Diana Davis

Diana Sergeevna Davis (russian: Диана Сергеевна Дэвис, born 16 January 2003) is an American-born Russian ice dancer who represents Russia. With her partner, Gleb Smolkin, she is the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup champion and the 2022 Russian national silver medalist.

On the junior level, Davis/Smolkin are the 2020 Russian junior national bronze medalists, finished in the top five at the 2020 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, and competed at the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Personal life

Davis was born on 16 January 2003 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, but was raised in Moscow, Russia. She holds dual Russian and American citizenship, and moved to Russia with her mother when she was three years old. She is the only child of Russian single skating coach Eteri Tutberidze.

As a toddler, Davis was diagnosed with third degree sensorineural hearing loss caused by incorrectly prescribed antibiotics. She underwent medical treatment in Germany, but her hearing could not be fully restored. As a result of the disease, she has underdeveloped coordination and relies partially on lip-reading to communicate. However, the disability does not affect her ability to hear music.

As of 2022, Diana is married to her skating partner Gleb Smolkin.

Career

Early years

Davis' mother, Eteri Tutberidze, took her to an ice rink for the first time when she was just 2 years old. Although Davis initially wanted to pursue synchronized swimming, she began training as a skater at the age of six as it was her only opportunity to spend time with her mother. She was initially coached by her mother as a single skater in Moscow; however, she switched to ice dance in 2016 due to Tutberidze's concern for her safety performing jump elements given her lack of coordination.

Davis teamed up with her first partner, Denis Pechuzhkin, another former Tutberidze student, during the 2016–17 season. The partnership was short lived, lasting only six months before Davis found a new partner, Fedor Varlamov. Davis/Varlamov skated together for the 2017–18 season and only competed domestically before also breaking up. During the partnership, Davis was awarded the title of the Master of Sports of the Russian Federation. In 2018, Davis teamed up with her current partner, Gleb Smolkin.

2018–19 season: Junior international debut

Davis/Smolkin made their junior international debut in September 2018 at the 2018 JGP Croatia. The team finished third overall at the event behind Russian teammates Khudaiberdieva/ Nazarov in first and Georgian competitors Kazakova/ Reviya in second, but despite their podium placement did not receive a second JGP assignment.

The team competed three more times internationally during the season, finishing third in the junior event at the 2018 Volvo Open Cup and second at both the 2018 Tallinn Trophy (junior) and the 2018 Russian-Chinese Youth Winter Games. At the 2019 Russian Junior Figure Skating Championships in February, they finished ninth.

2019–20 season

In the summer before the start of the season, Davis and Smolkin relocated their training base from Moscow to Novi, Michigan to work with Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Camerlengo. The team opened their season in August at the 2019 JGP United States where they won the silver medal behind American training-mates Nguyen/ Kolesnik. At their second assignment, 2019 JGP Russia, the team again finished second overall, this time behind fellow Russian competitors Shanaeva/ Naryzhnyy, and with 26 qualifying points they advanced to the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final. The team competed just once more before the Junior Grand Prix Final, taking the junior title at the 2019 Volvo Open Cup.

At the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final, Davis/Smolkin entered the competition as the bottom seeded team and had a disappointing outing, finishing sixth in both segments of competition and sixth overall. However, they regrouped in the interim between the Final and the 2020 Russian Junior Championships and managed to earn the bronze medal at junior nationals, earning a spot on Russian team for the 2020 World Junior Championships. Competing at Junior Worlds, Davis/Smolkin scored personal bests in both segments of competition as well as overall, and finished in fifth.

2020–21 season

After Davis sustained an ankle fracture in July 2020, her long-term recovery and a subsequent illness delayed Davis/Smolkin's return to full-time training. They did not compete at the 2021 Russian Junior Championships in January, but planned to return to Russia for the Russian Cup Final in March. At the Russian Cup Final, Davis/Smolkin placed first in both the rhythm dance and the free dance to take the junior title by a margin of about 5 points over silver medalists Kaganovskaia/ Angelopol. They retained their ''Aristocats'' rhythm dance from the season prior, but debuted a new free dance to selections from the soundtrack of ''Moulin Rouge!''.

2021–22 season: Senior international debut and Beijing Olympics

Davis/Smolkin received their first senior-level Grand Prix assignment to the 2021 Skate Canada International, which was not without controversy in Russia as both they and the Morozov/ Bagin, another team with political pull with the Russian Figure Skating Federation, received invitations, while other teams with higher rankings did not. In order to guarantee admission to Canada during the pandemic, both were vaccinated with the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine in addition to having previously received Russia's own Sputnik V vaccine. The team debuted their programs for the Olympic season at the 2021 senior Russian test skates in September.

Davis/Smolkin made their senior international debut the week after test skates at the 2021 U.S. International Classic in Norwood, Massachusetts. At the event, the team won the silver medal behind American team Hubbell/ Donohue. Going on to the Grand Prix, they placed fifth at Skate Canada International. 

Following their stint on the Grand Prix circuit, Davis/Smolkin competed at back-to-back ISU Challenger Series events in November. At the 2021 CS Cup of Austria, they finished just off the podium in fourth and set new personal bests in both segments of competition, as well as overall. Davis/Smolkin then competed at the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup, where they won their first international title. They upgraded their three new personal bests previously set at Cup of Austria the week before to take the gold medal ahead of Japanese team Muramoto/Takahashi in second, and American team Green/Parsons in third.

At their first senior Russian Championships in December, Davis/Smolkin controversially placed third in the rhythm dance ahead of longtime Russian number three team Zahorski/ Guerreiro, outscoring them in the segment by over five points. In the free dance, Davis/Smolkin were able to capitalize on the withdrawal of top Russian team Sinitsina/ Katsalapov due to injury and advance to second in the segment. They took the silver medal behind new national champions Stepanova/ Bukin. Their placement was, again, not without controversy, with even bronze medalist Egor Bazin questioning the fairness of the scoring. As a result of their placement, Davis/Smolkin were assigned to the 2022 European Championships as one of three dance teams representing Russia.

Davis/Smolkin made their European Championships debut in January in Tallinn, Estonia. They placed eighth in the rhythm dance and seventh in the free dance to place seventh overall. When asked about the controversies surrounding their national placements, Smolkin remarked "after the Russian nationals, we stopped paying attention to all that. We let the redundant things go."

Davis/Smolkin were officially named to the Russian team for the 2022 Winter Olympics on 20 January. Competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics dance event, they placed fourteenth in the rhythm dance. Afterward the team rebuffed queries from reporters about a burgeoning doping scandal involving Kamila Valieva, a student of Davis' mother Eteri Tutberidze. Davis/Smolkin held their standing of fourteenth place in the free dance to finish fourteenth overall in their Olympic debut.

Programs

With Smolkin

Competitive highlights

''GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix''

With Smolkin

Detailed results

''Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.''

With Smolkin

Senior results

Junior results

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Diana
2003 births
Russian female ice dancers
Living people
Sportspeople from Las Vegas
Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics
Olympic figure skaters of Russia