Jelizaveta Žuková or Elizaveta Valeriyevna Zhuk (russian: Елизавета Валерьевна Жук; born 2 November 2003) is a former Russian-Czech

pair skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

who competes for the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. With her skating partner,

Martin Bidař Martin Bidař (born 24 February 1999) is a Czech pair skater, who currently competes with Jelizaveta Žuková. They are two-time Czech national champions (2020–2021) and represented the Czech Republic at the 2022 Winter Olympics. With forme ...

, she is a two-time Czech national champion (2020–2021) and represented the Czech Republic 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 ...

Personal life

Elizaveta Zhuk was born on 2 November 2003 in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

, Russia. In December 2021, she became a Czech citizen. Her name changed to Jelizaveta Žuková, with a feminine suffix added to the Czech transliteration of her Russian name.

Career

Early career

Zhuk began learning to skate in 2007. Training in pairs, early partners included

Maxim Miroshkin Maxim Romanovich Miroshkin (russian: Максим Романович Мирошкин; born 22 May 1994) is a Russian pair skater. With partner Lina Fedorova, he is a two-time World Junior bronze medalist, the 2012 JGP Final champion, 2012 Win ...

and Evgeniy Kostarev. She competed with Egor Britkov for three seasons, placing fourth at the 2017 Russian Junior Championships and winning a silver medal at the

2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb The 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb was the 50th edition of the annual senior-level international figure skating competition held in Zagreb, Croatia. It was held at the Dom sportova on December 2017 as part of the 2017–18 ISU Challenger Series. ...

the following season.

2019–2020 season

On June 26, 2019, Zhuk announced a new partnership with Czech pair skater

, with plans to represent his country. They competed exclusively domestically in their first season together, winning the Czech national title.

2020–2021 season

With 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 ...

limiting international opportunities, Zhuk/Bidař made their debut internationally at the

2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy was held in September 2020 in Oberstdorf, Germany. It was part of the 2020–21 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. On August ...

, one of only four pairs on the preliminary entry list. They were fifth in the short, fourth in the free, and fourth overall. They subsequently 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 ...

, placing fifteenth and, in the process, qualifying for a berth for a Czech pair at the

2021–2022 season

In September, the Czech federation officially named Zhuk/Bidař to the Czech Olympic team. They made their debut at the

2021 CS Finlandia Trophy The 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy was held on October 7–10, 2021 in Espoo, Finland. It was part of the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of single skating, men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, pairs, and ...

, where they placed ninth. They later competed at a second

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...

event, finishing twelfth at the

2021 CS Warsaw Cup The 2021 CS Warsaw Cup was held on November 17–20 in Warsaw, Poland. It was part of the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entries The Inter ...

. Zhuk opted to restyle her name as Jelizaveta Žuková in advance of the Olympics. Žuková/Bidař made their

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

debut in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, finishing in twelfth place. Žuková/Bidař began the

as the Czech entries in the pairs' short program Olympic team event, where they placed eighth of nine, earning three points for the Czech team. Team Czech Republic did not advance to the next stage of the competition and finished eighth overall. With two falls in the short program of the pairs event, they finished seventeenth and were the first team to miss qualification for the free skate. Žuková sustained an ankle injury in training, as a result of which they did not compete at the 2022 World Championships. In March 2022, Žuková liked an Instagram post by

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 ...

expressing support for the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. The president of the Czech Figure Skating Association noted that the federation strongly disagreed with her position and distanced itself. The president explained to Žuková the unsuitability of her conduct and asked her to apologize for her decision. Žuková apologized, stating that her decision was due to "youthful recklessness" and "misreading and misunderstanding" the post; the president deemed the apology sufficient.

2022–2023 season

Žuková/Bidař were eighth at the

2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy was held on September 21–24, 2022 in Oberstdorf, Germany. It was part of the 2022–23 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pairs, and ice dance. Entries ...

to start the season before placing sixth at the

2022 Skate Canada International The 2022 Skate Canada International is the second event in the 2022–23 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It will be held at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ontario ...

Programs

With Bidař

With Britkov

Competitive highlights

''CS: Challenger Series''

With Bidař for the Czech Republic

With Britkov for Russia

Detailed results

''ISU Personal Best highlighted in bold.'' ; With Bidař

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zukova, Jelizaveta 2003 births Living people Czech female pair skaters Russian female pair skaters Sportspeople from Yekaterinburg Naturalized citizens of the Czech Republic Russian emigrants to the Czech Republic Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of the Czech Republic