Alexei Nikolayevich Mishin (; born 8 March 1941) is a Russian

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...

coach and former

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 ...

. With partner Tamara Moskvina, he is the 1969 World silver medalist and Soviet national champion. Mishin is based in

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 ...

Yubileyny Sports Palace Jubilee Sports Palace (), ''Sportivniy kompleks Yubileyniy''; also translated as Jubilee Palace of Sports, is an indoor sports arena and concert complex that is located in St. Petersburg, Russia. It houses more than 7,000 seats for ice hoc ...

. His former students include Olympic champions

Alexei Urmanov Alexei Yevgenyevich Urmanov (; born 17 November 1973) is a Russian figure skating coach and former competitor. He is the 1994 Olympic champion, the 1993 World bronze medalist, the 1997 European champion, the 1995–96 Champions Series Final ...

Alexei Yagudin Alexei Konstantinovich Yagudin ( rus, Алексей Константинович Ягудин, , ɐlʲɪˈksʲeɪ̯ kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪt͡ɕ ɪ̯ɪˈɡudʲɪn, Ru-Alexei Konstantinovich Yagudin.ogg; 18 March 1980) is a Russian former com ...

, and

Evgeni Plushenko Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko (, born 3 November 1982) is a Russian former figure skater. He is a four-time Olympic medalist (2006 gold, 2014 team gold, 2002 & 2010 silver), a three-time World champion (2001, 2003, 2004), a seven-time Europe ...

. Mishin also runs summer seminars. Among the skaters who have attended those are

Stéphane Lambiel Stéphane Lambiel (born 2 April 1985) is a Swiss former competitive figure skater who now works as a coach and choreographer. He is a two-time (2005–2006) World champion, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time (2005, 2007) Grand Prix ...

and Sarah Meier. He has authored several books on the

biomechanics Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to Organ (anatomy), organs, Cell (biology), cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechani ...

of figure skating.

Early years

Born in

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

, Mishin spent his childhood in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

and later moved to

Leningrad 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 ...

with his family. He was interested in mechanics from an early age. He started skating relatively late, at age 15, after his parents brought him to the rink. His father skated with him to get him interested in the activity. Mishin was first coached by Nina Lepninskaya, a pupil of

Nikolai Panin Nikolai Aleksandrovich Panin-Kolomenkin (; – 19 January 1956) was a Russian figure skater and coach. He won the gold medal in special figures in the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympics, 1908 Summer Olympics, became one of the olde ...

, and later by Maya Belenkaya.

Competitive career

Mishin competed in singles within the Soviet Union and won the bronze medal at the 1964 Soviet Championships. In 1966, he took up pair skating as an experiment, teaming up with his first and only partner, Tamara Moskvina. They were coached by Igor Moskvin. Together they won the 1969 Soviet Championships, defeating both the two-time Olympic champions

Ludmila Belousova Ludmila Yevgenyevna Belousova (; 22 November 1935 – 26 September 2017) was a Soviet and Russian pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With her partner and husband Oleg Protopopov, she was a two-time Olympic champion (1964, 1968) a ...

and

Oleg Protopopov Oleg Alekseyevich Protopopov (; 16 July 1932 – 31 October 2023) was a Russian pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With his wife Ludmila Belousova he was a two-time Olympic champion (1964, 1968) and four-time World champion (1965–19 ...

, and the future champions

Irina Rodnina Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina ( rus, Ирина Константиновна Роднина, p=ɪˈrʲinə kənstɐnˈtʲinəvnə rədʲnʲɪˈna; born 12 September 1949) is a Russian politician and retired figure skater, who is the only pair s ...

and Alexei Ulanov. They went on to win silver at the 1969 World Championships. At the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

, they won silver in 1968 and bronze in 1969. Moskvina took time off to have a baby and they decided to retire to concentrate on their coaching careers, with Mishin focusing on coaching singles while Moskvina focused on pairs. Mishin was 28 when he retired from competition and he said he was glad to start coaching when he was young. He later stated:

Coaching career

Mishin graduated from university with a degree in

mechanics Mechanics () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...

and his dissertation focused on the mechanical base of

technique. He started with coaching junior ladies to success at national and international competitions, but later switched to men's singles. He rapidly became a well-known coach, due to his training methods that made the skaters learn jumps very quickly. In addition, he has authored several books on the biomechanics of figure skating and jumps which have been published in Russia, Germany, China, Japan and several other countries. Rus-nat

