Nikita Katsalapov Biography photo

St. Petersburg 2nd Krasnoarmeyskaya St. Silver medalist of the Olympics in Beijing. The skater Nikita Katsalapov his path to Glory turned out to be thorny, but the athlete showed outstanding fighting qualities and did not break under the influence of difficult life circumstances. Childhood and youth years Nikita were born and raised in a family of Muscovites. Его мама была профессиональной фигуристкой, но из-за травмы вынуждена была оставить большой спорт и уйти на тренерскую работу.

She brought his four -year -old son to a rink, dreaming of raising a champion from him. Nikita began to engage in figure skating in the children's theater on the ice "Aleo", created on the basis of the Sports School of the Olympic Reserve "Moskvich". In childhood, Nikita Katsalapov, having learned to confidently stand on skates and has mastered simple elements, the boy moved to the figure skating school of the Sokolniki Ice Palace, where he ended up in the group of Marina Druzik.

Excellent results allowed the boy to go to the school of the famous coach Viktor Nikolayevich Kudryavtsev, who raised a galaxy of Olympic champions. At first, Katsalapov was at the first steps in sports in the group of lonelines with Natalia Petrovna Dubinskaya, but over time it became clear that due to high growth and physique features, Nikita was lagging behind the technique from peers, and the only opportunity to remain in figure skating is a transition to dancing.

The suitable partner was not searched for long - she was the former loner Elena Ilyin, also the ward of Natalia Dubinskaya. Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh took up the duet, who had already left the big sport by that time. But they failed to put a strong couple from the guys and help them overcome the disagreements that had arisen - a year later Ilyinov refused to ride with Katsalapov and went to train in America.

Nikita Katsalapov, in his youth, was left without a couple, Nikita returned to the loners, then moved to the group of Alexander Zhulin, who put him in a couple with Angelina Kabysheva. But this duet also did not work out, like the American career of Ilyin, who returned to their homeland a year later. By that time, the guys had matured and learned to set life priorities. They both wanted to ride and stubbornly went to their goal, for which a reliable partner was needed.

Realizing this, Nikita and Lena again united in the duet and a few months later they took fourth place at the Russian championship among juniors Nikita Katsalapov and Elena Ilyin in the year then the victory in the final of the Junior Cup of Russia, the second place in the Grand Prix series among juniors in Tokyo and gold medals at the Hague Championship in The Hague. With such brilliant results, the couple switched to an adult level and debuted in the NHK Trophy tournament in October, the first stage of the Grand Prix, held in the Japanese Nagoy.

With a bright spectacular program to music from the Don Quixote ballet, the skaters took fourth place, and at the second stage, held in Russia, they became bronze medalists. Thanks to this, they earned a ticket to the first European Championship in their lives, where they took fourth place. NHK Trophy gave athletes the opportunity to get to the World Cup, at which they became seventh.

Left without medals, after the end of the season, the couple left Alexander Zhulin to Nikolai Morozov, considering him a more experienced and professional coach. The Olympics in Sochi and the change of partner Morozov began to actively prepare a couple for the upcoming Olympic Games in Sochi, and by the beginning of the competition the guys approached in great shape.

In January, they spoke brilliantly at the European Championship in Budapest and won silver medals, losing only 1.10 points to the Italian duet Kappellini and Lanotta. The European Championship - Nikita Katsalapov and Elena Ilyin Nikita and Elena were called the main favorites of the Russian team in ice dancing, and they did not let down. The athletes brought the bronze team in the personal standings and, by the sum of the short and arbitrary programs, Nikita Katsalapov and Elena Ilyin at the Sochi Olympics and Elena Ilyin scored in the Olympics after the completion of the Olympics, the skaters shocked fans news that they would no longer ride together.

The initiator of such a decision was Nikita, who publicly thanked Elena for his cooperation and announced the name of the new partner. She became Victoria Sinitsina, who had previously rode with Ruslan Zhiganshin. In fact, the skaters simply made a castling, as a result of which two new duets arose: Katsalapov - Sinitsin and Zhiganshin - Ilyin. And Elena and Ruslan continued cooperation with Nikolai Morozov, who nourished not only friendly and professional feelings for the Ilyins.

Nikita Katsalapov and Victoria Sinitsin's first performances by Katsalapova and the new partner were not the most successful. At the Russian championship, they also failed - the fourth place did not give the skaters the opportunity to get to the main starts, and Nikita's injury prevented them from performing on control rolls in Sochi. NHK Trophy but, despite this, the duet still managed to prepare for the first stage of the Grand Prix in America and won silver medals.At the second stage in Russia, they became third, at the European Championship - fourth, but at the World Cup they took only ninth place.

After the end of the season, the skaters took a short pause, during which Katsalapov engaged in health.

In Boston, he had an operation on his shoulder, and it took two months to undergo the necessary rehabilitation and begin to fully train. Nikita was very worried that in this way he failed Vika, but the girl turned out to be a real fighting girlfriend, ready to support her partner in difficult times. Together they decided to return to Russia and start training with Alexander Zhulin, who undertook to prepare them for the upcoming Olympics.

