Sofia Dmitrievna Akateva (russian: Софья Дмитриевна Акатьева, born 7 July 2007) is a Russian

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 ...

. She is the 2023 Russian champion. At the junior level, she is the 2021 JGP Russia champion, the 2021 JGP Poland champion, a two-time Russian junior national champion (

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

), and currently holds the junior women's world records for the highest

total Total may refer to: Mathematics * Total, the summation of a set of numbers * Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs * Total relation, which may also mean ** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...

and free skate scores. Akateva is the 11th woman to land a

quad Quad as a word or prefix usually means 'four'. It may refer to: Government * Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States * Quadrilateral group, an informal group which inc ...

jump and the 14th to land a

triple Axel Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * I ...

in international competition. She is the second woman after American skater

Alysa Liu Alysa Liu (born August 8, 2005) is a retired American competitive figure skater. Liu is the youngest-ever U.S. women's national champion, having won her first title at age 13. She is also the youngest to win two senior national titles at age 14 ...

to land a quad jump and triple Axel in one program successfully.

Personal life

Akatieva was born 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 ...

on 7 July 2007. She has a younger brother, Aleksandr. Sonik (russian: Соник) is a Russian

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

form of Sofia, so she is affectionately nicknamed Super Soniс by her fans and teammates for her strong technical ability.

Career

Early years

Akatieva began learning to skate in 2011 as a four-year-old at Sambo 70. She transitioned into the Khrustalnyi rink under her current coach

Eteri Tutberidze Eteri Georgievna Tutberidze (russian: Этери Георгиевна Тутберидзе, the native name is Eteri Gogievna, russian: Этери Гогиевна; born 24 February 1974) is a Russian figure skating coach who works mainly with fe ...

's group within the Sambo 70 training complex in 2017. Akatieva began training her first quadruple jump, the quad toe loop, with the support of a harness in December 2018 and the triple Axel in January 2019. She landed her first attempts of both jumps independently in March and April of 2019, respectively. As a novice and domestic junior skater under Tutberidze, Akatieva placed second at the 2019 Russian Younger Age Championships (Russia's equivalent of a novice national championship) behind her teammate

Kamila Valieva Kamila Valeryevna Valieva (russian: Камила Валерьевна Валиева; born 26 April 2006) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2022 European champion, 2021 Rostelecom Cup champion, 2021 Skate Canada International champion, ...

. In 2020, she won the silver medal at the 2020 Russian Junior Championships, again behind Valieva, and won her first junior national title the following year at the

edition. During the domestic Cup of Russia series held during the 2020–21 season, Akateva was lauded as the first female skater to land a triple Axel and two quadruple jumps in a program during her free skate.

2021–22 season: International junior debut

Akatieva made her junior international debut at the 2021 JGP Russia held in

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yeni ...

in mid-September. At the event, she surpassed teammate Kamila Valieva's junior world record scores for the free program and total combined score and came close to matching teammate

Alena Kostornaia Alena Sergeyevna Kostornaia (russian: Алёна Сергеевна Косторная; born 24 August 2003) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2020 European champion, the 2019–20 Grand Prix Final champion, a six-time Grand Prix medal ...

's junior world record for the short program to take the title by a comfortable 27 point margin ahead of silver medalist

Anastasia Zinina Anastasia (from el, Ἀναστασία, translit=Anastasía) is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning "resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where it was the most ...

. Across her two programs, Akatieva landed two triple Axels, one in combination, and three quad jumps, the toe loop, and the Salchow, two in combination. She is the first woman to land three quads and a triple Axel in one program. At her second JGP assignment, the 2021 JGP Poland, Akatieva skated two clean programs, again executing two triple Axels and three quad jumps over the course of the competition to claim the title ahead of compatriot

Elizaveta Kulikova Elizaveta is a village in the municipality of Bălți in the north of Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west ...

and South Korean competitor

Shin Ji-a Shin Ji-a (Hangul: 신지아; born 19 March 2008) is a South Korean figure skater. She is the 2023 South Korean national champion. At the junior level, she is a two-time World Junior silver medalist (2022 and 2023), the 2022–23 Junior Gran ...

. Due to her results over her two events, Akatieva qualified to the 2021–22 Junior Grand Prix Final as the top-seeded competitor in the junior women's event. Akatieva's results also automatically qualified her a spot in the senior-level 2022 Russian Championships, but she was barred from competing there by the

Russian Figure Skating Federation The Figure Skating Federation of Russia (russian: Федерация фигурного катания на коньках России, lit. ''Figure Skating on Skates Federation of Russia'') is the national sport governing body for figure skating ...

as her birthday fell after the age-eligibility cutoff date. In February 2022, Akatieva handily won her second consecutive junior national title at the 2022 Russian Junior Championships. She placed first in both segments of competition to take the gold medal by an over 23-point margin ahead of silver medalist

Sofia Samodelkina Sofia Vladimirovna Samodelkina (russian: Софья Владимировна Самоделкина; born 18 February 2007) is a Russian figure skater. She is 2021 JGP Slovenia silver medalist, 2021 JGP Russia bronze medalist, and 2021 Denis ...

2022–23 season: Russian national title

Akatieva competed on the domestic Russian Grand Prix (in lieu of the ISU Grand Prix, as Russian skaters were banned by the ISU) and competed at the

2023 Russian Figure Skating Championships The 2023 Russian Figure Skating Championships (russian: Чемпионат России по фигурному катанию на коньках 2023) were held from 20 to 25 December 2022 in Krasnoyarsk. Medals were awarded in the disciplines ...

. She placed first with a total score of 249.74 points ahead of

and

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva Elizaveta Sergeyevna Tuktamysheva ( ; rus, Елизавета Серге́евна Туктамышева, , jɪlʲɪzɐˈvʲetə tʊktɐˈmɨʂɨvə; born 17 December 1996) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2015 World champion, the 202 ...

Programs

Competitive highlights

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 ...

; GPR: Grand Prix of Russia

Records and achievements

Junior world record scores

Akatieva is currently the junior world record holder for the women's free program and total combined score. • Akatieva is the first woman to land a triple Axel and three quadruple jumps in one program.

Detailed results

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

Senior level

Junior level

References

External links

* ! colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #78FF78;" , World Junior Record Holders {{DEFAULTSORT:Akateva, Sofia 2007 births Living people Russian female single skaters Figure skaters from Moscow 21st-century Russian women