Nina Ulanova (russian: Нина Уланова; occasionally

romanised Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

French-style as Oulanova; born 31 May 1978) is a Russian

ice dancer Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

. With former partner Michail Stifunin, she is the 1997 World Junior champion and 1998 Nebelhorn Trophy champion.

Personal life

Nina Ulanova was born in 1978 in Moscow. She is the niece of

Alexei Ulanov Alexei Nikolaevich Ulanov (russian: Алексей Николаевич Уланов; born 4 November 1947) is a retired pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With Irina Rodnina, he is the 1972 Olympic champion and a four-time (1969–19 ...

Career

Competitive career

Having started skating when she was four, Ulanova trained in

single skating Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport contested ...

under

Rafael Arutyunyan Rafael Arutyunyan ( hy, Ռաֆայել Հարությունյան, ''Harutyunyan''; russian: Рафаэль Владимирович Арутюнян; born July 5, 1957) is an Armenian-American figure skating coach. He has coached in Armenia, Rus ...

until age 11 and then began

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

in Andrei Filippov's group. Ulanova and her partner, Michail Stifunin, placed fifth at the 1996 World Junior Championships in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia. In the 1996–97 season, they won gold at the 1997 World Junior Championships in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, South Korea. After the event, Filippov moved to Australia and Ulanova/Stifunin joined Alla Belyaeva. They skated together until 1999, placing as high as fifth at the senior Russian Championships. During the 1999–2000 season, Ulanova competed with Alexander Pavlov. They placed fourth at the 2000 Russian Championships. Their partnership ended around 2001.

Professional career

After joining

Holiday on Ice Holiday on Ice is an ice show currently owned by Medusa Music Group GmbH, a subsidiary of CTS EVENTIM, Europe's largest ticket distributor, with its headquarters in Bremen, Germany. History Holiday on Ice originated in the United States in Decem ...

, Ulanova performed with

Martin Šimeček Martin Šimeček (born 29 July 1967 in Příbram) is a Czech retired competitive ice dancer. With partner Kateřina Mrázová, he is a multiple Czech national champion. They placed 10th at the 1992 Winter Olympics (at which they competed for C ...

for seven years and then with

Michał Zych Michał Zych ( ; born 28 May 1982 in Gdynia) is a Polish former competitive ice dancer. With Aleksandra Kauc, he is a three-time Polish national champion and the 2004 Golden Spin of Zagreb silver medalist. The duo competed in the final segment ...

for three years. In 2011, Ulanova appeared on series 6 of

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their profe ...

'', partnered with

Steven Arnold Steven Arnold (born 12 December 1974) is an English actor best known for his role as butcher Ashley Peacock in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Early life He was educated at Sir Thomas Boteler in Warrington, where his drama teach ...

. They were voted off in episode 4. She took part in the 2011 Dancing on Ice Tour and partnered with professional skater

Matt Evers Matt Evers (born March 16, 1976) is an American pair skater, model and actor. He is the 1998 U.S. Junior champion, and has competed in every series of the ITV series ''Dancing on Ice''. Career With his partner Heather Allebach, Evers won the J ...

. In 2012, she appeared on

series 7 Series 7 may refer to: *The seventh season of any of many shows or series; see and *Series 7 exam, officially the General Securities Representative Exam, the most comprehensive financial securities exam offered by the FINRA *'' Series 7: The Conte ...

partnered with

Matthew Wolfenden Matthew Wolfenden (born 5 May 1980) is an English actor best known for his role as David Metcalfe in the British soap opera ''Emmerdale''. Early life Wolfenden was born in Norwood Green, West Yorkshire. He was educated at Brighouse High Sc ...

and won the series. Ulanova did not appear in series 8 due to her pregnancy. She was partnered with

Kyran Bracken Kyran Paul Patrick Bracken MBE (born 22 November 1971) is a world-cup winning former rugby union footballer who played at scrum-half for Saracens, Bristol and Waterloo. He won a total of 51 England caps and captained the team on three occasi ...

for the 2014 series of Dancing on Ice.

Competitive highlights

''GP:

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 ...

With Pavlov

With Stifunin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulanova, Nina 1978 births Russian female ice dancers Living people Figure skaters from Moscow World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists Universiade medalists in figure skating Universiade silver medalists for Russia Competitors at the 1997 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 1999 Winter Universiade