Mishin prefers to work with men's single skaters. The most successful students are

the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

champion,

the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

сhampion, a four-time World Champion (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002), and

the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

champion,

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 ...

gold medalist, two-time Olympic silver medalist, and three-time World champion. Plushenko came to Mishin without his parents when he was eleven years old. Then Mishin became Plushenko's father figure, both on and off the ice. Since that time, they have been working together for nearly twenty years. Plushenko later described Mishin as "Professor Higgins", a character from

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

's play Pygmalion:Russian Magazine "Sportclub" On the subject of female students, Mishin said in 2009, "better one man of average talent than two super-talented ladies" because "compared with women, men are more sporty and talented and able to learn artistic elements faster" but women are "delicate material": Nevertheless, one of his current students is ladies' single skater

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva Elizaveta Sergeyevna Tuktamysheva ( ; rus, Елизавета Серге́евна Туктамышева, , jɪlʲɪzɐˈvʲetə tʊktɐˈmɨʂɨvə; born 17 December 1996) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2015 World Figure Skating Cham ...

, the 2021 World Silver Medalist, the 2015 World champion, the 2015 European champion, the 2014–15 Grand Prix Final champion and the 2013 Russian national champion. On the junior level, she is the 2012 Youth Olympics champion, 2011 World Junior silver medalist, and 2010–11 JGP Final silver medalist. His students include:

Evgeni Semenenko Evgeni Stanislavovich Semenenko ( rus, Евгений Станиславович Семененко, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj sʲɪmʲɪˈnʲenkə; born 26 July 2003) is a Russian figure skater. He is the 2021 Skate Canada bronze medalist and a two ...

Gleb Lutfullin Gleb Olegovich Lutfullin (; born 31 March 2004) is a Russian figure skating, figure skater. He is the 2025 Russian Figure Skating Championships, 2025 Russian national silver medalist. At the junior level, Lutfullin is the ISU Junior Grand Prix ...

, and

Sofia Muravieva Sofia Andreevna Muravieva (; born 4 August 2006) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2021 JGP Cup of Austria champion, the 2021 JGP Slovakia silver medalist, the 2024 Russian national silver medalist, and a two-time Russian junior national ...

. His notable former students include: Yuri Ovchinnikov, Vitali Egorov, Anna Antonova, Tatiana Oleneva,

Oleg Tataurov Oleg Stanislavovich Tataurov (; born 23 August 1972) is a Russian figure skating coach and former competitor who represented the Soviet Union and Russia. He won silver and bronze medals at the Grand Prix International St. Gervais and represented ...

, Ruslan Novoseltsev, Elena Sokolova,

Ksenia Doronina Ksenia Sergeyevna Doronina (; born 20 October 1990 in Moscow) is a Russian figure skater, and two-time (2007 & 2008) Russian Champion. She competed for two seasons on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. Doronina missed the 2008–09 season due to mo ...

, Tatiana Basova,

Andrei Lutai Andrei Vladimirovich Lutai (; born 24 July 1986) is a Russian former competitive figure skater. He is the 2006 Karl Schäfer Memorial champion, 2006 International Cup of Nice champion, and a three-time Russian national medalist (2007 & 2008 sil ...

Sergei Dobrin Sergei Vladimirovich Dobrin (, born 22 September 1986) is a Russian former competitive figure skater. He is the 2005 World Junior bronze medalist and a two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist. On the senior level, he won bronze meda ...

Katarina Gerboldt Katarina Alexandrovna Gerboldt (; born 28 March 1989) is a Russian retired Figure skating, figure skater. In single skating, her best result at an ISU Championship was sixth at the 2009 European Figure Skating Championships, 2009 European Champion ...

Artur Gachinski Artur Andreyevich Gachinski (; born 13 August 1993) is a Russian former figure skater. He is the 2011 World bronze medalist, the 2012 European silver medalist, the 2010 World Junior bronze medalist, and a two-time Russian national silver meda ...

Maria Stavitskaya Maria Ivanovna Stavitskaia (; born 1 September 1997) is a Russian former competitive figure skater. She is the 2013 Ukrainian Open silver medalist, 2012 JGP Germany bronze medalist, and a two-time Cup of Nice junior champion. Career In the ...

, Artur Dmitriev Jr.,

Petr Gumennik Petr Olegovich Gumennik (, born 11 April 2002) is a Russian figure skater. He is the 2020 Rostelecom Cup bronze medalist and 2019 CS Warsaw Cup silver medalist. He is also the 2020 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, 2020 World Junior bron ...

