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Maksym Nikitin

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Maksym Nikitin
Nikitin at the 2018 European Championships
Full nameMaksym Kostiantynovych Nikitin
Native nameМаксим Костянтинович Нікітін
Born (1994-10-05) 5 October 1994 (age 30)
Kharkiv, Ukraine
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Figure skating career
Country Ukraine
DisciplineIce dance
Began skating1998
RetiredAugust 13, 2022
Medal record
Representing  Ukraine
Figure skating: Ice dance
World Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Tallinn Ice dance
Winter Youth Olympics
Silver medal – second place 2012 Innsbruck Ice dance

Maksym Kostiantynovych Nikitin (Ukrainian: 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 medalist and 2012 Youth Olympic silver medalist. On the senior level, they are the 2017 Winter Universiade champions, 2014 CS Warsaw Cup silver medalists, 2016 Cup of Nice bronze medalists, and six-time Ukrainian national champions (2015, 2017, 2018, 2020–2022). Nazorova/Nikitin have represented Ukraine at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics.

Personal life

[edit]

Maxim Nikitin was born on 5 October 1994 in Kharkiv, Ukraine.[1] Around 2012, he enrolled at the Kharkiv State Academy of Physical Culture, where he is a correspondence student.[2]

Career

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Early career

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Nikitin was a recreational single skater in his early years. Around 2004, Halyna Churilova encouraged him and Oleksandra Nazarova, also a single skater from Kharkiv, to form an ice dancing partnership.[2]

Nazarova/Nikitin debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series in 2010. They placed eleventh in Graz, Austria and seventh in Sheffield, England. Churilova coached the team in their hometown.[3]

In the 2011–2012 season, they made no appearances on the JGP series but were sent to the Youth Olympics in January 2012 in Innsbruck, Austria. They won the silver medal behind Russia's Yanovskaya/Mozgov.[4]

2012–2013 season

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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, 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.[2] They relocated to Moscow to train with Zhulin and Oleg Volkov.[5]

2013–2014 season

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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, Japan. In March 2014, they finished fifth at the World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, having ranked seventh in the short dance and fourth in the free dance.[4]

2014–2015 season: Senior debut

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Nazarova/Nikitin continued training in Moscow in the 2014–2015 season.[6] At the Junior Grand Prix event in Courchevel, 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, Estonia, after placing sixth in the short and third in the free dance.[4]

Making their senior international debut, Nazarova/Nikitin won the silver medal at the Warsaw Cup, 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, held in late January 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden. Ranked twelfth in the short dance and eleventh in the free dance, the two finished eleventh overall.[4]

In early March, the two competed at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, 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 of the United States. It was Ukraine's first podium finish at the event since 2000. At the end of the same month, Nazarova/Nikitin competed on the senior level at the 2015 World Championships in Shanghai, China; they ranked seventeenth in both segments and overall.[4]

2015–2016 season

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Making their Grand Prix debut, Nazarova/Nikitin finished seventh at the 2015 Skate America. They withdrew from the Ukrainian Championships due to Nazarova's knee injury.[7] The duo returned to competition in late March 2016 at the World Championships in Boston. Ranked 20th in the short dance, they narrowly qualified for the free dance, where they placed 18th, resulting in a final placement of nineteenth.[4]

Deciding to change coaches, Nazarova/Nikitin joined Igor Shpilband and Fabian Bourzat in Novi, Michigan in late June 2016.[8][9][1]

2016–2017 season

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Nazarova/Nikitin opened their season with a bronze medal at the International Cup of Nice. They finished seventh at their Grand Prix assignment, the 2016 Trophée de France, and ninth at the 2017 European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.[4]

In February, they received the gold medal at the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In March, they placed fifteenth at the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Due to their result, Ukraine qualified a spot in the ice dancing event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.[4]

2017–2018 season: Pyeongchang Olympics

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Nazarova/Nikitin won the bronze medal at the 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy and the 2017 CS Warsaw Cup and placed fourth at the 2017 CS Ice Star. They placed sixth at their lone Grand Prix assignment for the year, 2017 NHK Trophy. They placed eleventh at the European Championships before competing at their first Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where they placed a surprising twenty-first. They concluded with the 2018 World Championships, placing fifteenth.[4]

After this season ended, they left Igor Shpilband in Novi, Michigan, and began training only under Fabian Bourzat in France.

2018–2019 season

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The new season began at the 2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where they struggled, placing ninth. Assigned to two Grand Prix events, they placed eighth at Skate America and ninth at NHK Trophy. They did not finish at the Ukrainian Championships. Due to injury, They withdrew from European Championships, with Popova/Byelikov winning the former and attending the latter as the Ukrainian competitor. At the 2019 World Championships, Nazarova/Nikitin placed twentieth.[4]

2019–2020 season

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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 and overall score.[4]

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 under Halyna Churilova and occasionally under Alexander Zhulin.

