Women of Nikita Katsalapov: the rebel Ilyins and the gentle Sinitsina

Nikita Katsalapov is one of the most successful figure skaters of our time. In ice dancing, paired with Victoria Sinitsina, he became the silver medalist of the Olympics in the individual competition and the Olympic champion in the team competition. The duo has now put their career on hold. There are many rumors that the couple is done with professional sports. But the skaters themselves note: they are still in thought.

By the way, with Sinitsina Katsalapov is paired not only on ice. In 2022, the skaters got married.

But before finding happiness with Sinitsina, Katsalapov paired with Elena Ilyinykh. The dancers became the winners of the team tournament at the Sochi Olympics, and won bronze in the individual. They were one of the most promising duos in figure skating at the time. There were a lot of rumors and speculation around the couple. It was no secret to anyone that relations between partners were tense, but this did not prevent them from taking leading positions in tournaments.

For the first time, Ilinykh and Katsalapov paired up at the beginning of the 2000s. Then they trained under the supervision of Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh. But in 2006, Ilinykh left for America - the couple broke up due to quarrels and inability to find a common language. But less than a year later, the skater returned and again became paired with Katsalapov. This time the duet undertook to train Alexander Zhulin. And he quickly achieved results, in the very first season he put elements of the fourth level of complexity into a pair.

But conflicts still arose, and not only within the couple. The skaters quarreled with Zhulin and his assistant Oleg Volkov and left to prepare for the Olympics for Nikolai Morozov. The skaters chose Swan Lake as their Olympic program. The couple worked out the technical elements even with Zhulin, but the Morozov group was already responsible for the artistry. The couple showed excellent results in both individual and team competitions. It seemed that this was the rise of a promising and bright couple, an application for Olympic gold in four years. But...

After Sochi, the couple was waiting for another important start - the World Cup. Ilinykh and Katsalapov went to him as the main favorites. But due to Nikita's mistake, the duet ended up outside the top three. This tournament was the last for the couple: after it, the skaters announced that they would no longer skate together.

They say that Katsalapov dreamed of being paired with Victoria Sinitsina. And so it happened. Although for some time there were rumors that the athlete would reunite with the Ilyins. However, the couple was slowly but surely moving towards setting up new programs and qualifying for major competitions.

But the couple did not make it to the Olympics in Pyeongchang: Katsalapov was injured on the eve of the tournament at the Russian Championship. A year later - a failure at the European Championships. But this only gave the pair overclocking.

In 2020, Sinitsina and Katsalapov sensationally beat Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron at the European Championship, won the 2021 World Championship and again took European gold in 2022. Olympics. Medals. Wedding.

This year, the sports union of Sinitsina and Katsalapov turned nine years old. Fans are waiting for their return to professional ice. In the meantime, the couple performs in ice shows.