Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin: from the Russian team to the flag of Georgia

Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin have been in the category of “promising” for a long time. The daughter of the most successful coach in modern Russia, Eteri Tutberidze, tried to follow the path of a single skater, but in the end she decided to comprehend the world of adult figure skating in ice dancing. Her partner was the son of actor Boris Smolkin, Gleb.

In 2022, the couple managed to go to the Olympic Games. This start was the last for Davis and Smolkin under the Russian flag. The skaters resumed their competitive careers, having received sports citizenship of Georgia - and now perform at major international tournaments, where Russian athletes are not allowed. It recently became known that the couple has changed coaches - now Davis and Smolkin will train at the ice academy in Canada.

The path to the world of figure skating was different for athletes. Smolkin showed phenomenal promise as a singles skater, tearing apart all junior tournaments with his performances. And then he went into football, deciding to connect his life with a sport that is generally considered to be masculine. But the hobby did not last long - and Gleb got back on skates. The lost time in preparation would have prevented him from imposing serious competition in single skating, so Smolkin switched to ice dancing. For a long time he could not find a suitable partner. Everything changed in 2018, when he became a couple with Eteri Tutberidze’s daughter Diana Davis. At that time, the skater was only 15 years old. She also took her first steps in single skating, but switched to dancing due to instability when performing jumping elements.

The 2021/2022 Olympic season is considered the couple’s golden season. Then Davis and Smolkin became second at the Russian Championship and qualified for the main tournament of the four-year period. In Beijing, the couple finished 14th, scoring 179.82 points.

After the Olympic season, the couple returned to the USA, where they lived and trained for several years. The skaters got married in March, although they announced this to the public only in June. They missed the 2022/2023 season in Russia, but did not think about retiring: they were preparing new programs.

Rumors that the dancers would change their citizenship appeared in early 2023. They included the US and Israeli teams, but in the end the couple ended up on the Georgian team. The first tournament they won after changing the national team took place in early August of the same year - Ice Dance International. The couple scored 191.82 points based on the results of two skates and were 10 points ahead of their pursuers.

The first major start for Davis and Smolkin was the European Championship. There the couple became eighth - contrary to the expectations of the fans and the Georgian Figure Skating Federation. However, an excuse can be found for this: the duo lived for a year without competition, and it takes time to return to competitive condition.

– We feel that we could have performed better, it’s a shame. But this is also experience, this is our second European Championship, and we have something to work on,” Gleb Smolkin said after the tournament. – In our first senior season, we got to the Olympics, and then there was a year without competition. So we still have a lot to learn, including how to perform in such large arenas with so many spectators. We have never performed in front of such a huge audience, this is very unusual.

At the end of March, Davis and Smolkin performed at the World Championships: here they became only twelfth, scoring 188.34 points based on the results of two programs.

A new stage is beginning in the career of the dancing couple: the skaters will train at the strongest figure skating academy in Montreal. The information was confirmed by the pair’s mentor Alexey Kislyakov. It is possible that at the next world championship Davis and Smolkin will compete for medals.