Sofia Sergeyevna Biryukova (russian: Софья Серге́евна Бирюкова; born 19 July 1994) 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 2013 Winter Universiade champion and 2011 Finlandia Trophy champion.

Career

Biryukova competed in the

2009–10 ISU Junior Grand Prix The 2009–10 ISU Junior Grand Prix was the 13th season of the ISU Junior Grand Prix, a series of international junior level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. It was the Junior-level complement to the 2009–10 ISU Grand ...

series, winning a silver medal in Turkey. The following season, she began competing on the senior level internationally. She appeared at her first senior

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 ...

event, the

2010 Cup of Russia The 2010 Cup of Russia was the fifth event of six in the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Megasport Arena in Moscow on November 18–21. Medals were awarde ...

. Biryukova began the 2011–12 season by winning gold at the

2011 Finlandia Trophy The 2011 Finlandia Trophy was an international figure skating competition in the 2011–12 season. It was the 16th edition of the annual event and held on October 6–9, 2011 at the Valtti Areena in Vantaa. Skaters competed in the disciplines of ...

. She placed 4th at the 2011 Cup of Russia, setting personal bests in both programs. Toward the end of the season, she sustained four fractures. In the 2012–2013 season, Biryukova was assigned to two

ISU Grand Prix The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (known as ISU Champions Series from 1995 to 1997) is a series of senior international figure skating competitions organized by the International Skating Union. The invitational series was inaugurated in 1995, in ...

events, the

2012 Cup of China The 2012 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2012–13 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai on November 2–4. Med ...

and

2012 NHK Trophy The 2012 NHK Trophy was the final event of six in the 2012–13 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Sekisui Heim Super Arena in Miyagi on November 22–25. Medals were ...

, and finished 9th at both. Biryukova won the gold medal at the

2013 Winter Universiade The 2013 Winter Universiade, the XXVI Winter Universiade, was a winter multi-sport event which took place in Trentino, Italy between 11 and 21 December 2013. This was the first time that a Winter Universiade happened after the Summer Universia ...

. Since Butsaeva was unable to attend, Svetlana Sokolovskaya stepped in to work with her at the event.

Pair Skating Career

In spring 2014, Biryukova decided to try

pair skating 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 ...

. After telling her coach, Butsaeva, Butsaeva contacted pairs coach, Nina Mozer, and Mozer invited Biryukova to watch the pair skating at the Vorobyovy Gory where she coaches. After deciding she wanted to switch to pair skating, Mozer agreed to let her train at the rink and paired her up with Aleksandr Stepanov in the fall of 2014, who was also a singles skater that wanted to switch to pair skating. Pavel Alexandrovich Kitashev became the pair team's coach. On January 13, 2015, however, Biryukova stated she was unsure if she would continue pair skating or start coaching, feeling as though she hadn't made a lot of progress as a pair skater. Deciding to end her pair skating career, Biryukova ended her partnership with Stepanov. Four months later, however, Biryukova was contacted by Nina Mozer, who convinced her to tryout with pair skater

Andrei Filonov Andrei, Andrey or Andrej (in Cyrillic script: Андрэй , Андрей or Андреј) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include: * Andrei of Polotsk (–1399), Lithuanian nobleman ...

, who was looking for a partner. After a successful tryout, the pair decided to skate together and are coached by Dmitri Savin. The pair made their skating debut at the

2016 Russian Figure Skating Championships The 2016 Russian Figure Skating Championships (russian: Чемпионат России по фигурному катанию на коньках 2016) were held from 23 to 27 December 2015 in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast. Medals were awarde ...

, where they placed 7th.

Programs

With Filonov

Singles Skating

Competition highlights

With Filonov

Singles Skating

References

External links

*
Sofia Biryukova
at sport-folio.net

at fskate.ru {{DEFAULTSORT:Biryukova, Sofia 1994 births Living people Russian female single skaters Universiade medalists in figure skating Figure skaters from Moscow Universiade gold medalists for Russia Competitors at the 2013 Winter Universiade