, Elizaveta Nugumanova,

Alisa Fedichkina Alisa Andreyevna Fedichkina (, ''FYEH-deech-kee-nah''; born 14 February 2002) is a Russian competitive figure skater. She is the 2017 International Cup of Nice champion and has won two silver medals on the ISU Challenger Series. She received a sm ...

, Alexander Petrov,

Sofia Samodurova Sofia Vyacheslavovna Samodurova (pronounced ''Sah-moh-DOO-roh-vah''; ; born 30 July 2002) is a retired Russian figure skater. She is the 2019 European Figure Skating Championships, 2019 European champion, the 2019 CS Ice Star champion, the 2018 ...

, Anastasiia Guliakova, Maria Dmitrieva,

Mikhail Kolyada Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada ( rus, Михаил Сергеевич Коляда, , mʲɪxɐˈil kəlʲɪˈda; born 18 February 1995) is a Russian figure skater. He is a 2018 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, the 2018 World bronze meda ...

, Andrei Lazukin, etc. Mishin is a professor at the Lesgaft School of Sports Science and Physical Education and gives seminars all over the world. He is taking part in the development of a figure skating device which measures the number of revolutions in jumps when attached to the skater's body. According to Mishin, this device has already been patented. Mishin is based at Saint Petersburg's

for most of the season but has annual summer training camps in various locations, such as

Jaca Jaca (; in Aragonese language, Aragonese: ''Chaca'' or ''Xaca'') is a city of northeastern Spain in the province of Huesca (province), Huesca, located near the Pyrenees and the border with France. Jaca is an ancient fort on the Aragón (river), ...

(Spain),

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

(Estonia),

Courchevel Courchevel () is a French Alps ski resort located in the Tarentaise Valley. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski areas in the world. Courchevel also refers to the towns of Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Co ...

(France) and

Pinzolo Pinzolo () is a small town and situated in Val Rendena in Trentino in the northern Italian Alps at an elevation of . The Church of Saint Vigilius of Trent stands in the town. It is mainly known as a ski resort during the winter months and as a ...

(Italy). Additionally, Alexei is surrounded by many talented choreographers such as

Lori Nichol Lori Nichol is a Canadian figure skating choreographer and coach. She was a performer for the John Curry Company from 1983 to 1986 and won the silver medal at the World Professional Championships in 1983. She is a four-time recipient of the Profe ...

, David Wilson,

Jeffrey Buttle Jeffrey Buttle (born September 1, 1982) is a Canadian figure skater and choreographer. He is the 2006 Winter Olympics bronze medalist, the 2008 World champion, the 2002 and 2004 Four Continents champion and the 2005–2007 Canadian champion. ...

Emanuel Sandhu Emanuel Sandhu (born November 18, 1980) is a Canadian figure skater and dancer. He is the 2004 Grand Prix Final champion and a three-time Canadian national champion. Personal life Sandhu was born on November 18, 1980, in Toronto, Ontario, Cana ...

or Benoit Richaud.

Personal life

Mishin is married to

Tatiana Mishina Tatiana Nikolaevna Mishina (), née: Oleneva (Оленева) (born 16 June 1954) is a Russian figure skating coach and former competitor for the Soviet. She is the 1973 Soviet national champion. Career Mishina won bronze at the 1972 Prize of ...

(''née'' Oleneva), a former figure skater. They coach together and separately. They have two sons, Andrei Alexeevich Mishin, born in 1977, and Nikolai Alexeevich Mishin, born in 1983.

Competitive highlights

Pairs with Tamara Moskvina

Men's singles

Orders and rewards

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples () was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military units, as well as administrative subdivisions of the USSR for accomplishments in s ...

(1994) * Meritorious Worker of Physical Education of Russian Federation (2002) *

Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR Unified All-Russian Sports Classification () is a system which regulates the Russian physical education system requirements for both athletes and coaches. History In the Soviet period Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR () exist ...

*Honoured Coach of Sports of the USSR *Honoured Coach of Sports of Russian Federation *Commendation of the

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

(2002) *

Honorary title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

"Best in

's Sports" (2006)

Publications

* * * *

References

External links

Official website of Alexey Mishin
*

Navigation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mishin, Alexei 1941 births Living people Russian figure skating coaches Russian male pair skaters Soviet male pair skaters Olympic figure skaters for the Soviet Union Figure skaters at the 1968 Winter Olympics Figure skating choreographers Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Sevastopol Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class Figure skaters from Saint Petersburg Soviet figure skating coaches Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health alumni Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Competitors at the 1966 Winter Universiade 20th-century Russian sportsmen