Mikhail Kolyada
Mikhail Kolyada in 2024
Full name	Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada
Native name	Михаил Сергеевич Коляда
Born	(1995-02-18)18 February 1995 (age 30) Saint Petersburg, Russia
Height	1.67 m (5 ft5+1⁄2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Russia
Discipline	Men's singles
Coach	Alexei Mishin Tatiana Prokofieva
Skating club	Olympic School “Zvezdny Led”, Saint-Petersburg
Began skating	2000
HighestWS	4th (2018–19)
Medal record
Event Olympic Games 0 1 0 World Championships 0 0 1 European Championships 0 0 2 Grand Prix Final 0 0 1 Russian Championships 3 3 0 World Team Trophy 1 1 0 Medal list Olympic Games 2018 Pyeongchang Team World Championships 2018 Milan Singles European Championships 2017 Ostrava Singles 2018 Moscow Singles Grand Prix Final 2017–18 Nagoya Singles Russian Championships 2017 Chelyabinsk Singles 2018 Saint Petersburg Singles 2021 Chelyabinsk Singles 2016 Yekaterinburg Singles 2019 Saransk Singles 2022 Saint Petersburg Singles World Team Trophy 2021 Osaka Team 2017 Tokyo Team

Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada (Russian:Михаил Сергеевич Коляда,IPA:[mʲɪxɐˈilkəlʲɪˈda]; born 18 February 1995) is a Russianfigure skater. He is a 2018 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, the2018 World bronze medalist,^[1] a two-timeEuropean bronze medalist (2017,2018), the2017 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a five-timeGrand Prix medalist, and a three-timeRussian national champion (2017, 2018, 2021).

Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada was born on 18 February 1995 inSaint Petersburg, Russia.^[2][3] He has three younger siblings.^[4] He is enrolled at theLesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health.^[4] On May 20, 2019, he announced his engagement to pair skaterDaria Beklemisheva. Their wedding took place in July 2019.^[5]

Kolyada began learning to skate in 2000.^[6] Coach Valentina Chebotareva invited him to join her group after observing him at a small rink when he was five.^[7]

Kolyada began competing on theISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series in 2011. In 2013, he won theRussian Junior Championships and was assigned to theWorld Junior Championships where he finished 6th.^[8]

Kolyada won silver and bronze medals on theJGP series, becoming the first alternate for the Junior Grand Prix Final. After placing sixth in the short program at the seniorRussian Championships, he withdrew from the free skate, unable to fix a problem with his boot laces.^[9]

Kolyada fractured his right ankle in August 2014, leading to two surgeries and five months off the ice.^[4] He withdrew from the2014 Rostelecom Cup, which would have been hisGrand Prix debut, and the2015 Russian Championships. In March 2015, he won gold at theGardena Spring Trophy.

Kolyada finished third in theChallenger Series (CS) rankings after winning silver at the2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy and bronze at the2015 Ice Challenge. Skating in his first Grand Prix competition, he placed fifth at the2015 Rostelecom Cup in November. The following month, he won the silver medal at theRussian Championships inYekaterinburg.

In January 2016, Kolyada placed ninth in the short program, third in the free skate, and fifth overall at theEuropean Championships inBratislava, Slovakia. From 30 March to 1 April, he competed at the2016 World Championships inBoston. Ranked sixth in the short and fifth in the free, he finished fourth overall, just missing the bronze to China'sBoyang Jin.

To be competitive, Kolyada upgraded his technical content. He initially planned to incorporate a quad Lutz in his short and long programs but eventually decided that the consistency of the quad Lutz was too risky for the short and a clean program executed perfectly, along with his traditionally high components score, would keep him in the mix overall. He also tried adding a quad Salchow and toe loop in the free skate along with the Lutz.

Kolyada also decided in this season to add a new choreographer to his team, two-time World champion and 2006 Olympic silver medalist Stéphane Lambiel,^[10] along with his long-time choreographer, Olga Zotova.

