Aleksandr Korovin (also spelled as "Alexander Korovin"; ; born 15 February 1994) is a Russian and Filipino

pair skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

. Korovin has represented the Philippines with Isabella Gamez since 2021, having represented Russia prior. Korovin and Gamez are the first pair from

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and the Philippines to qualify and compete at the

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU). The first World Championships were held in 1896 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and they have been held e ...

. They are the first international medalists for the Philippines in pairs skating, first pair to compete at the

Grand Prix of Figure Skating The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (known as ISU Champions Series from 1995 to 1997) is a series of senior international figure skating competitions organized by the International Skating Union. The invitational series was inaugurated in 1995, in ...

for Southeast Asia and the Philippines, and the two-time Philippine National Champions for pairs skating, bringing attention to the sport in the tropical country and the Southeast Asian region. Earlier in his career, Korovin represented Russia with

Alisa Efimova Alisa Borisovna Efimova (, born 8 June 1999) is an American pair skater. With her current partner, Misha Mitrofanov, she is the 2025 United States Figure Skating Championships, U.S. national champion and 2024 Skate America bronze medalist. Compe ...

. The pair won one Grand Prix medal, silver at the

2018 Skate America The 2018 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2018–19 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington on October 19–21. ...

, and six medals on the

ISU Challenger Series The ISU Challenger Series is a series of international figure skating competitions. Established by the International Skating Union in the 2014–15 figure skating season, 2014–15 season, it is a group of senior-level events ranked below the ISU ...

, including gold at the

2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy was held in September 2018 at the Eissportzentrum Oberstdorf. It is part of the 2018–19 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. ...

and

2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb The 2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb was held in December 2018 as part of the 2018–19 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Entries The International Skatin ...

Career

Early career

Korovin began learning to skate in 1999. He switched from

single skating Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport conteste ...

pairs Concentration is a round game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up over each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards. Concentration can be played with any number ...

in 2010. Competing with his first partner, Alexandra Minina, he placed ninth at the 2013 Russian Junior Championships. He teamed up with

in 2014. Their international debut came in February 2016 at the Hellmut Seibt Memorial. They won the silver medal, finishing second to Italy's

Valentina Marchei Valentina Marchei (born 23 May 1986) is an Italian retired pair and single figure skater. As a singles skater, she is a five-time Italian Figure Skating Championships, Italian national champion (2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014). Her highest ISU Cha ...

Ondřej Hotárek Ondřej Hotárek (born 25 January 1984) is a Czech-Italian pair skater and coach who began competing for Italy in 2006. He competed with Valentina Marchei until the end of their partnership in 2018. With former partner Stefania Berton, he is the ...

Pair skating with Alisa Efimova (for Russia)

2016–2017 season

2016 Rostelecom Cup Alisa Efimova Alexander Korovin IMG 1932

Coached by Natalia Pavlova and Alexander Zaitsev in Moscow, Efimova/Korovin debuted on the

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

series, placing seventh at the

2016 Rostelecom Cup The 2016 Rostelecom Cup was the third event of six in the 2016–17 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Megasport Arena in Moscow on November 4–5. Medals were award ...

in November. Later that month, the two received the silver medal at the

2016 CS Tallinn Trophy The 2016 CS Tallinn Trophy was a senior international figure skating competition, held in November 2016 at the Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallinn, Estonia. Its senior categories were part of the 2016–17 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in ...

, having ranked second in the short program, first in the free skate, and second overall behind Alina Ustimkina /

Nikita Volodin Nikita Andreyevich Volodin is a Russian Pair skating, pair skater who currently represents Germany in international Competitions. With his partner, Minerva Fabienne Hase, he is the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships, 2025 World silver medalis ...

of Russia. After placing eighth at the 2017 Russian Championships, they took silver at the

Cup of Tyrol The Cup of Tyrol is an international figure skating competition held in March in Innsbruck, Austria. The inaugural edition was organized in 2016. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, women's singles, and pair skating at the senior, junior, and ...

in March 2017.

2017–2018 season

Efimova/Korovin relocated to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

to be coached by Oleg Vasiliev and Tamara Moskvina. In September, the pair placed fifth at their season opener, the 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy and then won bronze at the 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy a week later. In November, they took silver at the

2017 CS Tallinn Trophy The 2017 CS Tallinn Trophy was a senior international figure skating competition held on November 21–26, 2017, at the Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallinn, Estonia. The senior categories were part of the 2017–18 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were aw ...

behind Australia's

Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya Ekaterina Dmitriyevna Alexandrovskaya (; 1January 200018July 2020) was a Russian-Australian pair skater. With her skating partner, Harley Windsor, she was the 2017 CS Tallinn Trophy champion, the 2017 CS Nebelhorn Trophy bronze medallist, ...

