Biography
Elena Ilyinykh is a talented, spectacular, bright figure skater who won Olympic gold in 2014. She and her partner Nikita Katsalapov were predicted to have a great future, but, contrary to predictions, the couple broke up: both of them, leaders by nature, were able to get along in character. Despite the fact that the breakup of the duo essentially cost Elena her career in figure skating, her creative biography found an unexpected continuation in ballet.
Childhood and youth
Elena Ilyinykh was born on April 25, 1994 in Aktau, Kazakhstan. Her parents Ruslan and Liliya Ilyinykh are Russian by nationality. They could not save the marriage and separated when their daughter was 2 years old. Therefore, subsequently, the figure skater was raised by her mother and grandmother. In 1998, the family moved to Moscow.
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A post shared by ELENA ILINYKH (@blackswanei) on Jan 8, 2020 at 11:17pm PST
Elena Ilyinykh in childhood with her father
Already in childhood, Elena demonstrated the makings of a leader, she was a lively, active child. The family understood that this energy needed to be directed somewhere. When a skating rink was opened near the house, the grandmother had the idea to send the girl to the figure skating section. This event became the first page in the Ilyins’ sports biography.
First, she ended up in a health group with Ekaterina Volkova. The coach quickly drew attention to the capable girl and advised her parents to transfer her to a sports group where figure skating was practiced professionally. Over the years, the future champion’s coaches were Lyubov Maleva and Natalya Dubinskaya.
In 2005, Ilinykh, having decided to try her hand at ice dancing, began training together with Nikita Katsalapov. He, like Elena, was a singles skater in the past, so working in pairs turned out to be a difficult test for the young people. Even coaches Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh could not cope with their constantly quarreling players.
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A post shared by ELENA ILINYKH (@blackswanei) on Mar 1, 2014 at 8:43am PST
Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov
In 2006, the tandem of Elena and Nikita broke up. Ilyinykh tried herself in a duet with Ivan Bukin, but soon went to the USA, where she continued to improve her sports skills under the guidance of Igor Shpilband and Marina Zueva.
However, returning to Moscow 3 years later, Ilyinykh resumed communication with Katsalapov. He was just in search of a new partner, and as a result, the young people decided to start working together from scratch. Alexander Zhulin and Oleg Volkov became the couple’s mentors.
Sochi champion Ilyinykh announced her retirement, and then denied her words. What was it?
Elena Ilinykh is one of the most prominent Russian figure skaters of the last decade. Paired with Nikita Katsalapov, she won the Sochi Olympics in the team tournament, took bronze at the 2014 Games in individual competitions, and also stood on the European Championship podium three times.
However, just a couple of months after the Sochi triumph, on Nikita’s initiative, the couple broke up. Her duets with Anton Shibnev and Ruslan Zhiganshin were not so successful, and in the last couple of years Elena has retreated a little from active participation in competitions.
Now she is only 24 - the optimal age for ice dancing. In January, Lena came to visit Sport24, where she said that she was ready to ride for another eight years. However, last week in the program “Give a Healthy Lifestyle!” on Radio Megapolis she changed her opinion a little.
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A post shared by Elena Ilinykh (@blackswanei) on Apr 9, 2020 at 8:29am PDT
The Ilyins were asked whether she was preparing for the next season.
“Alas, but no. I finished my figure skating career. Now, together with Yulia Lipnitskaya, we are working on the academy, giving master classes all over the world.”
, noted the athlete.
After several news and articles on various resources, Elena denied her statement.
“I love figure skating so much that it’s too early to say that I’m leaving it.
I haven’t officially discussed the issue of ending my career with anyone yet,” R-Sport quotes the Ilyins.
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A post shared by Elena Ilinykh (@blackswanei) on Apr 4, 2020 at 9:25am PDT
The President of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKR) Alexander Gorshkov confirmed that Ilyinykh has not yet submitted documents to end her career.
“Elena has not yet submitted documents to end her career and has not yet announced her decision.
In recent years, she was not part of the national team, so there is nothing to add,” the head of Russian figure skating told News.ru.
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A post shared by Elena Ilinykh (@blackswanei) on Apr 1, 2020 at 12:45pm PDT
The Ilins' agent Andrei Mitkov confirmed that Elena has not yet finished her career, but hinted that sport is not yet in first place for her.
