Oleksandra (Alexandra) Yevhenivna Nazarova ( uk, Олександра Євгенівна Назарова; born 30 November 1996) is a Ukrainian retired

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 her skating partner,

Maksym Nikitin Maksym (Maxim) Kostiantynovych Nikitin ( uk, Максим Костянтинович Нікітін; born 5 October 1994) is a Ukrainian retired ice dancer. With his skating partner, Oleksandra Nazarova, he is the 2015 World Junior bronze medalis ...

, she is the 2015 World Junior bronze medalist and 2012 Youth Olympic silver medalist. On the senior level, they are the

2017 Winter Universiade Winter Universiade 2017, the XXVIII Winter Universiade, was a multi-sport winter event which took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan from 29 January to 8 February 2017. On 29 November 2011, FISU announced that Winter Universiade 2017 would be hosted in ...

champions, 2014 CS Warsaw Cup silver medalists, 2016

Cup of Nice The International Cup of Nice (french: Coupe Internationale de Nice) is an annual international figure skating competition usually held in October or November in Nice, France. It was continuously held from 1995 to 2017 (except 2005) for 22 years. T ...

bronze medalists, six-time Ukrainian national champions (2015, 2017, 2018, 2020–2022). Nazorova/Nikitin have represented Ukraine at the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

and

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

Oleksandra Nazarova was born on 30 November 1996 in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Nicola Todeschini Nicola Todeschini (born 18 April 1997) is a Swiss figure skater. He is the 2015 Swiss national senior champion and has reached the free skate at two ISU Championships. As of August 2022, he competes for the Netherlands. Personal life Nicol ...

Career

Early career

Around 2004, Halyna Churilova encouraged Nazarova and

Maxim Nikitin Maksym (Maxim) Kostiantynovych Nikitin ( uk, Максим Костянтинович Нікітін; born 5 October 1994) is a Ukrainian retired ice dancer. With his skating partner, Oleksandra Nazarova, he is the 2015 World Junior bronze medalis ...

– both single skaters from Kharkiv – to form an ice dancing partnership together. Nazarova/Nikitin debuted on 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 ...

series in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. They placed eleventh in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

, Austria and seventh in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England. Churilova coached the team in their hometown. In the 2011–2012 season, they made no appearances on the JGP series but were sent to the

Youth Olympics The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

in January 2012 in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

, Austria. They won the silver medal behind Russia's Yanovskaya/ Mozgov.

2012–2013 season

Nazarova/Nikitin placed fifth at both of their 2012 JGP events and were assigned to their first World Junior Championships. At the latter competition, held in late February and early March 2013 in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy, the duo placed twelfth in the short dance, ninth in the free dance, and eleventh overall. After the event, Churilova advised them to join Russian coach

Alexander Zhulin Alexander (Sasha) Viacheslavovich Zhulin (; born 20 July 1963) is a Russian ice dancing coach and former competitor. With Maya Usova, he is a two-time Olympic medalist ( 1994 silver, 1992 bronze), the 1993 World champion, and the 1993 Europe ...

. They relocated to

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 ...

to train with Zhulin and Oleg Volkov.

2013–2014 season

Nazarova/Nikitin won silver at both of their 2013 JGP assignments and qualified for the JGP Final. They placed fifth at the Final, held in December 2013 in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In March 2014, they finished fifth at the World Junior Championships in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, Bulgaria, having ranked seventh in the short dance and fourth in the free dance.

2014–2015 season: Senior debut

Nazarova/Nikitin continued training in Moscow in the 2014–2015 season. At the

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 ...

event in

Courchevel Courchevel () is a French Alps ski resort. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski areas in the world. Courchevel also refers to the towns of Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 (Moriond), and Courc ...

, France, they ranked fifth in the short dance and third in the free dance. The duo finished fourth overall, 0.54 shy of third place. They won the bronze medal at their next JGP event, 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 ' ...

, Estonia, after placing sixth in the short and third in the free dance. Making their senior international debut, Nazarova/Nikitin won the silver medal at the

Warsaw Cup The Warsaw Cup is an annual international figure skating competition which is generally held in November in Warsaw, Poland. Its senior categories became part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014–15 season. Medals may be awarded in the disci ...

, a Challenger Series event in November 2014. After winning the Ukrainian senior national title, they were named in Ukraine's team to the

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, ...

, held in late January 2015 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden. Ranked twelfth in the short dance and eleventh in the free dance, the two finished eleventh overall. In early March, the two competed at the 2015 World Junior Championships in

, Estonia. They were awarded the bronze medal after placing fifth in the short dance, second in the free dance, and third overall behind Yanovskaya/ Mozgov of Russia and McNamara/

Carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

of the United States. It was Ukraine's first podium finish at the event since

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. At the end of the same month, Nazarova/Nikitin competed on the senior level at the 2015 World Championships in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China; they ranked seventeenth in both segments and overall.

