Maksym Nikitin

Nikitin at the2018 European Championships
Personal information
Native name	Максим Костянтинович Нікітін
Full name	Maksym Kostiantynovych Nikitin
Born	(1994-10-05)5 October 1994 (age 31) Kharkiv, Ukraine
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Ukraine
Discipline	Ice dance
Partner	Oleksandra Nazarova
Began skating	1998
Retired	August 13, 2022
Medal record Representing Ukraine Figure skating:Ice dance World Junior Championships 2015 Tallinn Ice dance Winter Youth Olympics 2012 Innsbruck Ice dance

Maksym Kostiantynovych Nikitin (Ukrainian:Максим Костянтинович Нікітін; born 5 October 1994) is a Ukrainian retiredice dancer. With his skating partner,Oleksandra Nazarova, he is the2015 World Junior bronze medalist and2012 Youth Olympic silver medalist. On the senior level, they are the2017 Winter Universiade champions,2014 CS Warsaw Cup silver medalists, 2016Cup of Nice bronze medalists, and six-timeUkrainian national champions (2015, 2017, 2018, 2020–2022). Nazorova/Nikitin have represented Ukraine at the2018 and2022 Winter Olympics.

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

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

Nazarova/Nikitin debuted on theISU Junior Grand Prix series in2010. They placed eleventh inGraz, Austria and seventh inSheffield, 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 theYouth Olympics in January 2012 inInnsbruck, Austria. They won the silver medal behind Russia'sYanovskaya/Mozgov.^[4]

Nazarova/Nikitin placed fifth at both of their2012 JGP events and were assigned to their firstWorld Junior Championships. At the latter competition, held in late February and early March 2013 inMilan, 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 coachAlexander Zhulin.^[2] They relocated toMoscow to train with Zhulin and Oleg Volkov.^[5]

Nazarova/Nikitin won silver at both of their2013 JGP assignments and qualified for theJGP Final. They placed fifth at the Final, held in December 2013 inFukuoka,Japan. In March 2014, they finished fifth at theWorld Junior Championships inSofia, Bulgaria, having ranked seventh in the short dance and fourth in the free dance.^[4]

Nazarova/Nikitin continued training in Moscow in the 2014–2015 season.^[6] At theJunior Grand Prix event inCourchevel, 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, inTallinn, 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 theWarsaw Cup, aChallenger Series event in November 2014. After winning the Ukrainian senior national title, they were named in Ukraine's team to theEuropean Championships, held in late January 2015 inStockholm, 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 the2015 World Junior Championships inTallinn, Estonia. They were awarded the bronze medal after placing fifth in the short dance, second in the free dance, and third overall behindYanovskaya/Mozgov of Russia andMcNamara/Carpenter of the United States. It was Ukraine's first podium finish at the event since2000. At the end of the same month, Nazarova/Nikitin competed on the senior level at the2015 World Championships inShanghai, China; they ranked seventeenth in both segments and overall.^[4]

Making theirGrand Prix debut, Nazarova/Nikitin finished seventh at the2015 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 theWorld Championships inBoston. 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 joinedIgor Shpilband andFabian Bourzat inNovi, Michigan in late June 2016.^[8][9][1]

Nazarova/Nikitin opened their season with a bronze medal at theInternational Cup of Nice. They finished seventh at their Grand Prix assignment, the2016 Trophée de France, and ninth at the2017 European Championships inOstrava, Czech Republic.^[4]

In February, they received the gold medal at the2017 Winter Universiade inAlmaty, Kazakhstan. In March, they placed fifteenth at the2017 World Championships inHelsinki, Finland. Due to their result, Ukrainequalified a spot in the ice dancing event at the2018 Winter Olympics inPyeongchang, South Korea.^[4]

Nazarova/Nikitin won the bronze medal at the2017 CS Lombardia Trophy and the2017 CS Warsaw Cup and placed fourth at the2017 CS Ice Star. They placed sixth at their lone Grand Prix assignment for the year,2017 NHK Trophy. They placed eleventh at theEuropean Championships before competing at their firstWinter Olympics inPyeongchang,South Korea, where they placed a surprising twenty-first. They concluded with the2018 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.

The new season began at the2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where they struggled, placing ninth. Assigned to two Grand Prix events, they placed eighth atSkate America and ninth atNHK Trophy. They did not finish at the Ukrainian Championships. Due to injury, They withdrew from European Championships, withPopova/Byelikov winning the former and attending the latter as the Ukrainian competitor. At the2019 World Championships, Nazarova/Nikitin placed twentieth.^[4]

Nazarova/Nikitin began the season at the2019 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 the2019 CS Ice Star, where they set a personal best in theRhythm Dance and overall score.^[4]

Between2019 CS Ice Star and the2019 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 underAlexander Zhulin.

They went on to win two other international events and a silver medal at the2019 Bosphorus Cup. Later that year, they won theUkraine Championships.^[4] National champions again, Nazarova/Nikitin finished the season at the2020 European Championships, where they placed tenth.^[10] They had been assigned to compete at theWorld Championships inMontreal, but these were cancelled as a result of thecoronavirus pandemic.^[11]

Nazarova/Nikitin debuted at the2020 CS Budapest Trophy, winning the gold medal. They competed on theGrand Prix at the2020 Rostelecom Cup, placing sixth.^[12] They placed twentieth at the2021 World Championships inStockholm.^[13] Their World result qualified for a berth for a Ukrainian dance team at the2022 Winter Olympics.^[14]

Beginning the season on theChallenger series, Nazarova/Nikitin won the silver medal at the2021 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge.^[4] On theGrand Prix, they were eighth at the2021 NHK Trophy.^[15] After winning the Viktor Petrenko Cup, Nazarova/Nikitin won their sixth Ukrainian national title, and were named to their secondUkrainian Olympic team.^[4] Competing first at the2022 European Championships, they finished tenth.^[16]

Nazorova/Nikitin began the2022 Winter Olympics as the Ukrainian entries to the rhythm dance segment of theOlympic team event. They finished ninth of ten teams.^[17] In thedance 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 inKharkiv, which shortly afterward becamea central point of conflict whenVladimir Putin launched aninvasion of Ukraine. The invasion severed their relations with Russian coachAlexander 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 partnersVictoria Sinitsina andNikita 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 ofToruń to resume training.^[21] They received considerable support from skaters in other European and North American countries, notably entreaties from French Olympic championGabriella Papadakis that they attend the2022 World Championships inMontpellier 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 singerJamala's song "1944" about thepersecution of Crimean Tatars by the order ofJoseph 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]

(with Nazarova)

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

With Nazarova

• Alexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin at theInternational Skating Union
• Maksym Nikitin atOlympedia
• Maksym Nikitin atOlympics.com

• Ukrainian male ice dancers
• 1994 births
• Living people
• Figure skaters from Kharkiv
• Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating
• Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics
• Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics
• Olympic figure skaters for Ukraine
• Figure skaters at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics
• FISU World University Games gold medalists for Ukraine
• Competitors at the 2017 Winter Universiade
• World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists
• 21st-century Ukrainian sportsmen
• Medalists at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics
• Youth Olympic silver medalists for Ukraine

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