But the annoying fall of Victoria at the Challenger tournament in Minsk and the rupture of the ligament of the ankle at Nikita at the Russian Championship brought to zero their chances to play for the national team in Pyeongchang. However, the skaters did not despair and began preparations for the Russian Cup, which they confidently won. Then they won the Ondrej Nepela Trophy, thereby for the first time winning the Chellenger series tournament.

At the end of the year, the Russian championship also submitted to the athletes, in which they were ahead of their main competitors to Alexander Stepanov and Ivan Bukin by 4 points. And in March, Katsalapov and Sinitsin became the silver medalists of the World Cup. But the sympathy between them did not immediately arise - both athletes came to the ice dancing from single skiing and could not decide who the leader was paired.

This ended in the fact that Lena left the duet and went to train in the States. For several years spent behind the ocean, she blossomed and became a real beauty, upon arrival, forcing Nikita to forget all the former disagreements. The guys again became a couple, and this time not only on ice. Until their relationship was intervened by the coach Nikolai Morozov, who began to show excessive signs of attention to Elena.

Nikita Katsalapov and his first love - Elena Ilyin, soon joint pictures of Elena and Nikolai began to appear on the Web, who did not leave doubts about their love affair. Nikita, as a real fighter, withstood this difficult moral test and did everything to successfully perform with Elena at the Olympics in Sochi. And only after the Russian team occupied the podium, he announced the departure from the duet, not revealing the true reasons for such a decision.

Victoria Sinitsina, who had previously performed with Ruslan Zhiganshin, became the new partner of Katsalapova. The couple did not demonstrate outstanding results, so Vika happily accepted the proposal for castling from a more promising athlete. They enthusiastically began training, first leaving for America with Marina Zueva, and then returning under the wing to Alexander Zhulin again.

Victoria Sinitsin and Nikita Katsalapov do not deny that athletes do not advertise personal relations between them, but judging by the joint public exits and publications on social networks, they are connected not only by sports ambitions. Officially, Nikita and Victoria do not confirm that there are feelings between them, but do not deny. Nikita Katsalapov now has become one of the most successful for the skaters-they won the Russian championship the second time and won a convincing victory at the European Championship, managing to get around the strongest French couple of papadakis-Sizeron.

The Russian Championship is an arbitrary dance, but then the pandemic of the coronavirus broke out, which made serious adjustments to the sports schedule of athletes. The World Cup, the European Championship and a series of stages of the Grand Prix were canceled. Due to the lack of international competitions, only the Russian Cup remained, at the first stage of which Katsalapov and Sinitsin immediately took a leading position.

But then a strip of bad luck began again-at the second stage, Victoria worsened the old inflammation of the knee joint, due to which the couple completed the performance ahead of schedule and missed the third stage of the tournament. Then the skaters fell ill with coronavirus, and Sinitsin suffered a severe disease, with a partial lesion of the lungs. Because of this, the athletes missed the Russian Championship and the Channel One Cup, but were still able to perform at the Russian Cup final and win the treasured “gold”.

This victory opened their way to the World Cup in Sweden, at which Katsalapov and Sinitsin became absolute leaders and for the first time in their career won the world title. Nikita Katsalapov and Victoria Sinitsin at the World Cup in Sweden in September, the skaters presented their new programs for the Olympic season, in which they became obvious favorites of the Russian team.

This confirmed the performance at the fourth stage of the Grand Prix in Tokyo, where the couple won gold medals. But at the Russian championship there was again trouble - already on the second day during the warm -up, Nikita felt an acute back pain, which did not allow the athletes to continue the competition. In January, the couple triumphantly performed at the European Championship in Tallinn and received a well -deserved “gold”, confirming the right to speak at the Beijing Olympics.The European Championship-Tannan rhythm with Victoria Sinitsina Nikita won a silver medal, gaining 51 points for performances in total.

Six months later, the coach of the couple Alexander Zhulin said that Victoria and Nikita were completing his career: yes, we made such a decision that they themselves will determine their future. Everything went to this, they achieved a lot. But the skaters themselves refuted this. Zhulin hastily apologized: it turned out that the news about the end of his career is a fake.

Nikita is horrified! They do not complete a sports career. I myself confirmed me, and I confirmed because I thought they finished. Interesting facts of Sergei Rachmaninov’s music often sounds in the performances of skaters, but top athletes prefer not to take his works for Olympic performances. This did not prevent the guys and their coach Alexander Zhulin from making a second attempt to “skate” the arbitrary dance for Rachmaninov - their Olympic performance in Beijing will again be held to the music of this great Russian composer.

Nikita Katsalapov and Victoria Sinitsin protrude to the music of Rachmaninov at the age of fourteen Katsalapov were seriously thinking about changing figure skating to hockey, which seemed to him a truly masculine sport. But the first serious achievements in ice dancing convinced him of the correctness of the chosen decision, which he had never regretted. Of all the dance styles, Nikita and Vika are most impressed by tango.

Katsalapov and Sinitsin participated in the ice show Ilya Averbukh and visited him in various corners of Russia. I especially remembered a trip to Angarsk, where the guys had the opportunity to ride Baikal constrained by ice and admire his mystical beauty. Nikita Katsalapov: The latest news and articles.