Viktoriia Andreevna Safonova (russian: Виктория Андреевна Сафонова; born 8 May 2003) is a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

ian

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

2019 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb The 2019 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb was held in December 2019 in Zagreb, Croatia. It was part of the 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance Ice d ...

silver medalist, the

2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy was held on September 22–25, 2021 in Oberstdorf, Germany. It was part of the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. It was also the final qualifying event for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Medals were awarded in the discipli ...

bronze medalist, the 2020

Ice Star The Minsk-Arena Ice Star, or simply Ice Star, is an international figure skating competition. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pairs, and ice dancing on the senior, junior, and novice levels. The inaugural event was held i ...

champion, the 2019

Volvo Open Cup Volvo Open Cup is a figure skating competition held in Riga, Latvia. It was part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014–15 season. The competition may include men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing at various levels. ...

champion, and a two-time Belarusian national champion (2020, 2021). Competing on the junior level for Russia, she is the 2018

champion.

Personal life

Viktoriia Safonova was born on 8 May 2003 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 ...

Career

Early career

Safonova placed fourteenth at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships and eighth at the 2019 Russian Junior Championships. Competing for Russia, she was the 2018

junior champion.

2019–2020 season

Safonova switched to representing Belarus in August 2019, alongside former Russian national teammates

Konstantin Milyukov Konstantin Romanovich Milyukov (russian: Константин Романович Милюков; born 27 March 1994) is a retired Russian-born figure skater who competed for Belarus. He is the 2020 Ice Star silver medalist, the 2020 Winter Sta ...

and Victoria Yatsenko / Daniil Parkman. She placed fourth at a Russian domestic event earlier in the summer, but was not included into the national team. Safonova won the Summer Cup of the Skating Union of Belarus in her domestic debut. According to

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Net ...

rules for switching nationalities, Safonova was required to sit out international competition for a year dating from her last international appearance, ruling her ineligible for

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 ...

events. Safonova made her international debut for Belarus at the 2019

, where she won the gold medal ahead of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

's Ekaterina Ryabova and Alina Urushadze of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. She then placed seventh at

2019 CS Warsaw Cup The 2019 CS Warsaw Cup was held in November 2019 in Warsaw, Poland. It was part of the 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series The 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series was held from September to December 2019. It was the sixth season that the ISU Challenge ...

. Safonova earned personal bests in all segments to win the silver medal at

, behind

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 ...

and ahead of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Nicole Schott Nicole Schott (born 12 September 1996) is a German figure skater. She is the 2016 CS Warsaw Cup champion, the 2017 CS Tallinn Trophy bronze medalist, a two-time NRW Trophy champion (2014, 2016), and a seven-time German national champion (2012, ...

. Safonova won the national title in her first attempt at the 2020 Belarusian Championships, ahead of

Milana Ramashova Milana Maksimauna Ramashova ( be, Мілана Максімаўна Рамашова; born 12 September 2005) is a Belarusian figure skater. She is the 2020 Belarusian national silver medalist and a two-time Belarusian junior national champion ...

and Anastasiya Sidorenko. She then finished fourteenth at the 2020 European Championships. Safonova had been assigned to compete 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, ...

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 those 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

Safonova opened her season at the 2020

in October, winning gold ahead of Russians

Anastasiia Guliakova Anastasiia Dmitrievna Guliakova (russian: Анастасия Дмитриевна Гулякова; born 29 August 2002) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2020 Rostelecom Cup bronze medalist, the 2018 Warsaw Cup champion, the 2019 Tallink H ...

and

Sofia Samodurova Sofia Vyacheslavovna Samodurova (pronounced ''Sah-moh-DOO-roh-vah''; russian: Софья Вячеславовна Самодурова; born 30 July 2002) is a Russian retired figure skater. She is the 2019 European champion, the 2019 CS Ice ...

. She was assigned to make her

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 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 eighth at the event. Safonova was scheduled to compete 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 ...

but was forced to withdraw two days before the ladies' short program due to a positive

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

test.

2021–2022 season

Following the withdrawal from the World Championships, Safonova competed at the beginning of the new season at the

, seeking a second opportunity to qualify a berth for Belarus 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 ...

. She was third in both segments to win the bronze medal, taking the third of six available spots. She went on to place eighth 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 ...

and repeat as gold medalist at the Ice Star. She won the gold medal at the 2021 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge. Safonova was invited to compete on the

at the

2021 Rostelecom Cup The 2021 Rostelecom Cup was the sixth event in the 2021–22 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi on November 26–28. Medals were award ...

following the withdrawal of Kazakh skater

Elizabet Tursynbaeva Elizabet Tursynbaeva ( kz, Элизабет Тұрсынбаева, ''Elizabet Tūrsynbaeva''; born 14 February 2000) is a Kazakhstan, Kazakh retired figure skater. She is the 2019 World Figure Skating Championships, 2019 World silver medalist, ...

. She placed seventh at the event. At the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The tournament began three days after the conclusion of the 2022 Commo ...

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 ' ...

, Safonova finished ninth. Named to the Belarusian team for the

, Safonova placed seventeenth in the short program of the women's event. Thirteenth in the free skate, she rose to thirteenth overall.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''GP:

; CS: Challenger Series''

For Belarus

For Russia

Detailed results

''Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.''

For Belarus

For Russia

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Safonova, Viktoriia 2003 births Living people Russian female single skaters Belarusian female single skaters Russian emigrants to Belarus Figure skaters from Moscow Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for Belarus