Harley Windsor Harley Windsor ('' né'' Dahlstrom-Windsor; born 22 October 1996) is a former Australian pair skater. With his former skating partner, Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya, he was the 2017 Junior World Champion, the 2017 CS Tallinn Trophy champion, th ...

. They had no

assignments. They finished ninth at the 2018 Russian Championships.

2018–2019 season

In September, Efimova/Korovin won their first international gold medal at their first event of the season, the

. Ranked fourth in the short program and first in the free skate, they outscored the silver medalists,

Alexa Scimeca Knierim Alexa Paige Knierim ( Scimeca; born June 10, 1991) is an American former competitive pair skater. With her skating partner, Brandon Frazier, she is the 2022 World champion, the 2023 World silver medalist, a 2022 Olympic gold medalist in the ...

Chris Knierim Christopher Knierim (born November 5, 1987) is an American former pair skater. With his wife, Alexa Scimeca Knierim, he is a 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the figure skating team event, a two-time Four Continents medalist ( 2016 silver, 2014 ...

, by 1.72 points. Efimova/Korovin competed at two Grand Prix events, the

and

2018 Rostelecom Cup The 2018 Rostelecom Cup was the fifth event of six in the 2018–19 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held on November 16–18, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. Medals were awarded in ...

. In October, Efimova/Korovin won their first

medal, silver, at the

. Ranked second in the short program and third in the free skate, they won the silver medal behind their teammates

Evgenia Tarasova Evgenia Maksimovna Tarasova (; born 17 December 1994) is a retired Russian pair skater. With partner Vladimir Morozov, she is the 2022 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World medalist (2018 and 2019 silver, 2017 bronze), a two-time Europ ...

/ Vladimir Morozov. In mid-November, they competed at the

, where they finished fifth after placing fourth in the short program and fifth in the free skate. In early December, Efimova/Korovin won their second Challenger Series gold medal of the season at the

. Ranked first in the short program and second in the free skate, they again narrowly beat

. This time Efimova/Korovin beat them by 1.05 points. Efimova/Korovin scored their best score of 183.89 points at this event. At the 2019 Russian Championships, Efimova/Korovin placed sixth. They then finished the season by winning gold at the

2019 Winter Universiade The 2019 Winter Universiade (), the XXIX Winter Universiade, was a multi-sport event for student and youth athletes which took place from 2 to 12 March 2019 in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk. The 2019 Winter Universiade was the third Universia ...

2019–2020 season

Beginning the season on the Challenger series, Efimova/Korovin were seventh at the

2019 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2019 CS Nebelhorn Trophy was held in September 2019 in Oberstdorf, Germany. It was part of the 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entries ...

, then won the silver medal at the

2019 CS Finlandia Trophy The 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy was held in October 2019 in Espoo. It was part of the 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entries The Internationa ...

. They finished eighth of eight teams at the

2019 Cup of China The 2019 SHISEIDO Cup of China was the fourth event of the 2019–20 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Chongqing Huaxi Culture and Sports Center in Chongqing, China fro ...

. They placed fourth at the 2019 NHK Trophy. At the 2020 Russian Championships, Efimova/Korovin placed fourth in the short program. The free skate was a struggle, with them placing tenth in that segment and dropping to ninth place overall. It was announced afterward that they had split.

Pair skating with Isabella Gamez (for the Philippines)

2020–2021 & 2021–2022 seasons

Korovin did not compete during the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 seasons as he awaited his release from the

Figure Skating Federation of Russia The Figure Skating Federation of Russia () is the national sport governing body for figure skating in Russia. It is recognized as such by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the International Skating Union (ISU). No individual membership exist ...

. In August 2021, the Philippine Skating Union announced that Isabella Gamez had teamed up with Russian skater Aleksandr Korovin to represent the Philippines. Korovin and Gamez were paired by

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

pairs champion

Maxim Trankov Maxim Leonidovich Trankov (; born 7 October 1983) is a Russian pair skater. With Tatiana Volosozhar, he is a two-time 2014 Olympic champion in the pairs and in team events, the 2013 World champion, a four-time (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016) Eur ...

and Olympic, World Championship coach

Marina Zoueva Marina Olegovna Zoueva or Zueva (; born 9 April 1956) is a Russian figure skating coach, choreographer, and former competitor in ice dancing. Representing the Soviet Union with Andrei Vitman, she placed 5th at the 1977 World Championships and ...

