Daria Popova (born 28 July 1993) is a Russian former competitive pair skater. From 2011 to 2014, she competed with Bruno Massot, winning the 2014
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...
and the 2012 French national title. The pair finished in the top ten at the
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
Andrei Novoselov
Andrei Alexandrovich Novoselov (born 24 November 1989) is a Russian pair skater. Competing for France with Lola Esbrat, he has won three international medals and is the 2018 French national champion. Earlier, he represented Russia with Tatiana ...
.
Personal life
Popova and her family moved to Germany when she was seven. She speaks German, Russian, English, and French.
Career
Early years
Popova began skating in Moscow. She was initially a singles skater and competed on the Nachwuchs and Jugend levels in Germany in 2006 and 2007. She took up pair skating in 2009 and trained with coach Ingo Steuer in Germany. She skated with Ilja Glebov and
Sergei Karev
Sergei Anatolyevich Karev (russian: Сергей Анатольевич Карев, born 31 March 1986) is a Russian retired pair skater. With former partner Arina Ushakova, he is the 2005 Golden Spin of Zagreb silver medalist and 2007 Winter U ...
but did not compete with either in any major event.
Partnership with Massot
Popova and French skater Bruno Massot decided to team up in March 2011 and began serious training in June. They trained mainly in
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Ingo Steuer in
Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
, Germany.
Popova/Massot's first competition together was the 2011 Master's de Patinage, where they won the silver medal. They were tenth in their international debut at the 2011 Coupe de Nice and placed fourth at the
2011 NRW Trophy
The 2011 NRW Trophy was an international figure skating competition during the 2011–2012 season. An annual event organized by the Skating Union of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), it has been sanctioned by the Deutsche Eislauf Union and the Interna ...
. In December 2011, they won the 2012 French national title ahead of Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres. Visa and administrative delays led to uncertainty about their participation at the 2012 European Championships but the situation was resolved just before the event. Popova/Massot placed sixth in the short program and eighth overall. They were not assigned to the 2012 World Championships, but were part of the French team for the
World Team Trophy The ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating is a figure skating team competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. The World Team Trophy was held for the first time in Tokyo, Japan from April 16 to 19, 2009. Traditionally, the competit ...
.
In the 2012–13 season, Popova/Massot received two
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
assignments — they placed fifth at the
2012 Skate Canada International
The 2012 Skate Canada International was the second event of six in the 2012–13 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario on October 26–28 ...
and seventh at the
2012 Trophée Eric Bompard
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
. They were second to James/Cipres at the French Championships and then placed seventh at the 2013 European Championships. At the 2013 World Championships, James/Cipres earned two spots for France in the pairs' event at the
Sochi
Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...
. As France's second-ranked pair, Popova/Massot were in line to receive the second Olympic spot if she received French citizenship in time.
In 2013–14, Popova had a problem with the sole of one of her boots at the start of the season. She and Massot placed eighth at their first Grand Prix assignment, the
2013 Cup of China
The 2013 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2013–14 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on November 1–3. Medals were ...
. Popova then ceased training for six weeks due to a stress fracture in the third metatarsal bone of her left foot, causing the pair to withdraw from the
2013 Trophée Eric Bompard
Thirteen or 13 may refer to:
* 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14
* One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013
Music
* 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band
Albums
* ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013
* ...
and French Championships. Having resumed training in mid-December 2013, the pair elected to reduce the difficulty of some elements for the 2014 European Championships in January. They finished 11th at Europeans in Budapest. On 21 January 2014, it was reported that Popova had not received French citizenship in time and France's second spot would be transferred to Austria. Popova/Massot finished 15th at the 2014 World Championships after placing 15th in both segments of the competition. After the competition, Massot left their partnership to skate with
Aliona Savchenko
Aljona Savchenko ( uk, Олена Валентинівна Савченко, ''Olena Valentynivna Savchenko''; German Romanization: ''Aljona Sawtschenko'', sometimes ''Aliona Savchenko''; born 19 January 1984) is a Ukrainian-born German pair ...
.
Partnership with Novoselov
After spending a week in mid-May 2014 helping Brian Joubert learn pair skating in Caen, Popova flew to Moscow in search of a new partner. On July 16, 2014, she announced she would skate for France with
Andrei Novoselov
Andrei Alexandrovich Novoselov (born 24 November 1989) is a Russian pair skater. Competing for France with Lola Esbrat, he has won three international medals and is the 2018 French national champion. Earlier, he represented Russia with Tatiana ...
and said they planned to divide their training between Moscow, coached by Inna Utkina, and Paris, coached by Claude Péri. However, Popova decided to retire from competitive figure skating on July 31, 2015.