“Ilinykh did not make an official statement about her retirement, but only stated on the radio that all figure skating fans already know very well that she has not been participating in competitions for the last year and a half.
Lena has many projects in the fields of business and art, but the main one is in figure skating - “Academy of Champions of Elena Ilinykh and Yulia Lipnitskaya”.
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A post shared by Elena Ilinykh (@blackswanei) on Apr 8, 2020 at 9:28am PDT
She has just returned from Poland, and training camps are ahead in Ufa, Japan, Norway, other regions of Russia and countries around the world. From time to time, offers are received to continue her competitive career, but for now she is focused on something else. We’ll see what happens tomorrow,” TASS quotes Mitkov.
Sochi Olympic champion Dmitry Solovyov, who performed in tandem with Ekaterina Bobrova, noted that he and the Ilyins had plans to create a dance duet to participate in competitions. They have already performed together on various shows.
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A post shared by Elena Ilinykh (@blackswanei) on Apr 18, 2020 at 6:31am PDT
“I talked to Lena, she is outraged by this information that was given without her knowledge, she didn’t tell me anything about ending her career,” Soloviev said.
“We can say that we had such conversations and some plans,” the skater answered the question about creating a competitive pair.
It turns out that Elena’s statement on the radio was simply misunderstood. Formally, she remains in the sport. But whether we will see the Ilins at tournaments is a moot point. Now she devotes a lot of effort to the development of the academy, whose classes are held all over the world. Recently, together with Yulia Lipnitskaya, Ilyinykh taught children even in Mexico.
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A post shared by @academy_ilinykh_lipnitskaya on Apr 18, 2020 at 2:14am PDT
However, the athlete reacted very painfully to the news of her retirement. It's obvious that she still wants to win. Moreover, her former partner Nikita Katsalapov, together with Victoria Sinitsina, finally reached the world level, taking silver at the World Championships and the Grand Prix final. Perhaps this is what spurs Lena to continue the fight.
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Personal life
The personal life of the fragile athlete (weight 54 kg with a height of 164 cm) has always aroused keen interest from fans. The media have repeatedly called Elena the sexiest figure skater in the world. And, looking at the photos that the girl shares on her Instagram, it’s hard to argue with this: Ilyinykh is equally beautiful in luxurious outfits and in a swimsuit.
Even during the period of collaboration between Elena and Nikita Katsalapov, there were rumors that the skaters were connected not only by professional, but also by romantic relationships. However, in an interview, the champion dispelled this myth. The press also wrote about the figure skater’s affair with Vyacheslav Fedorchenko, a basketball player and children’s coach. According to media reports, in 2015 the young people broke up. As Elena later admitted, she did not expect masculine actions from her chosen one, so she decided to break off the relationship.
In 2020, Elena began an affair with ballet star Sergei Polunin. The girl watched the film “Dancer,” which was about Sergei’s work, and decided to express her admiration through Instagram.
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A post shared by ELENA ILINYKH (@blackswanei) on Oct 13, 2020 at 6:48am PDT
Elena Ilyinykh and Sergei Polunin
Polunin by this time was already going to close his account, but drew attention to the girl’s message. He intuitively felt that she would soon take a special role in his life. The dancer invited the skater to participate in his new project, which somewhat surprised Elena. Their first meeting took place at Munich airport.
In May 2020, Polunin and Ilyinykh presented the premiere of the dramatic play “Rasputin,” which was shown in Barvikha in the Luxury Village and on the London stage. In a new genre for herself, the athlete first appeared in the image of Empress Alexandra. The couple told the story of their acquaintance and joint work on an episode of the entertainment show “Evening Urgant”.
In January 2020, Ilyinykh gave birth to a son. The figure skater hid the fact of her pregnancy from fans, so the birth took place in a Miami clinic. The boy was named Mir. Sergei and Elena announced the birth of an heir 2 months later.
“We looked at his reaction”: Sergei Polunin and Elena Ilyinykh gave their first-born an unusual name
Dancer Sergei Polunin and figure skater Elena Ilinykh admitted that they became parents at the end of January. They spent a long time choosing a name for their son, and the child himself gave them a hint.
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01/16/20 is the date that has become the most important in my life! Since then, the whole World has been in our hands with @poluninink. We are grateful to the universe for the real miracle that happened to us!