Kolyada placed fourth at the2016 CS Finlandia Trophy and2016 Rostelecom Cup. His next Grand Prix assignment was the2016 NHK Trophy. In December 2016, he won his firstRussian national title.^[11][12] At the2017 European Championships, he won the bronze medal behindJavier Fernández andMaxim Kovtun. He placed fourth in the short program and third in the free skate. In the free program, he fell on aquadLutz, but the jump was counted as fully rotated.^[13] At the 2017 World Championships he placed seventh in the short program and ninth in the free skate, finishing 8th overall. At the 2017 World Team Trophy, he placed fourth in the short program and fifth in the free skate, with Team Russia finishing second place overall. In the free skate and attempted a quad Lutz but fell on the landing, although the jump was counted as fully rotated.^[14]

Kolyada started his season with a gold medal at the2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy after ranking 10th in the short program and first in the free skate. In the free skate, he landed his first quad lutz in international competition.^[15] He placed fourth at the2017 CS Finlandia Trophy and won the bronze medal at the2017 Rostelecom Cup, and later the gold medal at the2017 Cup of China, qualifying him for theGrand Prix Final.

He then had his biggest achievement yet, finishing third at theGrand Prix Final. The following month, he won his second consecutive Russian figure skating title and, despite errors, won bronze for the second consecutive year at the2018 European Championships.

At the2018 Winter Olympics, Kolyada was part of theOlympic Athletes from Russia team in theteam event. He performed poorly in the short program, falling on both quadruple jump attempts and singling his triple Axel, placing eighth overall. He placed second in the free skate. Team Russia won the silver medal overall.^[16] In themen's individual event, he placed eighth.^[17]

Kolyada won the bronze medal at the2018 World Championships inMilan, Italy, being second after the short, but dropping to third after errors in the long.^[18]

Over the summer, Kolyada suffered fromsinusitis, which would continue to plague him throughout the fall.^[19] He started his season by competing in twoISU Challenger Series events. In mid-September, he won the gold medal at the2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy, and in early October, he won another gold medal at the2018 CS Finlandia Trophy. At both events, Kolyada ranked first in both the short program and the free skate. In early November, he placed fourth at the2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki. Two weeks later, he placed fourth again at the2018 Rostelecom Cup. In early December, Kolyada competed at the2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where he won the silver medal after placing first in the short program and second in the free skate.

Kolyada's sinusitis immediately became serious before the2019 Russian Championships, leading to his hospitalization and his participation at nationals being uncertain until days prior. Competing in less than top form, he nevertheless won the silver medal, placing second in the short program and third in the free skate.^[20][21]

TheEuropean Championships initially went well for Kolyada, with a clean short program earning a personal best score of 100.49 and first place going into the free skate, over eight points ahead of second-place finisherAlexander Samarin.^[22] He fell four times in the free program, placing eleventh there, and fifth overall.^[23]

At the2019 World Championships in Saitama, Kolyada placed tenth in the short program after failing to execute his planned quad.^[24] He rose to sixth in the free and sixth overall with a program with only minor errors, saying, "there were some little technical issues, but overall, I am pleased with how I did. The audience was very supportive, and I felt that."^[25]

In early October, Kolyada announced that a recurrence of his sinusitis would cause him to miss at least the first half of the season. CoachValentina Chebotareva expressed the hope that he would be able to return for the2020 Russian Championships, but ultimately this was not possible.^[26] Kolyada resumed training in early January 2020.^[27][5]

In June 2020, it was announced that Kolyada had left his longtime coach Chebotareva to train withAlexei Mishin, the coach of Olympic championsAlexei Urmanov andEvgeni Plushenko.^[28]

Kolyada debuted his new programs at the senior Russian test skates, where his appearance was widely praised as a highlight of the event, with particular emphasis on his free program tribute to legendaryballet dancerRudolf Nureyev. Kolyada performed only quad toe loops at the event but indicated that he was planning to reintroduce the quad Lutz and Salchow in the future.^[29] He next competed at the third stage of the domestic Cup of Russia series, winning the gold medal.^[30]

With theCOVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect international travel, theGrand Prix was designed primarily around geographic location, and Kolyada was assigned to the2020 Rostelecom Cup. He placed third in the short program after two minor jump errors.^[31] He won the free skate by a wide margin to take the gold medal, his second Grand Prix win.^[32]