2015–2016 season

Making their

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, Nazarova/Nikitin finished seventh at the

2015 Skate America The 2015 Progressive Skate America was the first event of six in the 2015–16 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ...

. They withdrew from the Ukrainian Championships due to Nazarova's knee injury. The duo returned to competition in late March 2016 at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Ranked 20th in the short dance, they narrowly qualified for the free dance where they placed 18th, resulting in a final placement of nineteenth. Deciding to change coaches, Nazarova/Nikitin joined

Igor Shpilband Igor Yuryevich Shpilband (russian: Игорь Юрьевич Шпильбанд, born July 14, 1964) is an American ice dancing coach and former competitor for the Soviet Union. He is the 1983 World Junior champion with former partner Tatiana G ...

and

Fabian Bourzat Fabian Bourzat (born 19 December 1980) is a French retired ice dancer. With partner Nathalie Péchalat, he is a two-time World bronze medalist (2012, 2014), a two-time European champion ( 2011–2012), and a five-time French national champion ( ...

Novi, Michigan Novi ( ) is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,243, an increase of 20% from the 2010 census. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Novi is located about northwest of the city of D ...

in late June 2016.

2016–2017 season

Nazarova/Nikitin opened their season with a bronze medal at the

International Cup of Nice The International Cup of Nice (french: Coupe Internationale de Nice) is an annual international figure skating competition usually held in October or November in Nice, France. It was continuously held from 1995 to 2017 (except 2005) for 22 years. Th ...

. They finished seventh at their Grand Prix assignment, the

2016 Trophée de France The 2016 Trophée de France was the fourth event of six in the 2016–17 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris on November 11–13. Medals we ...

, and ninth at the 2017 European Championships in

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

, Czech Republic. In February, they received the gold medal at the

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

, Kazakhstan. In March, they placed fifteenth at the 2017 World Championships in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland. Due to their result, Ukraine qualified a spot in the ice dancing event at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

, South Korea.

2017–2018 season: Pyeongchang Olympics

Nazarova/Nikitin won the bronze medal at the

2017 CS Lombardia Trophy The 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy was a senior international figure skating competition held in September 2017 in Bergamo, Italy. It was part of the 2017–18 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' si ...

and the

2017 CS Warsaw Cup The 2017 CS Warsaw Cup was a senior international figure skating competition, held in November 2017 in Warsaw, Poland. It was part of the 2017–18 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, ...

, and placed fourth at the 2017 CS Ice Star. At their lone Grand Prix assignment for the year,

2017 NHK Trophy The 2017 NHK Trophy was the 4th event of six in the 2017–18 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held in Osaka on November 10–12. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men ...

, they placed sixth. They placed eleventh at the

, before competing at their first

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, where they placed a surprising twenty-first. They concluded with the 2018 World Championships, placing fifteenth. After this season ended they left Igor Shpilband in Novi, Michigan, and began training only under Fabian Bourzat in France.

2018–2019 season

The new season began at the

2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy was held in September 2018 at the Eissportzentrum Oberstdorf. It is part of the 2018–19 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance ...

, where they struggled, placing ninth. Assigned to two Grand Prix events, they placed eighth at

Skate America Skate America is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It is hosted by U.S. Figure Skating. The location changes yearly. Medals are awarded in four disciplines: m ...

and ninth at

NHK Trophy The NHK Trophy is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. Organized by the Japanese Skating Federation, it began in 1979 and was added to the Grand Prix series in 199 ...

. They did not finish at the Ukrainian Championships. Due to injury, They withdrew from European Championships, with

Popova Popov (; masculine), or Popova (; feminine), is a common Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian surname. Derived from a Slavonic word ''pop'' (, "priest"). The fourth most common Russian surname, it may refer to: *Alek Popov (born 1966), ...

/ Byelikov winning the former and attending the latter as the Ukrainian competitor. At the 2019 World Championships, Nazarova/Nikitin placed twentieth.

2019–2020 season

Nazarova/Nikitin began the season at the 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy, where they placed fourth in both programs to win the bronze medal overall. They went on to win the bronze medal at the 2019 CS Ice Star where they set a personal best in the

Rhythm Dance The rhythm dance (RD) is the first segment of an ice dance competition. The International Skating Union (ISU) renamed the short dance to the "rhythm dance" in June 2018, prior to the 2018–2019 season. It became part of international competitio ...

and overall score. Between 2019 CS Ice Star and the 2019 Bosphorus Cup Nazarova/Nikitin announced that they had ended their partnership with Fabian Bourzat. They returned to Kharkiv to train mainly under Halyna Churilova, and to occasionally train under

. They went on to win two other international events and a silver medal at the 2019 Bosphorus Cup. Later that year, they won the Ukraine Championships. National champions again, Nazarova/Nikitin finished the season at the 2020 European Championships, where they placed tenth. They had been assigned to compete at the

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, but these were cancelled as a result of the

coronavirus 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 identified ...

