Mikhail Kolyada

Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada (Russian: Михаил Сергеевич Коляда, IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈilkəlʲɪˈda]; born 18 February 1995) is a Russian figure skater. He is a 2018 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, the 2018 World bronze medalist, a two-time European bronze medalist (2017, 2018), the 2017 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a five-time Grand Prix medalist, and a three-time Russian national champion (2017, 2018, 2021).

Personal life

Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada was born on 18 February 1995 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He has three younger siblings. He is enrolled at the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health. On May 20, 2019, he announced his engagement to pair skater Daria Beklemisheva. Their wedding took place in July 2019.

Career

Early years

Kolyada began learning to skate in 2000. Coach Valentina Chebotareva invited him to join her group after observing him at a small rink when he was five.

2011–2012 to 2012–2013

Kolyada began competing on the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series in 2011. In 2013, he won the Russian Junior Championships and was assigned to the World Junior Championships where he finished 6th.

2013–2014 season

Kolyada won silver and bronze medals on the JGP series, becoming the first alternate for the Junior Grand Prix Final. After placing sixth in the short program at the senior Russian Championships, he withdrew from the free skate, unable to fix a problem with his boot laces.

2014–2015 season

Kolyada fractured his right ankle in August 2014, leading to two surgeries and five months off the ice. He withdrew from the 2014 Rostelecom Cup, which would have been his Grand Prix debut, and the 2015 Russian Championships. In March 2015, he won gold at the Gardena Spring Trophy.

2015–2016 season

Kolyada finished third in the Challenger Series (CS) rankings after winning silver at the 2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy and bronze at the 2015 Ice Challenge. Skating in his first Grand Prix competition, he placed fifth at the 2015 Rostelecom Cup in November. The following month, he won the silver medal at the Russian Championships in Yekaterinburg.

In January 2016, Kolyada placed ninth in the short program, third in the free skate, and fifth overall at the European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. From 30 March to 1 April, he competed at the 2016 World Championships in Boston. Ranked sixth in the short and fifth in the free, he finished fourth overall, just missing the bronze to China's Boyang Jin.

2016–2017 season

To be competitive, Kolyada upgraded his technical content. He initially planned to incorporate a quad Lutz in his short and long programs but eventually decided that the consistency of the quad Lutz was too risky for the short and a clean program executed perfectly, along with his traditionally high components score, would keep him in the mix overall. He also tried adding a quad Salchow and toe loop in the free skate along with the Lutz.

Kolyada also decided in this season to add a new choreographer to his team, two-time World champion and 2006 Olympic silver medalist Stéphane Lambiel, along with his long-time choreographer, Olga Zotova.

Kolyada placed fourth at the 2016 CS Finlandia Trophy and 2016 Rostelecom Cup. His next Grand Prix assignment was the 2016 NHK Trophy. In December 2016, he won his first Russian national title. At the 2017 European Championships, he won the bronze medal behind Javier Fernández and Maxim Kovtun. He placed fourth in the short program and third in the free skate. In the free program, he fell on a quad Lutz, but the jump was counted as fully rotated. At the 2017 World Championships he placed seventh in the short program and ninth in the free skate, finishing 8th overall. At the 2017 World Team Trophy, he placed fourth in the short program and fifth in the free skate, with Team Russia finishing second place overall. In the free skate and attempted a quad Lutz but fell on the landing, although the jump was counted as fully rotated.

2017–2018 season

Kolyada started his season with a gold medal at the 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy after ranking 10th in the short program and first in the free skate. In the free skate, he landed his first quad lutz in international competition. He placed fourth at the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy and won the bronze medal at the 2017 Rostelecom Cup, and later the gold medal at the 2017 Cup of China, qualifying him for the Grand Prix Final.

He then had his biggest achievement yet, finishing third at the Grand Prix Final. The following month, he won his second consecutive Russian figure skating title and, despite errors, won bronze for the second consecutive year at the 2018 European Championships.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Kolyada was part of the Olympic Athletes from Russia team in the team event. He performed poorly in the short program, falling on both quadruple jump attempts and singling his triple Axel, placing eighth overall. He placed second in the free skate. Team Russia won the silver medal overall. In the men's individual event, he placed eighth.

Kolyada won the bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships in Milan, Italy, being second after the short, but dropping to third after errors in the long.

2018–2019 season

Over the summer, Kolyada suffered from sinusitis, which would continue to plague him throughout the fall. He started his season by competing in two ISU Challenger Series events. In mid-September, he won the gold medal at the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy, and in early October, he won another gold medal at the 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy. At both events, Kolyada ranked first in both the short program and the free skate. In early November, he placed fourth at the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki. Two weeks later, he placed fourth again at the 2018 Rostelecom Cup. In early December, Kolyada competed at the 2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where he won the silver medal after placing first in the short program and second in the free skate.

Kolyada's sinusitis immediately became serious before the 2019 Russian Championships, leading to his hospitalization and his participation at nationals being uncertain until days prior. Competing in less than top form, he nevertheless won the silver medal, placing second in the short program and third in the free skate.

The European Championships initially went well for Kolyada, with a clean short program earning a personal best score of 100.49 and first place going into the free skate, over eight points ahead of second-place finisher Alexander Samarin. He fell four times in the free program, placing eleventh there, and fifth overall.