. They met and began training together in early 2021. For the 2021–2022 season, Gamez and Korovin focused on their training at

Hertz Arena Hertz Arena is a 7,181-seat multi-purpose arena in Estero, Florida, outside Ft. Myers, Florida, which is located between Miromar Lakes, Florida and Bonita Springs, Florida. The arena opened in November 1998 and serves as the home of the Florida ...

with coach,

, and her team in

Estero, Florida Estero (Spanish for "estuary") is an incorporated village in Lee County, Florida, United States, located directly beside the first aquatic nature preserve established in Florida: The Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve, otherwise referred to as Estero B ...

. Per

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international sport governing body, governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded ...

regulations, one partner of the two in pair figure skating requires citizenship of the represented country to compete in

events up to the

level. This enabled Korovin to compete as a pair for the Philippines starting in 2022, prior to receiving his Filipino citizenship in 2024 because his partner, Gamez is a Philippine citizen born to Filipinos.

2022–2023 season

The Korovin/Gamez pair made their debut at the

2022 CS Finlandia Trophy The 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy was held on October 4–9, 2022, in Espoo, Finland. It was the fifth event of the 2022–23 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entries The In ...

, where they placed ninth after two years of inactivity. The pair shared before their international debut,

Hurricane Ian Hurricane Ian was a devastating tropical cyclone which was the third costliest natural disaster, weather disaster on record worldwide. It was also the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, and ...

devastated Southwest Florida affecting their training venue and practice schedule a week before Finland. In their second competition together, Korovin and Gamez achieved a historical milestone for the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. They won the first-ever medal for Philippine pairs skating in an international competition, a silver medal at the Trophée Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur in Nice, France. They competed at the

2022 CS Warsaw Cup The 2022 CS Warsaw Cup was held on November 17–20, 2022, in Warsaw, Poland. It was the ninth event of the 2022–23 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entries The Inter ...

placing 11th, and withdrew from the

Golden Spin of Zagreb The Golden Spin of Zagreb () is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Croatian Skating Federation () and held in Zagreb, Croatia. The competition debuted in 1973, and ...

due to injury. Gamez/Korovin continued the season to become the first Senior Pairs team to win

Philippine Figure Skating Championships The Philippine Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition organized by the Philippine Skating Union to crown the national champions National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due ...

bringing awareness to the pairs discipline in the tropical country as the only competitors in December 2022. They qualified and competed at the 2023 Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs placing ninth. They competed at the Challenge Cup in Tilburg, Netherlands, where they placed 6th, and earned the technical minimums to become the first Southeast Asian and Philippine pairs team to qualify and compete in the final segment for the

2023 World Figure Skating Championships The 2023 World Figure Skating Championships was held in Saitama, Japan from March 22–26, 2023. The competition determined the entry quotas for each federation at the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships, 2024 World Championships. Qualifica ...

in Saitama, Japan. Korovin publicly expressed his wish to be granted Filipino citizenship after becoming the first Philippine National Champions for Pairs Figure Skating with Gamez while in Manila on December 2022, sharing his commitment to the Philippines and opportunities to grow figure skating in the country.

2023–2024 season

Prior to the season, it was announced that Gamez/Korovin had relocated to

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...

, where they were now being coached by Dmitri Savin,

Alexei Bychenko Alexei Bychenko (; ; born 5 February 1988) is a retired Ukrainian-born Israeli figure skater. He represented Ukraine through 2009 and Israel after that. He is the 2016 European Figure Skating Championships silver medalist and 2016 Rostelecom Cu ...

Evgeni Krasnopolski Evgeni Krasnopolski (, ; born 4 October 1988) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli retired pair skater. Krasnopolski and Andrea Davidovich were the first pair representing Israel to qualify for Israel at the 2014 Olympics. They finished 15th in Sochi. Kr ...

, and

Galit Chait Galit Chait (, ''Galit Hayat''; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive ice dancer. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bronze medalists. Person ...

. They would start their second season together by competing at John Nicks Pairs Challenge in New York, NY and 2023 CS Autumn Classic International in Montreal, Canada in September 2023. They withdrew from October 2023 competitions due to a COVID-diagnosis and returned to compete at

in November 2023, where they won their second National Championship title at

SM Mall of Asia SM Mall of Asia (also abbreviated as SM MoA, or simply Mall of Asia or MoA; ), is a large shopping mall in the Philippines, located at Bay City, Metro Manila, Bay City, Pasay, Metro Manila within the SM Central Business Park, a reclaimed area w ...

Manila, Philippines Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon, it is ...