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.[4] National champions again, Nazarova/Nikitin finished the season at the 2020 European Championships, where they placed tenth.[10] They had been assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[11]

2020–2021 season

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Nazarova/Nikitin debuted at the 2020 CS Budapest Trophy, winning the gold medal. They competed on the Grand Prix at the 2020 Rostelecom Cup, placing sixth.[12] They placed twentieth at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm.[13] Their World result qualified for a berth for a Ukrainian dance team at the 2022 Winter Olympics.[14]

2021–2022 season: Beijing Olympics

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Beginning the season on the Challenger series, Nazarova/Nikitin won the silver medal at the 2021 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge.[4] On the Grand Prix, they were eighth at the 2021 NHK Trophy.[15] After winning the Viktor Petrenko Cup, Nazarova/Nikitin won their sixth Ukrainian national title, and were named to their second Ukrainian Olympic team.[4] Competing first at the 2022 European Championships, they finished tenth.[16]

Nazorova/Nikitin began the 2022 Winter Olympics as the Ukrainian entries to the rhythm dance segment of the Olympic team event. They finished ninth of ten teams.[17] In the dance event, they finished twentieth in the rhythm dance and were the last team to qualify for the free dance.[18] Eighteenth in the free dance, they remained twentieth overall.[19]

Following the Olympics, Nazarova and Nikitin returned to their homes in Kharkiv, which shortly afterward became a central point of conflict when Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine. The invasion severed their relations with Russian coach Alexander Zhulin, 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 and Nikita Katsalapov, 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."[20] After weeks in the city while under bombardment, they evacuated to the Polish city of Toruń to resume training.[21] They received considerable support from skaters in other European and North American countries, notably entreaties from French Olympic champion Gabriella Papadakis that they attend the 2022 World Championships in Montpellier despite their training disruptions.[22][20]

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.[22] The new program made use of Ukrainian singer Jamala's song "1944" about the persecution of Crimean Tatars by the order of Joseph Stalin, and a remix of the folk song "Oi u luzi chervona kalyna" which had become an anthem of resistance to the invasion.[23][24] 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.[25] 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."[24]

Programs

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Nazarova and Nikitin at the 2022 Winter Olympics

(with Nazarova)

Season Short dance Free dance Exhibition
2021–2022
[26][27][24]
  • Les Yeux Noirs (Dark Eyes)
    by PomplamooseMusic
2019–2021
[28][29]
  • Prima Donna
  • Après la Pluie
  • Steppe
    by René Aubry
    choreo. by Sergei Petukhov
  • Moonlight Night
    by Oleg Vynnyk
2018–2019
[30]
2017–2018
[31]
2016–2017
[1]
  • Droit de cité
    by Raphaël Beau
    (from Micmacs)
  • Sur le mesure
    by Hugues Le Bars
  • Diabolique
    by Raphaël Beau
    (from Micmacs)
2015–2016
[32][33]
2014–2015
[34][35][2] 		Senior level
  • Flamenco: Street Dance
    by Didulia
  • Paso Doble

Junior level

  • Samba Vocalizado
    by Luciano Perrone
  • Rhumba: Perfidia
    by John Altman
  • Samba Vocalizado
    by Luciano Perrone
2013–2014
[5]
2012–2013
[36]
2011–2012
[37]
2010–2011
[3]
2009–2010
  • Ukrainian folk dance
  • Hi-De-Ho
    by K7
  • This Business of Love
  • Hey Pachuco
2007–2008
  • Caravan

Competitive highlights

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GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

With Nazarova
International[4]
Event 10–11 11–12 12–13 13–14 14–15 15–16 16–17 17–18 18–19 19–20 20–21 21–22
Olympics 21st 20th
Worlds 17th 19th 15th 15th 20th C 20th WD
Europeans 11th 9th 11th 10th 10th
GP France 7th
GP NHK Trophy 6th 9th 8th
GP Rostelecom 6th
GP Skate America 7th 8th
CS Budapest 1st
CS Denis Ten MC 2nd
CS Golden Spin 4th 6th
CS Ice Star 4th 3rd
CS Lombardia 3rd 3rd
CS Nebelhorn 9th
CS Tallinn Trophy 6th
CS U.S. Classic 4th
CS Warsaw Cup 2nd 3rd
Bosphorus Cup 2nd
Cup of Nice 3rd 5th
Ice Star 1st
LuMi Dance Trophy 1st
Mezzaluna Cup 1st
Open Ice Mall 1st
Pavel Roman 1st 1st
Santa Claus Cup 1st
Universiade 1st
Victor Petrenko Cup 1st
International: Junior[4]
Junior Worlds 11th 5th 3rd
Youth Olympics 2nd
JGP Final 5th
JGP Austria 11th 5th
JGP Croatia 5th
JGP Czech Rep. 4th
JGP Estonia 2nd 3rd
JGP Poland 2nd
JGP U.K. 7th
Volvo Open 2nd
Istanbul Cup 5th
NRW Trophy 10th 5th 7th
Santa Cup 8th 1st
National[4]
Ukrainian Champ. 1st J 1st WD 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
Team events
Olympics 10th T
9th P
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Event cancelled
Levels: N = Novice; J = Junior