2020–2021 season

Nazarova/Nikitin debuted at the 2020 CS Budapest Trophy, winning the gold medal. They competed on the

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 sixth. They placed twentieth 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 ...

. Their World result qualified a berth for a Ukrainian dance team at the

2021–2022 season: Beijing Olympics

Beginning the season on the Challenger series, Nazarova/Nikitin won the silver medal at the 2021 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge. On the

, they were eighth at the

2021 NHK Trophy The 2021 NHK Trophy was the fourth event in the 2021–22 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo on November 12–14. Medals were award ...

. After winning the Viktor Petrenko Cup, Nazarova/Nikitin won their sixth Ukrainian national title, and were named to their second Ukrainian Olympic team. Competing first at the 2022 European Championships, they finished tenth. Nazorova/Nikitin began the

as the Ukrainian entries to the rhythm dance segment of the Olympic team event. They finished ninth of ten teams. In the dance event they finished twentieth in the rhythm dance, and were the last team to qualify for the free dance. Eighteenth in the free dance, they remained twentieth overall. Following the Olympics, Nazarova and Nikitin returned to their homes in

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 ...

launched 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

...

. The invasion severed their relations with Russian coach

, with whom they had trained with from 2013 to 2016 and again from 2019 onward. They both expressed anger at Zhulin and former training partners

Victoria Sinitsina Victoria Alexandrovna Sinitsina (russian: Виктория Александровна Синицина; born 29 April 1995) is a Russian ice dancer. With Nikita Katsalapov, she is the 2022 Olympic champion in the team event, 2022 Olympic silve ...

and

Nikita Katsalapov Nikita Gennadyevich Katsalapov (russian: Никита Геннадьевич Кацалапов; born 10 July 1991) is a Russian ice dancer. With Victoria Sinitsina, he is the 2022 Olympic champion in the team event, 2022 Olympic silver medalis ...

, who had appeared at a rally in support of the Russian invasion, saying "we were such big friends with Vika and Nikita. It was so difficult to see how they are supporting their President who is killing our Ukrainian people." After weeks in the city while under bombardment, they evacuated to the Polish city of

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

to resume training. They received considerable support from skaters in other European and North American countries, notably entreaties from French Olympic champion

Gabriella Papadakis Gabriella Maria Papadakis (born 10 May 1995) is a French ice dancer. With her partner, Guillaume Cizeron, she is a 2022 Olympic champion, 2018 Olympic silver medalist, a five-time World champion (2015–2016, 2018–2019, 2022), a five-time con ...

that they attend the 2022 World Championships in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

despite their training disruptions. Nazarova and Nikitin sought assistance from Canadian music editor Hugo Chouinard in revamping their rhythm dance, as they did not want to skate to happy music under the circumstances. The new program made use of Ukrainian singer

Jamala Susana Alimivna Jamaladinova, ; rus, Суса́на Али́мовна Джамалади́нова, Susána Alímovna Dzhamaladínova, sʊˈsanə ɐˈlʲiməvnə dʐəməlɐˈdʲinəvə, links=yes. (born 27 August 1983), known professionally ...

's song "

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

", about the persecution of Crimean Tatars by the order of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

, and a remix of the folk song "

Oi u luzi chervona kalyna file:2013 10 06 6302 калина.jpg, Red ''Viburnum'' berries (') is a symbol that has been a part of Ukrainian culture since ancient times. Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow ( uk, Ой у лузі червона калина - Oi u luzi cherv ...

" which had become an anthem of resistance to the invasion. Nazarova and Nikitin took to the ice wearing the Ukrainian national colours, and received a huge ovation from the crowd for the rhythm dance segment, where they placed sixteenth. They opted to withdraw from the free dance, saying that they had not had time to change that program and "we consider it inappropriate to dance it while people are dying and hiding in basements in our country."

Programs

(with Nikitin)

Competitive highlights

''GP:

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

'' ; With Nikitin

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nazarova, Oleksandra Ukrainian female ice dancers Universiade medalists in figure skating 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Kharkiv Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Ukraine Figure skaters at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics Universiade gold medalists for Ukraine Competitors at the 2017 Winter Universiade World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists 20th-century Ukrainian women 21st-century Ukrainian women