. In January 2024, they competed at the 2024 Four Continents Championships in Shanghai, China, where they placed 11th and competed at the

2024 World Figure Skating Championships The 2024 World Figure Skating Championships were held from March 18–24, 2024, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), the World Championships are considered the most prestigious event in ...

in Montreal, Canada as the only competitors representing the Philippines. The pair would finish in twenty-first place.

2024–25 season

Prior to the season,

Fedor Klimov Fedor Alexandrovich Klimov (; born 7 September 1990) is a retired Russian pair skater. With partner Ksenia Stolbova, he is the 2014 Olympic silver medalist, the 2014 Olympic champion in the team event, the 2014 World silver medalist, a three-t ...

joined Gamez and Korovin's coaching team. They began the season by finishing ninth at the 2024 John Nicks International Pairs Competition. They went on to compete at the 2024 Trophée Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur; however, after completing the short program segment, the pairs free skate event was cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Gamez and Korovin were awarded the silver medal based on their short program result. Not initially assigned to compete on the

series, Gamez and Korovin were later entered to compete at the

2024 NHK Trophy The 2024 NHK Trophy was the fourth event of the 2024–25 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan, from November 8–10. Medals w ...

. However, they were unable to accept the assignment due to the short notice invitation. They were later assigned to the

2024 Cup of China The 2024 Cup of China was the sixth event of the 2024–25 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Chongqing Huaxi Culture and Sports Center in Chongqing from November 22� ...

following another team's withdrawal. At

, Gamez and Korovin became the first Southeast Asian and Philippine pair to compete at the

. They finished the event in seventh place. In February 2025, Korovin and Gamez became the first Southeast Asian and Philippine pair team to compete at the

2025 Asian Winter Games The 2025 Asian Winter Games ( zh, s=第九届亚洲冬季运动会, p=Dì jiǔ jiè yàzhōu dōngjì yùndònghuì), officially known as the 9th Asian Winter Games, and commonly known as Harbin 2025 (), were the ninth edition of the Asian Winte ...

in Harbin, China. They placed fourth, just short of the first-ever medal for the Philippines. Korovin and Gamez went on to the

2025 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships The 2025 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships took place from February 19 to February 23, 2025, at the Mokdong Stadium#Mokdong Ice Rink, Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul, South Korea. Medals were awarded in single skating, men's singles, women's ...

in Seoul, Korea finishing in 10th place despite dealing with illness, following the competition withdrawal of their teammate Philippines single men representative Paolo Borromeo.

Personal life

Korovin was born in

Pervouralsk Pervouralsk (, lit. ''the first in the Urals'') is a city in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Chusovaya River (Kama's tributary) west of Yekaterinburg, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 122,000 (1974); 90,000 (1959) ...

, Russia. He speaks Russian, English and is learning Filipino. After teaming up with Isabella Gamez to compete for the Philippines, bills were soon filed in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

and the

Senate of the Philippines The Senate of the Philippines () is the upper house of Congress of the Philippines, Congress, the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, with the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House of Representatives as the lower house. The ...

proposing Filipino citizenship for Korovin via naturalization. The proposals were approved by both chambers in 2024, and signed by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Bongbong Marcos Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (, , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials BBM or PBBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since 2022. He is the second child ...

on 20 December 2024, granting Korovin Philippine citizenship. On January 8, 2025, Korovin took his oath of citizenship as a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

Filipino before Senator

Francis Tolentino Francis Ng Tolentino (, born January 2, 1960) is a Filipino politician and lawyer serving as a senator since 2019. He has been the Senate Majority Leader since 2024 and was formerly the chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee from 2022 t ...

Programs

Pair skating with Isabella Gamez (for the Philippines)

Pair skating with Alisa Efimova (for Russia)

Competitive highlights

Pair skating with Isabella Gamez (for the Philippines)

Pair skating with Alisa Efimova (for Russia)

Pair skating with Alexandra Minina (for Russia)

Detailed results

Pair skating with Isabella Gamez (for the Philippines)

Pair skating with Alisa Efimova (for Russia)

References

External links

*
Isabella Gamez & Aleksandr Korovin
at SkatingScores
Isabella Gamez & Alexander Korovin's official website
*
Alisa Efimova & Alexander Korovin
at SkatingScores {{DEFAULTSORT:Korovin, Alexander 1994 births Russian male pair skaters Living people People from Pervouralsk Figure skaters from Sverdlovsk Oblast Figure skaters from Moscow FISU World University Games gold medalists for Russia Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating Competitors at the 2019 Winter Universiade Filipino male pair skaters 21st-century Russian sportsmen 21st-century Filipino sportsmen Naturalized citizens of the Philippines Filipino people of Russian descent Figure skaters at the 2025 Asian Winter Games Naturalised sports competitors