On December 3, it was announced that Kolyada had to withdraw from the fifth stage of the Cup of Russia series after training mateElizaveta Tuktamysheva contractedCOVID-19.^[33] He was ill afterward, though not with the coronavirus, and was able to compete at the2021 Russian Championships, winning the short program by four points overMakar Ignatov.^[34] He won the free skate by almost twenty-five points, reclaiming the Russian title, which he contrasted with his previous wins by saying "this is one of the most meaningful as after a long break it is always hard as well as interesting to come back." He was assigned to the Russian team for the2021 World Championships inStockholm.^[35]

Following the national championships, Kolyada participated in the2021 Channel One Trophy, a televised team competition organized in lieu of the cancelledEuropean Championships. Kolyada was selected for the Time of Firsts team captained byEvgenia Medvedeva. He placed first in the short program and then second in the free skate. In the free, he reintroduced the quad Salchow into competition, landing it with a step out. The Time of Firsts team finished in second place.^[36][37] Kolyada opted not to participate in the Russian Cup Final, instead competing at the2021 Challenge Cup inthe Netherlands and winning the gold medal.^[38]

Competing at the World Championships, Kolyada placed fourth in the short program after having to execute turns in the middle of his jump combination.^[39] In the free skate, he fell on his second triple Axel attempt and had minor errors on two other jumps, but he placed fifth in that segment and took fifth place overall. Kolyada stated that despite the errors, he liked "the program very much, and we'll think about the next season. Alexei Mishin is a very wise mentor, and I trust him completely."^[40] Kolyada's placement alongside the eighth-place finish of training mateEvgeni Semenenko qualified two berths for Russian men at the2022 Winter Olympics, and the possibility of a third.^[41]

Kolyada was subsequently announced as part of the Russian team for the2021 World Team Trophy.^[42] Kolyada placed fifth in the short program and third in the free skate, while Team Russia won the gold medal.^[43][44][45]

Kolyada collaborated withIlia Averbukh on his short program, initially debuting one making use ofLuciano Pavarotti's "Caruso" at the Russian test skates. They subsequently changed this toTchaikovsky'sThe Nutcracker, in a stylistic homage to the Russian ballet dancerMikhail Baryshnikov.^[46] Despite the acclaim for his Nureyev free program from the previous season, he opted against reprising it, instead choosingJohn Williams' soundtrack toSchindler's List.^[47]

Appearing at his firstChallenger event since 2018, Kolyada won the silver medal at the2021 CS Finlandia Trophy.^[48]

Kolyada was originally assigned to the2021 Cup of China as his firstGrand Prix assignment, but following that event's cancellation, he was instead reassigned to the2021 Gran Premio d'Italia inTurin.^[49] Despite a fall on his quad toe attempt, he was fourth in the short program, 5.59 points behindJin Boyang in first place. A new personal best in the free skate moved him up to second place while the skaters ahead of him struggled, but he was himself overtaken byYuma Kagiyama, who won the gold medal.^[50] In his own assessment afterward, he said, "not everything was clean, so I will continue to work hard. I feel that I have started to skate with more confidence, and we will see what happens at the next competition. My coach said we are moving in the right direction, and I believe him."^[51] Kolyada struggled in the short program at the2021 Rostelecom Cup, nevertheless finishing in fourth place due to inconsistent performances from other competitors. He won the free skate despite errors and finished with another silver medal, qualifying for Grand Prix Final for the second time in his career.^[52] His coach, Alexei Mishin, later announced that Kolyada would be returning to his Nureyev free program. TheGrand Prix Final was subsequently cancelled due to restrictions prompted by theOmicron variant.^[53]

The perceived frontrunner heading into the2022 Russian Championships, Kolyada placed fifth in the short program after singling his planned triple Axel. He won the free skate despite popping two jumps, finishing with the silver medal. He said he had "mixed feelings" about the event. He spoke about returning to his Nureyev program, "I didn't do everything, but it’s the motivation to work more. I haven't skated this program for a while, and I had to remember all emotions again."^[54] Kolyada was assigned to the2022 European Championships but withdrew due to a training injury and was replaced byAndrei Mozalev.^[55]

On January 20, Kolyada was officially named to theRussian Olympic team.^[56] On the 25th, it was announced he had to withdraw from the competition due to a positive COVID-19 test.^[57]

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

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only atISU Championships.

ISU Personal Bests highlighted inbold.

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