Victoria Sinitsina

Personal life

Sinitsina was born on 29 April 1995 in Moscow. Her father, Alexander Sinitsin, and aunt, Tatiana Sinitsina, are former gymnasts.

Early years on the ice

Often having tonsillitis as a child, Sinitsina was introduced to skating by her parents to improve her health. She took up ice dancing at age 10 and had one partner before Zhiganshin.

Partnership with Zhiganshin

Sinitsina and Ruslan Zhiganshin met in a group led by Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh but soon joined Elena Kustarova and Svetlana Alexeeva. They trained mostly in Moscow. From 2010 to 2012, they also went to summer training camps in Ventspils, Latvia.

Junior

Sinitsina/Zhiganshin debuted on the Junior Grand Prix circuit at the 2008 Merano Cup where they finished sixth. The following JGP season, they placed fifth at both of their events.

They won a pair of silver medals during the 2010–11 JGP season and qualified for the JGP Final. At the Final, they won the short dance and placed second in the free dance to take the silver behind Ksenia Monko / Kirill Khaliavin. They withdrew from the 2011 Russian Junior Championships due to Sinitsina's illness.

In the 2011–12 season, Sinitsina/Zhiganshin won gold at the Junior Grand Prix event in Poland, their first JGP title. They won another title in Austria to qualify for their second JGP Final. At the Junior Grand Prix Final, they placed first in both segments and won the title. They then took gold at the 2012 Russian Junior Championships. Sinitsina/Zhiganshin won the 2012 World Junior title. They were first in both the short and free dance and scored their season's best, 153.81 points.

Senior

In the 2012–13 season, Sinitsina/Zhiganshin debuted on the senior Grand Prix series. After finishing 6th at the 2012 Cup of China, they then won their first senior GP medal, bronze, at the 2012 Rostelecom Cup. The duo finished 5th in their senior national debut at the 2013 Russian Championships.

In 2013–14, Sinitsina/Zhiganshin started their season at the Ice Star in Minsk, Belarus, winning the silver medal behind Bobrova/Soloviev. At their sole Grand Prix assignment, the 2013 NHK Trophy, they had a bad fall while practicing a lift. They finished eighth at the event. After taking the bronze medal at the 2013 Winter Universiade in Trentino, Italy, they stepped onto the senior national podium for the first time at the 2014 Russian Championships. Competing against Riazanova/Tkachenko for Russia's third Olympic spot, Sinitsina/Zhiganshin finished ahead at nationals and then at the 2014 European Championships in Budapest. They came in fourth at the latter event, their senior ISU Championship debut.

Along with Ilinykh/Katsalapov and Bobrova/Soloviev, Sinitsina/Zhiganshin were selected to represent Russia at the Winter Olympics, held in February 2014 in Sochi. They finished 16th at the Olympics, behind a number of teams they had surpassed at Europeans, but rebounded the next month at the 2014 World Championships. They placed eighth in both segments and finished seventh overall in Saitama, Japan. Sinitsina ended their partnership after Worlds.

Partnership with Katsalapov

On 11 April 2014, Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov applied for approval of their partnership from the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSFR). They then traveled to Michigan to train for three weeks under Marina Zueva.

2014–15 season

Sinitsina/Katsalapov made their competitive debut at the 2014 Rostelecom Cup, a Grand Prix event in Moscow; they placed fourth in both segments and finished well behind their former partners. At the 2014 NHK Trophy, they finished fifth in the short dance, eighth in the free dance after falling on one lift and aborting another, and eighth ovrall. They were fourth at the 2015 Russian Championships.

2015–16 season

A stress fracture in his foot that kept Katsalapov off the ice in early 2015 recurred in the summer of 2015, keeping the duo out of test skates organized by the FSFR. Competing in the 2015–16 Grand Prix series, Sinitsina/Katsalapov won the silver medal at the 2015 Skate America, obtaining the highest total technical elements score in the free dance, and then bronze at the 2015 Rostelecom Cup, behind Italians Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte. They were the second highest-ranked Russian couple in the Grand Prix rankings, behind Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev who also won one silver and one bronze but had a higher total short dance score, and were the first alternates for the 2015–16 Grand Prix Final. In December, Sinitsina/Katsalapov won the silver medal behind Bobrova/Soloviev at the 2016 Russian Championships in Yekaterinburg.

In January, Sinitsina/Katsalapov finished fourth behind Bobrova/Soloviev at the 2016 European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. They placed ninth at the 2016 World Championships in Boston.

2016–17 season

In mid-2016, Sinitsina/Katsalapov returned to train in Moscow, naming Oleg Volkov as their coach. They later added Elena Tchaikovskaya to their coaching team. They took the bronze medal at the 2017 Russian Championships.

Competitive highlights

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

Detailed results

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.