Ekaterina Alexeyevna Ryabova (russian: Екатерина Алексеевна Рябова; born 27 March 2003) is a retired

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

who represented

in women's singles. She is the 2021 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge silver medalist, the 2019 CS Ice Star bronze medalist, the 2018

Ice Star The Minsk-Arena Ice Star, or simply Ice Star, is an international figure skating competition. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pairs, and ice dancing on the senior, junior, and novice levels. The inaugural event was held i ...

champion, the 2019

Volvo Open Cup Volvo Open Cup is a figure skating competition held in Riga, Latvia. It was part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014–15 season. The competition may include men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing at various levels. ...

silver medalist, and the 2019 Azerbaijani national champion. Ryabova placed eighth at the

2020 Winter Youth Olympics The 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games (german: Olympische Jugend-Winterspiele 2020; french: Jeux olympiques de la jeunesse d'hiver de 2020; it, Giochi olimpici giovanili invernali del 2020; rm, Gieus olimpics da giuvenils d'enviern 2020), offic ...

. She is currently the 13th highest-ranked ladies figure skater in the world by the

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Net ...

Personal life

Ryabova was born on 27 March 2003 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia. , she is a high school student. Her younger sister Anna is also a skater. Ryabova became engaged to French ice dancer

Geoffrey Brissaud Geoffrey Brissaud (born 23 March 1998) is a French ice dancer. With his skating partner, Evgeniia Lopareva, he is a two-time French national champion, a three-time Grand Prix bronze medalist, the 2023 CS Warsaw Cup champion, a two-time ISU Cha ...

on 23 April 2022.

Career

Early years

Ryabova began learning to skate in 2006 as a three-year-old. As a child, she trained under her father, Alexei Ryabov, at the

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

sports club. In 2015, she moved to Sambo 70 to be coached by Sergei Davydov. She changed coaches after a year, joining Alexander Volkov and

Evgeni Plushenko Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko (, born 3 November 1982) is a Russian former figure skater. He is a four-time Olympic medalist (2006 gold, 2014 team gold, 2002 & 2010 silver), a three-time World champion (2001, 2003, 2004), a seven-time European ...

at the Angels of Plushenko rink. Ryabova made no junior international appearances for Russia.

2018–2019 season

Ryabova made her international debut for Azerbaijan in September 2018 at the

ISU Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

(JGP) in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

, Lithuania. She finished sixth overall after placing seventh in both segments. She had the same final result at her second assignment, 2018 JGP Slovenia. Making her senior international debut, Ryabova won gold in October at the 2018

Minsk Arena Ice Star The Minsk-Arena Ice Star, or simply Ice Star, is an international figure skating competition. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pairs, and ice dancing on the senior, junior, and novice levels. The inaugural event was held in ...

, outscoring the silver medalist, France's

Léa Serna Léa Serna (born 31 October 1999) is a French figure skater. She is the 2023 CS Budapest Trophy silver medalist, a two-time International Cup of Nice champion, and a three-time French national champion (2021–23). Career Serna began learnin ...

, by about nine points. She placed eighth at the 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy and sixth at the 2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb. In January 2019, Ryabova was named to Azerbaijan's team for the 2019 European Championships in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, Belarus. Ranked seventh in the short program, she qualified to the free skate. She placed thirteenth in the free skate and finished twelfth overall. In March 2019, at the 2019 World Championships, Ryabova placed seventeenth in the short program and qualified to the free skate. She placed thirteenth in the free skate and thirteenth overall.

2019–2020 season

Ryabova opened her first full senior season in September 2019 at the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial, where she placed fifth overall. She was fifth as well at the

Denis Ten Memorial Challenge The Denis Ten Memorial Challenge is an annual senior and junior-level figure skating competition series in Almaty or Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, organized by the Denis Ten Foundation. Named in honor of 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Denis Ten, the comp ...

before winning the bronze medal at the 2019 CS Ice Star and silver at the

. Making her

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 ...

debut at the 2019 Rostelecom Cup, she placed fifth there. Competing as a junior, Ryabova placed eighth at the

in January 2020. She then finished sixth at the 2020 European Championships later in the month. Ryabova finished the season with a tenth-place finish at the 2020 World Junior Championships. She was also assigned to compete at the 2020 World Championships, but these were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

2020–2021 season

With the pandemic continuing to limit international events, Ryabova competed at the

2020 Rostelecom Cup The 2020 Rostelecom Cup was the fifth event in the 2020–21 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Megasport Sport Palace in Moscow, Russia on November 20–22. Medals wer ...

, placing ninth. In December, she left coaches Evgeni Plushenko and Alexander Volkov, citing being "no longer satisfied with the training conditions." She returned to her previous coaches, her parents, Alexei Ryabov and Ekaterina Bandurina. Ryabova competed at the

2021 World Championships 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 ...

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, placing twelfth to qualify for a berth for Azerbaijan at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

2021–2022 season

Ryabova began the Olympic season at the 2021 Budapest Trophy, where she placed fourth, before winning the silver medal at the 2021 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge. On the

, Ryabova finished in seventh place at her first event, the 2021 Internationaux de France. She went on to place tenth at the 2021 Rostelecom Cup. Ryabova closed out the year by winning the

Santa Claus Cup The Santa Claus Cup is an annual international figure skating competition organized by the Hungarian National Skating Federation. It is held annually in late November or early December in Budapest, Hungary. Medals are awarded in the disciplines o ...

. At the 2022 European Championships, Ryabova finished in sixth place. Competing in the women's event at the

, Ryabova was sixteenth in the short program. Fifteenth in the free skate, she rose to fifteenth overall. Days after the Olympics concluded,

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

ordered an

invasion of Ukraine The territory of present-day Ukraine has been Invasion, invaded or Military occupation, occupied a number of times throughout History of Ukraine, its history. List See also *List of invasions *List of wars involving Ukraine References

...

, as a result of which the

banned all Russian and Belarusian skaters from competing at the 2022 World Championships. However, Ryabova was still allowed to compete since she represented Azerbaijan. Ryabova placed ninth in the short program. Eleventh in the free skate, she remained ninth overall.

Retirement

Ryabova announced her retirement from competitive figure skating on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

on 6 September 2022.

Programs

Competitive highlights

'' GP:

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

For Azerbaijan

Detailed results

''Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Personal bests highlighted in'' bold.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryabova, Ekaterina Alexeyevna 2003 births Living people Azerbaijani female single skaters Russian female single skaters Figure skaters from Moscow Figure skaters at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Azerbaijan Russian emigrants to Azerbaijan