Daniel Samohin

Personal life

Daniel Samohin was born on March 12, 1998 in Tel Aviv, Israel. His parents – Irina, a former rhythmic gymnast, and Igor Samohin, a figure skating coach – had arrived from Russia in 1996. His brother, Stanislav, is 7½ years older and competed in figure skating for Russia and Israel. When he was 3½ years old, Daniel moved with his mother to the United States, joining the rest of the family, who had moved earlier.

Career

Samohin began skating in 2003.

2013–14 season

Samohin made his international debut in September 2013 at an ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) event in Mexico. Ranked sixth in the short program, he placed third in the free skate and was awarded the bronze medal, outscoring Canada's Nam Nguyen by 1.85 points. He finished fourth at his second JGP assignment, in Ostrava, Czech Republic. In March 2014, he finished 12th at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, having placed 17th in the short program and 10th in the free.

2014–15 season

During the 2014–15 ISU Junior Grand Prix series, Samohin placed 8th in Ljubljana, Slovenia and 16th in Zagreb, Croatia. In September 2014, he debuted on the senior international level, finishing 11th at the Nebelhorn Trophy, an ISU Challenger Series (CS) event. After placing fourth at another CS event, the Volvo Open Cup, he took silver at a regular senior international, the Tallinn Trophy, behind fellow Israeli Oleksii Bychenko. Ranked 12th in the short and 5th in the free, he finished 8th overall at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.

2015–16 season

Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Samohin received his first Grand Prix invitation, to the 2015 Cup of China, but decided to withdraw to continue competing on the junior level. Competing in September at the Junior Grand Prix in Colorado Springs, Colorado, he placed 7th in the short and second in the free; he won the silver medal, finishing almost thirty points behind Nathan Chen of the United States and 3.49 ahead of Japan's Sota Yamamoto. Later that month, he won his first CS medal, outscoring Keiji Tanaka by 11.33 points to take gold at the U.S. International Classic.

After winning silver at his second JGP event in Logroño, Spain, Samohin qualified for the JGP Final. His second CS medal, silver, came in October at the 2015 Mordovian Ornament, where he scored 1.24 points less than Maxim Kovtun. Samohin finished fifth at the JGP Final. His next event was the 2016 European Figure Skating Championships, where he set a new personal best in the short program and finished 7th overall.

In March, Samohin competed at the World Junior Championships. He ranked 9th in the short program, but moved up to win the title after a personal best free skate in which he landed three quadruple jumps. Samohin is the first Israeli skater to medal at Junior Worlds and the first to win an ISU championship.

2016–17 season

Making his Grand Prix debut, Samohin placed 5th at the 2016 Skate Canada International and 8th at the 2016 Cup of China. In December, he won the silver medal behind Oleksii Bychenko at the 2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, having ranked first in the short program and 7th in the free skate.

Samohin's luggage containing his skates did not arrive with him at the 2017 European Championships in Ostrava, so he tried a new pair of skates four hours before the short program. He placed 33rd in the short and did not advance to the free skate. His skates were found two and a half weeks later. He ranked 16th in the short program, second in the free skate, and sixth overall at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. He said that he was working on additional quads – loop, flip, and Lutz – but that they were not yet consistent for him.

Records and achievements

Competitive highlights

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