion.

Career

Tikhonov began skating in his hometown, Samara. Initially a singles skater, he switched to pairs at 15 and a half. Tikhonov first competed with partner Irina Saifutdinova for the Soviet Union and, after the dissolution, for Russia. They won the bronze medal at the 1989 World Junior Figure Skating Championships for the Soviet Union. Their partnership ended when she decided to get married and leave the sport. He teamed up with Japanese pair skater

Yukiko Kawasaki is a Japanese former competitive figure skater who competed in both singles and pair skating. As a pair skater, she competed with Alexei Tikhonov for Japan. They are two-time Japanese national champions and won the bronze medal at the 1993 NHK ...

and competed with her representing Japan. Kawasaki and Tikhonov were two-time Japanese national champions. They competed internationally together, winning the bronze medal at the

1993 NHK Trophy The NHK Trophy was held in Chiba on December 9-12. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the ska ...

and placing 15th at the 1994 World Championships. He said, "I stayed

n Japan N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

for two years, but I was alone in my apartment. I used to go to the Russian Embassy just to talk to people. I tried to learn some Japanese but it was very hard." Tikhonov spent the next five years skating in various ice shows in the U.K. and Florida, including shows led by

Tatiana Tarasova Tatiana Anatolyevna Tarasova (; born 13 February 1947) is a Russian figure skating coach and national figure skating team adviser. Tarasova has been coach to more world and Olympic champions than any other coach in skating history. Her students h ...

and

Jayne Torvill Jayne Torvill, OBE (born 7 October 1957) is a British professional ice dancer and former competitor. With Christopher Dean, she won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics, becoming one of the ...

and

Christopher Dean Christopher Colin Dean, OBE (born 27 July 1958) is a British ice dancer who won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill. They also won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. Early life Dean grew u ...

. He started to miss competitive skating and when Maria Petrova's coach called, he agreed to compete with her. They teamed up in the summer of 1998. Petrova was a former World Junior champion with Anton Sikharulidze. Petrova and Tikhonov won the World Championship in 2000. They placed 6th at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

and 5th at the 2006 Games. They won a silver medal at the 2005 Worlds, and a bronze in 2006. Petrova and Tikhonov announced they would retire after the 2006 Worlds, but at the request of the Russian Skating Federation they later agreed to remain eligible for another year. During their final season, they finished 6th at the

Grand Prix Final The Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (formerly Champions Series Final), often shortened to ''Grand Prix Final'' and abbreviated as ''GPF'', is a senior-level international figure skating competition. Medals are awarded in men's singles, ladies' ...

, and withdrew from the World Championships due to injury. Petrova and Tikhonov trained in Saint Petersburg with

Ludmila Velikova Ludmila Georgiyevna Velikova (russian: Людмила Георгиевна Великова; ''née'' Sinitsina, russian: Синицина; born November 4, 1947 in Leningrad) is a Russian pair skating coach and former competitor. Ludmila Sinits ...

. After retiring from competition, they performed in ice shows, including Russian television projects.

Personal life

Tikhonov was born to parents Vladimir and Larisa. In addition to skating together, Petrova and Tikhonov are also an off-ice couple. On 1 February 2010, she gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Polina. The family lives in Moscow region. Tikhonov is godfather to

Alexei Urmanov Alexei Yevgenyevich Urmanov (; born 17 November 1973) is a Russian figure skating coach and former competitor. He is the 1994 Olympic champion, the 1993 World bronze medalist, the 1997 European champion, the 1995–96 Champions Series Final ...

's twins.

Programs

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, * Symphony Dances
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Competitive highlights

With Saifutdinova for the Soviet Union

With Kawasaki for Japan

With Petrova for Russia

References

External links

*
Official website of Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tikhonov, Alexei 1971 births Living people Russian male pair skaters Olympic figure skaters of Russia Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Japanese male pair skaters Soviet male pair skaters Russian expatriates in Japan Sportspeople from Samara, Russia World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists Goodwill Games medalists in figure skating Season-end world number one figure skaters Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games