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2016/2017". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ a b c d Golinsky, Reut (23 March 2015). "Meet Alexandra (Sasha) Nazarova and Maxim Nikitin". Absolute Skating.
  3. ^ a b "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2010/2011". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 21 February 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Competition Results: Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN". International Skating Union.
  5. ^ a b "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2013/2014". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 21 June 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ Максим Никитин: О смене гражданства у нас даже мыслей не было [Maxim Nikitin: We did not consider changing citizenship] (in Russian). Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation. 14 August 2014. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ^ "СПИСКИ УЧАСТНИКОВ ЧЕМПИОНАТА УКРАИНЫ ПО ФИГУРНОМУ КАТАНИЮ" [List of competitors at the Ukrainian Figure Skating Championships]. Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation (in Russian). 18 December 2015. Archived from the original on 18 December 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ^ Vlasyuk, Lyudmyla (26 December 2016). "Своїм танцем ми прагнемо викликати у глядачів позитивні емоції" [We want to create positive emotions with our dance] (in Ukrainian). Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation.
  9. ^ Samokhvalov, Anatoliy (29 June 2016). "Украинская пара фигуристов Назарова/Никитин перешла от тренера Жулина к Шпильбанду" [Ukrainian figure skating duo Nazarova/Nikitin changes coaches from Zhulin to Shpilband]. rsport.ru (in Russian).
  10. ^ "2020 ISU European Figure Skating Championships Results". International Skating Union.
  11. ^ Ewing, Lori (March 11, 2020). "World figure skating championships cancelled in Montreal". CBC Sports.
  12. ^ "ISU GP Rostelecom Cup 2020". International Skating Union.
  13. ^ "ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 Results – Ice Dance". International Skating Union.
  14. ^ "Communication No. 2388". International Skating Union. April 1, 2021.
  15. ^ Slater, Paula (November 13, 2021). "Sinitsina and Katsalapov take fourth Grand Prix medal at NHK Trophy". Golden Skate.
  16. ^ Slater, Paula (January 15, 2022). "Sinitsina and Katsalapov defend European title". Golden Skate.
  17. ^ Slater, Paula (February 4, 2022). "Team USA leads Olympic Figure Skating Team Event". Golden Skate.
  18. ^ Penny, Brandon (February 12, 2022). "How it went down: Olympic ice dance begins with hip-hop/blues programs". NBC Sports.
  19. ^ Penny, Brandon (February 13, 2022). "How the free dance transpired and determined Olympic ice dance medalists". NBC Sports.
  20. ^ a b Yoshida, Hiro; Gillis, Seán (1 April 2022). "Nazarova and Nikitin: Ukrainian display of courage and defiance on the world stage". Europe on Ice. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  21. ^ Godunova, Katerina; Karanov, Eugene (21 March 2022). ""Ми боремося за свої життя". Український фігурист Нікітін - про війну та майже зруйнований Харків" ["We are fighting for our lives." Ukrainian figure skater Nikitin - about the war and almost-destroyed Kharkiv] (in Ukrainian). Suspilne.
  22. ^ a b Russell, Susan D. (March 17, 2022). "Skating community rallies for Ukraine". International Figure Skating.
  23. ^ "Sakamoto wins women's title at depleted world championships". National Post. March 25, 2022.
  24. ^ a b c Russell, Susan D. (March 25, 2022). "Nazarova and Nikitin – A Courageous Dance". International Figure Skating.
  25. ^ "Papadakis, Cizeron shatter rhythm dance record at figure skating worlds". The Sports Network. March 25, 2022.
  26. ^ "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2021/2022 (1st RD)". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 31 October 2021.
  27. ^ "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2021/2022 (2nd RD)". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022.
  28. ^ "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2019/2020". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 15 September 2019.
  29. ^ "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2020/2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021.
  30. ^ "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2018/2019". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 1 November 2018.
  31. ^ "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2017/2018". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017.
  32. ^ "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2015/2016". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 27 May 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  33. ^ Flade, Tatjana (July 9, 2015). "Nazarova and Nikitin take on new style for 2015-16". Golden Skate.
  34. ^ "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2014/2015". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  35. ^ "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2014/2015". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  36. ^ "Alexandra NAZAROVA / Maxim NIKITIN: 2012/2013". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 26 September 2013.
  37. ^ Golinsky, Reut (11 February 2012). "Youth Olympic Games 2012". Absolute Skating. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
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