Veronica Petrovna Pershina or Voyk (russian: Вероника Петровна Першина, born December 20, 1966) is a former competitive

pair skater 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 ...

who competed for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. With Marat Akbarov, she is the 1985 European bronze medalist and 1979 World Junior champion.

Career

Pershina teamed up with Marat Akbarov in 1975. The pair moved to Moscow in 1978 to train with Stanislav Zhuk. They won the World Junior title in 1979 ahead of Larisa Selezneva / Oleg Makarov. In 1980, Pershina/Akbarov made their senior World Championship debut, placing 6th. The following season, they won the Soviet national title ahead of

Irina Vorobieva Irina Nikolayevna Vorobieva (russian: Ирина Николаевна Воробьёва; 30 June 1958 – 12 April 2022) was a Russian pair skater who competed for the Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socia ...

/ Igor Lisovski. The pair changed coaches to

Irina Rodnina Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina ( rus, Ирина Константиновна Роднина, p=ɪˈrʲinə kənstɐnˈtʲinəvnə rədʲnʲɪˈna; born 12 September 1949) is a Russian politician and retired figure skater, who is the only pair sk ...

in 1982. Pershina/Akbarov were gold medalists at the 1982

Prize of Moscow News The Prize of '' Moscow News'' (russian: Приз газеты «Московские новости»), also known as the Moscow Skate, Nouvelles de Moscou, and the Moscow News Trophy, was an international, senior-level figure skating competition ...

and 1983

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 19 ...

. In 1985, they were sent to their fourth European Championships and won the bronze medal. They took silver at the

Skate Canada International The Skate Canada International is an international, senior-level invitation-only figure skating competition organized by Skate Canada. It is the second competition of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating season. The location changes yearly. Meda ...

in their final season. From 1986 until 1990, Pershina performed with the Russian All Stars under the direction of Tatiana Tarasova. She toured worldwide with Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean from 1988 until 1990. On January 24, 1990, Pershina defected to the United States rather than return from New York to London with the Torvill & Dean / Russian All Stars tour group. Others who defected with her were her future husband

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 ...

, future US ice dancing champion

Gorsha Sur Georgi "Gorsha" Sur (born January 1, 1967) is a former ice dancer who represented the United States and the Soviet Union. With Svetlana Liapina for the Soviet Union, he is a two-time World Junior medalist. With Renée Roca for the U.S., he is a ...

, and former World Junior ice dancing champion Elena Krykanova. Pershina, also known as Veronica Voyk, has worked as a skating coach at the Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the Detroit Skating Club in

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bir ...

, and at the Onyx Skating Academy in

Rochester, Michigan Rochester is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 12,711 at the 2010 census. It is a northern suburb in Metro Detroit located 20 miles north of the city of Detroit. Rochester was the first European settlem ...

Personal life

Pershina was formerly married to

. Their daughter, Ekaterina "Katia" Shpilband, won the intermediate ladies division at the 2010 US Junior Championships and qualified for the 2013 US Championships on the junior level.

Results

(with Akbarov)

References

Navigation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pershina, Veronika 1966 births Living people Soviet female pair skaters Russian female pair skaters Russian expatriates in the United States Sportspeople from Yekaterinburg Sportspeople from Ann Arbor, Michigan European Figure Skating Championships medalists World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists