Childhood and parents
Ivan is the youngest son of figure skater Andrei Bukin, who became famous throughout the world for his virtuoso skating together with Natalya Bestemyanova. Ivan’s mother, Elena Vasyukova, is also a figure skater, Andrei Anatolyevich’s second wife and his current partner in the ice theater.
Ivan Bukin with his father
Vanya has a half-brother Andrei, born in Bukin Sr.’s first marriage with figure skater Olga Abankina. But of the two sons, only one followed in the footsteps of his famous father and became an athlete.
While his parents were on tour and training, his grandmother took care of the restless Vanya. She enrolled the 5-year-old boy in swimming and figure skating in order to somehow tame his irrepressible energy. Bukin Jr. visited the pool with great pleasure, which cannot be said about the skating rink. He considered training with skates to be hard labor and tried to avoid going to the skating rink by any means necessary. The parents did not want to torture their son, but the grandmother was determined to make her grandson a champion.
Parents of Ivan Bukin: Andrey Bukin and Elena Vasyukova
They don't dance like everyone else
You were often called an underrated couple because of the notorious “queue” in ice dancing. Did you expect that you would have to wait so long in the wings?
Alexandra Stepanova:
There is a “queue,” as you correctly said, in dancing. But we didn’t have the mindset that we would have to wait. On the contrary, you need to work hard, from start to start, from season to season, to prove your worth, only then will you receive the favor of the judges and high marks.
After such a successful start to the season, do you feel that everything was not in vain, that you are perceived as the leaders of the team?
Ivan Bukin:
We try not to think about status. The country's first couple is generally not determined here and not now. These will be different competitions.
Alexandra Stepanova:
But we were extremely pleased to receive awards at the Grand Prix stages in Helsinki and Moscow. We made it to the finals. This spurs us on and inspires us for further work.
This year fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin joined your team. What is it like to perform in haute couture costumes?
Alexandra Stepanova:
We were really very lucky that he came up with these rhythm dance costumes for us. The dress turned out to be very unusual, not what I could have imagined. After all, tango is some standard colors: red, black, maybe purple or green. But Valentin Yudashkin chose gray, and it’s very cool, original and very, very beautiful. For us this is a masterpiece.
Ivan Bukin: For us, winning the Olympics is even more than just a dream. That's life
In rhythm dance you skate to tango, in free dance you skate to blues melodies. Both programs seem electrified and filled with passion. How do you manage to show such feelings, because in life you are not a couple?
Alexandra Stepanova:
We really got two very sexy, powerful images. But ice dancing is theater, acting. We are often asked the question whether Vanya and I are dating. For us it's like a compliment. So we make the audience believe.
When Ivan’s father Andrei Bukin and his partner Natalya Bestemyanova performed, such an illusion was also created. Are they currently taking part in any training or creative process?
Alexandra Stepanova:
They finally began to come to our training. Previously, they were afraid that some kind of imbalance would arise with coaches Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk, that they could interfere or harm. But all the specialists who work with us day after day become blurred in their eyes. And when Natasha and Andrey come on the ice, it’s a breath of fresh air.
Do you have a favorite program performed by Bestemyanova - Bukin?
Ivan Bukin:
This, of course, is the “Polovtsian Dances” - the Olympic program with which they won gold in Calgary. To be honest, I watch it very often. Great program. At that time, dancing was very popular. Dad said that at first they showed hockey as a warm-up, and then figure skating.
When your father watches you, does he see similarities?
Ivan Bukin:
It seems to me that dad is for me to have my own style, my own vision of ice dancing.
Alexandra Stepanova:
Natasha often says: “Oh, how much you look like Andryusha!” But we are really trying to change. Don't bend one line. Unlike the same French, world champions Gabriella Papadakis - Guillaume Cizeron. Many began to take their approach with lyrical skating. Our story is a little different. We will not follow someone else's path. We have our own path.
What should it lead to? What is your goal?
Alexandra Stepanova:
Win the Olympics.
Ivan Bukin:
It seems to me that all athletes strive for this, and we are no exception. We work every day, trying to improve ourselves to achieve this. This is a dream, although even more than a dream, this is already life.
Sports career
Vanya started his journey in figure skating as a single skater, and for a long time he was unable to do difficult jumps. Ivan’s father recalled that the boy experienced a positive change at the age of 10 – at a competition in Latvia he brilliantly performed a double jump. And although at this age this trick should have been perfected long ago, other ten-year-old figure skaters were demonstrating triple jumps with might and main, a fire lit up in Bukin Jr.’s eyes for the first time, and a passion for figure skating awoke.
Ivan Bukin (center) before becoming a famous athlete
At a family council, it was decided to transfer my son to dancing - he was not good at jumping, but on the ice he stood very confidently thanks to the lessons of his first coach. Ivan was paired with the promising figure skater Lena Ilinykh, and Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk became mentors for the young athletes.
Irina Zhuk, Ivan Bukin, Alexandra Stepanova and Alexander Svinin
In 2008, Lena unexpectedly left for another coach, and Vanya had to look for a new partner. A family friend came to the rescue - he advised Ivan to train with the daughter of his good friends, 11-year-old Sasha Stepanova. A very young, but already incredibly artistic and graceful figure skater, she also started out as a singles skater. But from their first joint appearance on the ice, it became clear to both coaches and parents that this couple had a great sports future ahead of them.
Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin in free dance KMS (IV stage of the Russian Cup 2010)
At the first competition of the new couple, the Samara Kumparsita Championship, Ivan and Alexandra won a landslide victory. The guys began to conquer one peak after another: in 2009 they became members of the Russian national team. They have repeatedly won medals at world junior championships, in 2012 they took first place in the Junior Grand Prix in Sochi and the Russian Spartakiad among young athletes, and also received a silver medal at the Russian Junior Championships.
Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin in a short dance (Russian Championship 2012)
Since 2013, Bukin and Stepanova began to take part in competitions for adult pairs. At the Winter Universiade in Trentino, Italy, they took fifth place and won bronze in the free skate, and a month later they became winners of the Russian Junior Championships.
Ivan Bukin and Alexandra Stepanova became winners of the Russian Junior Championship
The skaters twice won bronze medals at the European Championships (in 2020 and 2020).
Ivan Bukin and Alexandra Stepanova at Finlandia Trophy 2016
At the 2020 Finlandia Trophy, which took place in the Finnish city of Espoo, the Russian couple took first place in the Dance category.
Stepanova and Bukin: costumes from Yudashkin are a masterpiece
Grand Prix finalists Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin spoke about the Moscow stage and work on the programs. The skaters also shared their plans for the future.
— What errors were found in yesterday’s box office?
Alexandra Stepanova (A.S.): Probably, there are always some shortcomings. We reviewed the performance yesterday, sat together, and noticed many things for ourselves that we would like to do purely externally based on the perception of our program. They didn’t go deep into the technology, for example, they didn’t look at the steps and paths. Purely visually we sorted out what to add purely for ourselves.
- Ivan, from the TV picture it seemed that you had some kind of wound on your shoulder.
Ivan Bukin (I.B.): This is an industrial injury.
A.S.: This is due to the rotating support, so it turns out that I scratch his neck.
I.B.: It just doesn’t heal, it scratches every time, and there’s a small wound, they couldn’t fix it in any way, the bandage often comes off.
— It’s no secret that there is a certain order in your appearance. It’s difficult to go out once and rush in. When you started your journey in dancing, did you understand how long you would have to wait, or did you think that everything would be faster?
A.S.: We had no idea that we would have to wait. We had it that we had to prove every time to win the favor of the judges and the public. We can’t sit and wait, we have a lot of work to do, we need to earn a certain favor.
— At the Junior World Championships you beat the French couple - Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron...
A.S.: This is just an eternal question, well, that’s how it turned out. Thank you. There was a junior level, a completely different level. They came out with the first couple of France, we were not the first couple of Russia by far, everything has its time.
— Ilya Averbukh constantly praises you. What does his praise mean to you?
A.S.: It’s incredibly nice, because he invited us to his show, his small tours. It was an incredible pleasure to work with him; hearing a kind word from him is very important. The man puts on a show that everyone has to believe in. If he evaluates our skating this way, then that’s really cool.
— Were there any offers to work with him from a commercial point of view?
A.S.: We are working with Petya Chernyshev (choreographer - News.ru) for the third season, so we won’t change anything for now. We'll ride this season and then we'll see.
— Was there a difficult moment in your career when the thought crossed your mind to separate?
I.B.: In my opinion, it never happened at all.
A.S.: For us, this is impossible even in our heads. We can't think about it. Everything is going well for us. If we don’t get the result we would like, then it’s not Vanya’s fault, not my fault. We have sporting goals, everyone fulfills their own tasks. There were no thoughts of leaving. We just didn’t have such obvious problems, probably because of what we would stop skating with each other. We were very lucky with each other and with the coaches.
Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan BukinSergey Bulkin/News.ru
— What is the main goal for you now?
A.S.: Win the Olympics. This has happened to me since childhood, maybe my relatives or parents put it into it. Always, wherever I went, to visit, for example, everyone told me that they would soon see me on TV, and I was only seven years old. I realized that I had no other way, no choice. I realized that this is my life, this is mine, there is no other.
I.B.: It seems to me that this is for all athletes who want to achieve the best. Of course, everyone strives for this, and we are no exception. We work every day, trying to improve ourselves to achieve this. This is a dream, this is even more than a dream, this is already life.
— Which couple did you admire as a child?
A.S.: Probably Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov. Everyone loved them and I was no exception. These are everyone’s favorite champions and athletes.
— Has the terrible situation of not getting into the Olympics already let you go?
I.B.: We have already spoken about this many times, I no longer want to remember and talk about it.
— Did you have any desire to force the IOC to give an explanation for that decision?
A.S.: We wrote letters, collected signatures from Olympic champions, a lot of things were done. The point is different - they have the right not to explain the reason. That is, if we were traveling under the Russian flag, they would be obliged to explain the reason. And since we are traveling under a neutral flag, they may simply not invite you, like to a birthday party. This is how the situation developed.
— How do you like cooperation with Yudashkin? How does it feel to ride in haute couture suits?
A.S.: For us, this is a masterpiece, in fact. He turned out to be a kind-hearted person, so open, calm, smiling, and very worried about us. We constantly keep in touch, write down what and how. Therefore, we were really very lucky that it happened like this and that he came up with these images, these costumes for us.
— Did you come up with the costumes together? Or is this his flight of thought?
A.S.: This was initially his flight of thought. We showed him the music, showed ourselves, came to his boutique.
— Didn’t he see the program?
I.B.: No, I didn’t see it at first.
A.S.: We sent him videos of our previous programs. He looked at us, took stock of us, and then the next time we came, he had a bunch of sketches. Valentin showed them to us, and there we discussed in detail: what we would like, what to add, what, perhaps, to remove, but he came up with the first idea. That is, they did it together. There was no such thing: “I will sew this for you, and you will ride.”
— Your dress looks very different in static and dynamic mode. In motion, it seems to begin to live its own life - it’s so beautiful.
A.S.: Thank you very much! It really turned out to be very unusual. Not what I could have imagined. Because tango is some standard colors: red, black, maybe purple or green. But here it’s gray, and it’s very cool. It's original and very, very beautiful.
— You are considered perhaps the hottest couple in world figure skating. How do you feel in this status?
A.S.: The hottest in what sense?
— Such associations immediately arose after you showed your free dance at the test skates.
A.S.: Well, yes, this season we have such images.
I.B.: Yes, the question, of course, is this...
A.S.: From season to season we try to change and show our different sides. Last year we had a slow program, this year we needed to change something radically. That's why Petya Chernyshev offered us this kind of music.
Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan BukinSergey Bulkin/News.ru
I.B.: We really liked it right away. We went out on the first day of production, he started showing some moves, it was very cool. We immediately liked how he sees the program and us in this music. It was very interesting to work and not at all difficult.
A.S.: It so happened that the compulsory program - tango - was choreographed for us by Irina Vladimirovna (Zhuk), and it is also one of our favorites. Because in this dance we show our best. The result is two very sexy, powerful images.
— It’s clear from you that you are kindred spirits and communicate well off the ice. Is it possible to play this passion if there is no such mutual understanding between the skaters?
A.S.: I don’t know... Actors show love on the screen, but in life they can hate each other. It's different with us. We are incredibly lucky to have each other. Somehow everything worked out. This is such strength - understanding each other perfectly. We are happy that we are able to reveal and show this so well that many people ask the question: “Are you a couple in life?” It's a very nice compliment to see you play on the ice.
- But you’re not a couple in real life?
A.S.: No.
— Will your signature element—twizzle pistols— come back?
I.B.: We haven’t completely removed them. In free dance they exist.
A.S.: But I think that we won’t return them to the short term, because you can lose too many points. I don’t think it’s worth the risk, especially since the new twizzles fit the music very well, maybe even better.
I.B.: They definitely won’t return this season, because there have already been a lot of complaints. At three starts we were told to think and do something different. They are very difficult to perform correctly.
A.S.: It’s not hard to execute, we do them. The judges simply explained to us that they cannot see which edge we are starting from.
— Don’t you think that this is just nitpicking and that you are being deprived of your unique style?
A.S.: I think not.
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Personal life of Ivan Bukin
Despite intense training and a colossal workload, Ivan finds time for his personal life. And although many fans “match” him with his figure skating partner, transferring the passion and “chemistry” on the ice to real life, in fact the athlete’s heart belongs to another girl.
Ivan Bukin with Alena Samarskaya
Since 2012, he has lived under the same roof with choreographer Alena Samarskaya. For the sake of her lover, the girl quit her prestigious job at the St. Petersburg Mikhailovsky Theater and moved to Moscow. Now she works in the team Zhuk and Pork, and helps them choreograph dances for Vanya and Sasha.
Alena is five years older than Ivan and is already ready to have children. The lovers are in no hurry to officially register their marriage and consider the stamp in the passport a mere formality.
Ivan Bukin, figure skating: age, biography, Instagram and VKontakte accounts
The World Figure Skating Championships continue in Helsinki. The main Russian hope at these competitions, the dancing couple of Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, has not yet shined. After a short dance, the athletes took only tenth place: they were able to score only 69.07 points. However, it is worth recognizing that Ivan Bukin and Alexandra Stepanova performed emotionally, courageously and creatively. There was definitely no shame in them. And the athletes themselves, in interviews with the media, have already managed to assure everyone that they liked their performance. If not on a technical level, then on an emotional level.
Viewers thank Ivan Bukin and Alexandra Stepanova for the increased attention to their persons and generous advances in terms of hopes for the future. A couple of young and ambitious Russians are called the most promising in the Russian Federation. Bukin and Stepanova gained hundreds of fans. Every day people are looking for something new about their idols. The Piter.TV channel decided to help fans of beautiful and strong athletes. Today we will tell you who Ivan Bukin is? And we will show his pages on social networks.
Who is Ivan Bukin?
Ivan Bukin was born in 1993 in Moscow. Ivan Bukin’s zodiac sign is Virgo: after all, he was born on September 16th. Perhaps it was the inner harmony and feminine energy of “lao” that directed the Muscovite to the most graceful sport. However, on the ice there is no “virgin” left in Ivan Bukin: here he is athletic, creative and always self-confident. Well, the Russian’s tall stature and strong muscles leave no doubt about his masculinity!
Ivan Bukin is not so young: this year he turns 27 years old, this age is considered the peak or “golden” age for athletes in dance figure skating. By 2017, Ivan Bukin was in good shape. He ranks 10th in the ranking of male dancers from the International Ice Dance Federation. In addition, he has good awards in international competitions behind him. In 2013, Ivan Bukin became the world champion among juniors and was the strongest among Russian juniors in 2014. In adult sports, victories were not so easy for Ivan: he took bronze at the European Championship in 2015, and became the winner of the international tournament in Finland in 2014. At the Russian Championships, Ivan Bukin took bronze twice and silver once.
Ivan Bukin and Alexandra Stepanova, figure skating
In ice dancing, Ivan Bukin constantly performs with Alexandra Stepanova. Judging by their pages on social networks, the athletes are close friends and consider themselves practically family. So, on the Internet you can find many photographs of them together in an informal setting and even hot photos from erotic photo shoots. However, the couple is not in any relationship, so there is no point in suspecting a romance between the young athletes! Although fans note that Vanya and Sasha look great together.
Note that the couple Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin was formed back in 2008 in Moscow. And the next year, their potential was recognized by the Russian national team: they were immediately accepted into the position of the official team of our country. It is important that since then things have only improved for the athletes: this suggests that Bukin and Stepanova worked on themselves and gained experience. So far, their best performance was in Finland at the Finlandia Trophy, where the couple took a well-deserved “gold”, ahead of tough European rivals.
At the last World Championship, the Russians took 11th place. They promised that they would improve the result in 2020: it remains to be seen how many positions Russian athletes will be able to jump to.
Ivan Bukin on Instagram, VKontakte and Facebook
Ivan Bukin has his own page on Instagram
, and he actively leads it. On this social network, the Russian athlete is known under the nickname ivan_bukin_. A member of the Russian national team uploads new photos and videos there every week. Of course, here you can find many pictures of them together with Sasha Stepanova. However, Ivan Bukin often posts ordinary youth photos from parties, home get-togethers and sports.
All these photos are actively commented on by fans of Ivan Bukin. It is not surprising that the majority of his subscribers are young Russian women. However, sometimes there are also Russian fans from abroad in the comments.
Regarding Ivan Bukin’s VKontakte and Facebook
, then here they have
joint pages with Sasha.
On them, fans can also thank the athletes for their successes and discuss the latest performances of our collections.
Pay attention to the informal photos from Ivan Bukin. Here are his car, which needs cleaning, and Vanya’s homemade buns, and just lovely shots from the private life of a world sports star.
And fans still like to fuel rumors about the relationship between Ivan and Alexandra. They are especially pleased in this regard with every new “hot” photograph with half-naked athletes. Stars are not afraid of rumors and often participate in candid modeling shoots, in which viewers can better see all the advantages of Russian athletes.
Photo: ivan_bukin_, Instagram
Ivan Bukin and the scandal with the 2018 Olympics
Having won bronze medals at the 2020 European Championships, Ivan and Alexandra worked hard and were ready to adequately represent Russia at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. But literally two weeks before the start of the Games, which were supposed to be the first in the couple’s career, the IOC decided to suspend Ivan from participating in the competition, although he was not involved in any doping scandal.
In this way, sports officials deprived the Stepanov-Bukin couple of the right to compete for Olympic medals. The same fate befell the leaders in pair skating, Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov - Ksenia was suspended from the competition.
22 Russian figure skaters also stood up for Ivan, including Evgeni Plushenko, Natalya Bestemyanova, Alexey Yagudin and his father Andrei Bukin. They wrote a letter to the chairman of the IOC asking to allow Ivan to defend the honor of his country in Korea.
Bukin Ivan Andreevich
Russian figure skater performing in pairs ice dancing with Alexandra Stepanova. Master of Sports of international class. Bronze medalist of the World Championship. Silver medalist of the European Championship. World Junior Champion. Prize-winner of the Russian Federation Championship. Three-time winner of the Challenger series tournament Finlandia Trophy.
Ivan Bukin was born on September 16, 1993 in Moscow. The boy’s father was Russian figure skater Andrei Bukin. The child started skating at the age of five and began figure skating. Initially he trained alone, but at the age of twelve he came under the tutelage of mentors Alexandra Svinina and Irina Zhuk, after which he switched to pairs ice dancing.
At first, his partner was Elena Ilyinykh, but in 2008 he paired up with Alexandra Stepanova. In 2009, Ivan became a member of the Russian figure skating team. Ivan and Alexandra competed in the Junior Grand Prix final three times and won in Sochi at the end of 2012, and before that they were third both times. At the Russian Junior Championships in 2012, the couple took second place. In the same year they won the Russian Youth Spartakiad.
The couple competed twice at the World Junior Championships, their highest achievement in this tournament being first place in 2013. The year before we finished second. Since 2013, skaters began performing in adult competitions. The first start at the Grand Prix was not particularly successful, but the athletes were still included in the Russian national team for the Winter Universiade in Italy, where Ivan and Alexandra took fifth place.
That same year, the couple made their debut at the Russian championship, where they found themselves in the middle of the standings. They became champions for the first time at the Russian Junior Championships. The couple started the new season with a tournament in Finland, where they took first place. Bukin and Stepanova performed well at the America's Cup in the Grand Prix stage: they won bronze medals there. At the 2020 Russian Championships, the skaters were able to win bronze medals and the Russian Figure Skating Federation decided to send them to the European Championships.
In 2020 in Sweden, at the debut European Championships, the athletes skated the short and free dances, improving their performance, which allowed Bukin and Stepanova to win bronze medals. At the debut World Championships in Shanghai, Alexandra fell in the short program and the athletes ended up in fourteenth place. But in the free program they performed with their personal best and won seventh place, eventually becoming ninth.
At the NHK Trophy Grand Prix stage, the couple took fourth place and improved their athletic achievements in the free program. In Yekaterinburg, at the national championship, Ivan and Alexandra again won a bronze medal. At the European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, the skaters improved all their previous sporting achievements. At the world championship in Boston, Stepanova and Bukin performed at an average level and did not even enter the top ten.
In October 2020, at the Finlandia Trophy tournament, the duo confidently finished first, improving all their previous sporting achievements. At the Grand Prix in Canada, Alexandra and Ivan took a place in the middle of the table. At the Grand Prix stage, which took place in China, Russian dancers took third place, and at the national championship in Chelyabinsk the skaters became vice-champions of the country for the first time.
In January 2020, the athletes performed in the Czech city of Ostrava at the European Championships, where they entered the top five leading dancers in Europe and took tenth place in the ranking of the International Skating Union.
On October 19, 2019, Russians Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin took second place in the dance duet competition at the Skate America tournament, the first stage of the Grand Prix series of the International Skating Union. The competition took place in Las Vegas. In total, they scored 206.57 points for rhythm dance and free dance.
At the Grand Prix stage in Japan on November 23, 2020, Ivan, together with Alexandra Stepanova, took second place, showing a result of 208.81 points. The victory was celebrated by the French Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, who scored 226.61 points and set three world records. Third place went to Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, who received 198.06 points. Following the results of six stages, Stepanova and Bukin made it to the Grand Prix final in Turin, Italy.
At the Russian Figure Skating Championships in Krasnoyarsk December 27, 2019 , Ivan, paired with Alexandra Stepanova, won a silver medal . Based on the results of the two programs, the athletes scored a total of 219.72 points. Victoria Sinitsyna and Nikita Katsalapov became national champions with a score of 220.74 points. Rounding out the top three were Tiffany Zagorski and Jonathan Gureiro, who received a total of 197.73 points for their two programs.
On January 25, 2020, Ivan Bukin and Alexandra Stepanova won bronze medals at the European Championships in ice dancing competitions, with a score of 211.29 points. The champions of the tournament were Nikita Katsalapov and Victoria Sinitsyna, who received 220.42 points from the judges. The second place is occupied by five-time winners of the continental championship Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Cizerom from France, who scored 220.28 points based on the results of two programs.
Sports Achievements of Ivan Bukin
Sports Achievements of Ivan Bukin
Bronze medalist of the European Championship (2015, 2018).
Silver (2017, 2020, 2019) and bronze (2015, 2016) medalist of the Russian championships.
27.12.2019
