Many are preparing to find out whether Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov will continue their sports careers. During the offseason, figure skater coach Alexander Zhulin took several bright couples to his group: Alexandra Stepanova / Ivan Bukin and Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva / Yegor Bazin. Immediately, discussions began that Sinitsina and Katsalapov would not return to professional ice. As, such a number of strong couples from one trainer is too much, Zhulin will not be able to give due attention to everyone. Also, no one wrote off the young dancers Vasilisa Kaganovskaya and Valery Angelopol, who are also part of Zhulin’s group. But the trainer had already worked with a whole group of successful ice dancers – and each of the couples achieved results.
But even if Sinitsina and Katsalapov end their careers, they will forever remain one of the most brilliant couples in Russian ice dancing. Those who brought our country back to the podium in this form of figure skating.
Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov
Photo credit: Sergei Bobylev/TASS
The couple was born after the Olympics in Sochi. Before that, Sinitsina competed with Ruslan Zhiganshin, with whom she won several junior starts and Russian championship bronze. Katsalapov had more success: in 2014, together with Elena Ilinykh, he became the Olympic champion in the team event, and in the individual won the bronze of the Games. In the spring, Sinitsina and Katsalapov began to perform together, their former partners also paired up.
The starting season turned out to be unsuccessful for the skaters: they failed in their performance at the Russian stage of the Grand Prix, frustrated several comebacks at the NHK Trophy and became fourth in the Russian Championship.
Sinitsina and Katsalapov won their first joint medal in the 2015/16 season at the Grand Prix stage in America – they came second. In the same year they won silver at the Russian Championship. The next season for the couple was unclear: Katsalapov recovered for a long time after shoulder surgery, then the couple changed coaches. Skaters took the podium only once – at the Russian Championships they became third.
From the 2018/19 season, the couple began training with Alexander Zhulin. The skaters finished it earlier than expected: at the Russian championships in December, Katsalapov was injured during a free program.
Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov
Photo credit: Sergei Bobylev/TASS
The couple began to climb to the top in 2019. A year earlier, the skaters could not get into the top three in the Russian championship and qualify for the Olympics. The athletes entered the new four-year cycle with confidence: they first won European Championship silver, losing only 14 points to Gabriela Popadakis and Guillaume Sizeron. A year later, Sinitsina and Katsalapov already became the champions of the continent, and then added world championship gold to the piggy bank.
The Beijing Games became the crowning achievement of their careers for Sinitsina and Katsalapov: the skaters won silver in individual competitions, losing to the French, and gold in team competitions (although due of the scandal involving Kamila Valieva, the awards were never awarded).
Sinitsina and Katsalapov in the spotlight after the Olympics
Image source: Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
After the Olympics, skaters suspended their careers and did not go to national competitions. Alexander Zhulin recently noted that the couple did not have enough motivation to return.
“Vika and Nikita are still doing very well in the series, earning money. While nothing is clear about the European Championships, World Championships and Olympics, it seems to me that there is no There’s not enough incentive for them to come back to professional sports. That’s my view. I would (if I were them in the current situation) I wouldn’t come back. Now they rest. Periodically , they come if you need to go through a number of old ones or create a new one. We are in constant contact, we have a great relationship,” Zhulin said.
Tatyana Tarasova called Nikita Katsalapov “an athlete embraced by God”. And he opened with Victoria Sinitsina. The couple found each other not only on the ice, but also in life: since 2015, the skaters have been in a relationship, and in 2022 they officially became husband and wife.
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