At the 2019 World Championships in Saitama, Kolyada placed tenth in the short program after failing to execute his planned quad. He rose to sixth in the free and sixth overall with a program with only minor errors, saying, "there were some little technical issues, but overall, I am pleased with how I did. The audience was very supportive, and I felt that."

2019–2020 season

In early October, Kolyada announced that a recurrence of his sinusitis would cause him to miss at least the first half of the season. Coach Valentina Chebotareva expressed the hope that he would be able to return for the 2020 Russian Championships, but ultimately this was not possible. Kolyada resumed training in early January 2020.

In June 2020, it was announced that Kolyada had left his longtime coach Chebotareva to train with Alexei Mishin, the coach of Olympic champions Alexei Urmanov and Evgeni Plushenko.

2020–2021 season

Kolyada debuted his new programs at the senior Russian test skates, where his appearance was widely praised as a highlight of the event, with particular emphasis on his free program tribute to legendary ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. Kolyada performed only quad toe loops at the event but indicated that he was planning to reintroduce the quad Lutz and Salchow in the future. He next competed at the third stage of the domestic Cup of Russia series, winning the gold medal.

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect international travel, the Grand Prix was designed primarily around geographic location, and Kolyada was assigned to the 2020 Rostelecom Cup. He placed third in the short program after two minor jump errors. He won the free skate by a wide margin to take the gold medal, his second Grand Prix win.

On December 3, it was announced that Kolyada had to withdraw from the fifth stage of the Cup of Russia series after training mate Elizaveta Tuktamysheva contracted COVID-19. He was ill afterward, though not with the coronavirus, and was able to compete at the 2021 Russian Championships, winning the short program by four points over Makar Ignatov. He won the free skate by almost twenty-five points, reclaiming the Russian title, which he contrasted with his previous wins by saying "this is one of the most meaningful as after a long break it is always hard as well as interesting to come back." He was assigned to the Russian team for the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm.

Following the national championships, Kolyada participated in the 2021 Channel One Trophy, a televised team competition organized in lieu of the cancelled European Championships. Kolyada was selected for the Time of Firsts team captained by Evgenia Medvedeva. He placed first in the short program and then second in the free skate. In the free, he reintroduced the quad Salchow into competition, landing it with a step out. The Time of Firsts team finished in second place. Kolyada opted not to participate in the Russian Cup Final, instead competing at the 2021 Challenge Cup in the Netherlands and winning the gold medal.

Competing at the World Championships, Kolyada placed fourth in the short program after having to execute turns in the middle of his jump combination. In the free skate, he fell on his second triple Axel attempt and had minor errors on two other jumps, but he placed fifth in that segment and took fifth place overall. Kolyada stated that despite the errors, he liked "the program very much, and we'll think about the next season. Alexei Mishin is a very wise mentor, and I trust him completely." Kolyada's placement alongside the eighth-place finish of training mate Evgeni Semenenko qualified two berths for Russian men at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and the possibility of a third.

Kolyada was subsequently announced as part of the Russian team for the 2021 World Team Trophy. Kolyada placed fifth in the short program and third in the free skate, while Team Russia won the gold medal.

2021–2022 season

Kolyada collaborated with Ilia Averbukh on his short program, initially debuting one making use of Luciano Pavarotti's "Caruso" at the Russian test skates. They subsequently changed this to Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, in a stylistic homage to the Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. Despite the acclaim for his Nureyev free program from the previous season, he opted against reprising it, instead choosing John Williams' soundtrack to Schindler's List.

Appearing at his first Challenger event since 2018, Kolyada won the silver medal at the 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy.

Kolyada was originally assigned to the 2021 Cup of China as his first Grand Prix assignment, but following that event's cancellation, he was instead reassigned to the 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia in Turin. Despite a fall on his quad toe attempt, he was fourth in the short program, 5.59 points behind Jin Boyang in first place. A new personal best in the free skate moved him up to second place while the skaters ahead of him struggled, but he was himself overtaken by Yuma Kagiyama, who won the gold medal. In his own assessment afterward, he said, "not everything was clean, so I will continue to work hard. I feel that I have started to skate with more confidence, and we will see what happens at the next competition. My coach said we are moving in the right direction, and I believe him." Kolyada struggled in the short program at the 2021 Rostelecom Cup, nevertheless finishing in fourth place due to inconsistent performances from other competitors. He won the free skate despite errors and finished with another silver medal, qualifying for Grand Prix Final for the second time in his career. His coach, Alexei Mishin, later announced that Kolyada would be returning to his Nureyev free program. The Grand Prix Final was subsequently cancelled due to restrictions prompted by the Omicron variant.

The perceived frontrunner heading into the 2022 Russian Championships, Kolyada placed fifth in the short program after singling his planned triple Axel. He won the free skate despite popping two jumps, finishing with the silver medal. He said he had "mixed feelings" about the event. He spoke about returning to his Nureyev program, "I didn't do everything, but it’s the motivation to work more. I haven't skated this program for a while, and I had to remember all emotions again." Kolyada was assigned to the 2022 European Championships but withdrew due to a training injury and was replaced by Andrei Mozalev.

On January 20, Kolyada was officially named to the Russian Olympic team. On the 25th, it was announced he had to withdraw from the competition due to a positive COVID-19 test.

Programs

Competitive highlights

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

Detailed results

Senior level

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

ISU Personal Bests highlighted in bold.

Junior level

External links

• at the International Skating Union
• at Olympics.com
• at Olympedia
• at InterSportStats
• on Instagram